FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (December 16, 2020) – The Northern Arizona men's basketball team opens up Big Sky Conference play this weekend versus Eastern Washington, the preseason conference favorite, in Rolle Activity Center. Friday's game will tip-off at 7 p.m. with Saturday's matchup set for 4 p.m. Both games will be available on Pluto TV Channel 1058 and the Lumberjack Radio Network.
This season, to reduce travel and expenses, each weekend of conference play will consist of playing the same opponent at the same location twice with the exception of two home-and-home series with two opponents.
The Lumberjacks will have a big opportunity to secure their first win of the season against the defending Big Sky champions and avoid their first 0-4 start to a season in three years.
"Unfortunately we're sitting at 0-3 and this is coach-speak a little, but we're starting a new season," said head coach
Shane Burcar. The big picture for us is the Big Sky Conference and there's no better challenge than Eastern Washington coming into our building. It's going to be a great test to see where we're at and keep building throughout the season."
Junior
Cameron Shelton led the Lumberjacks with a season-high 18 points – most by a Lumberjack this season – Monday night in a 91-52 loss on the road at Colorado State. NAU strung together its best half of the season in the first half, nearly erasing a 14-point deficit to get within three at halftime. However, the Rams pulled away in the second half with a 26-0 run.
Shelton is tied for fifth in the Big Sky so far this season at scoring at 15.3 points per game and is also fourth in the league with 1.7 steals per game. Shelton is one of two players, along with redshirt junior
Luke Avdalovic, to score in double-figures in each of the first three games. Avdalovic is averaging 13.3 points per game, good for 12th in the Big Sky, and is just three triples away from moving in NAU's all-time top 10 for three-pointers made.
The Lumberjacks' starting bigs on Monday night also stood out versus Colorado State with redshirt junior
Nik Mains putting in eight points for the second consecutive outing. Redshirt freshman
Carson Towt, making his first career start, recorded a team-high seven rebounds and also scored five points.
Eastern Washington earned the No. 1 seed in last season's conference tournament before the tournament was canceled. Last season, the Eagles were 23-8 and won the Big Sky regular season title with a 16-4 record.
Eastern Washington is 1-4 this season coming off a narrow 80-75 road loss to Saint Mary's College on Tuesday. The loss was Eastern Washington's third defeat this season by five points or less and three of their losses have come to Washington State, Arizona and Oregon.
The Eagles were picked first in both the preseason Big Sky Coaches and Media Polls and had a pair of players on the preseason all-conference team led by Jacob Davison, the preseason MVP. Davison ranks second on the team in scoring with 12.6 points per game behind Tyler Robertson's average of 13.5. Kim Aiken Jr. joined Davison on the preseason all-conference team and is averaging 8.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.
The 'Jacks have dropped six straight to Eastern Washington, serving as NAU's longest active skid to a Big Sky opponent, and the all-time series is tied at 37-37. However, NAU is 3-2 all-time versus Eastern Washington in conference openers. In the three years (1996-97, 1997-98, 2005-06) that the 'Jacks opened up conference play with a win over the Eagles, NAU compiled a combined Big Sky record of 39-7 and won the conference regular season title. In the two years that the Lumberjacks lost to the Eagles in their conference opener, NAU is a combined 5-25 in league play.
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