The Eastern Washington Eagles and the Washington State Cougars meet Monday in college basketball action from Beasley Coliseum. Eastern Washington is fresh off their first victory of the season, taking out Walla Walla to move to 1-4 overall. As for Washington State, they beat Utah Tech on Friday to move to 4-1 on the year. Read our Eastern Washington vs Washington State Prediction.

Eastern Washington Eagles 

The Eagles posted a pretty rough four-game losing streak against some tough opponents to kick off the season. Those defeats came at the hands of Utah, Ole Miss, Cincinnati and Stanford. In the loss to the Cardinal, Eastern Washington gave up 54.8 percent from the field and got out-rebounded 39-28 in a 95-70 result. 

In their latest matchup versus Walla Walla, the Eagles finally found a team they could handle. Eastern Washington scored 51 points in the first half on the way to a 97-46 win. Casey Jones posted four rebounds, three assists and 13 points in the victory, and Mason Williams added 13 bench points as well. 

Washington State Cougars 

Over on the Cougars’ side, they’ve got just the one blemish on the schedule: a 76-64 loss to Mississippi Sate on November 18. Otherwise, Washington State took out Idaho, Prairie View and Rhode Island in their first four games of the year. The Cougars shot a nice 51.6 percent from the field in the win over the Hens, but hit just 3-of-17 (17.6 percent) from 3-point range. 

Washington State was able to keep it going in their last matchup versus Utah Tech. The Cougars were up 45-27 at the break, then scored 48 more points in a 93-53 blowout. Tops on the team was Andrej Jakimovski with 20 points and six boards, while Myles Rice added 18 points with three assists. 

ANDREW’S FREE WASHINGTON STATE VS EASTERN WASHINGTON PREDICTION 

I’m going to stay with Washington State. The Cougars didn’t have any issues with Utah Tech in their last matchup, hitting 56.1 percent from the field and a stellar 65.2 percent (15-of-23) from outside. If there’s a complaint it’s the foul shooting, which was a fairly ugly 63.6 percent (14-for-22). Still, Washington State has hit 78 or more points in all four wins so far this year and should notch a big total in this one as well. 

As for Eastern Washington, they finally got a taste of victory in their last outing—this one’s obviously going to be much tougher, though. The Eagles haven’t scored too badly so far: 70 or more points in three straight. We could see a fairly high total here if Eastern Washington is hitting shots early.