LA GRANDE, Ore. -- The No. 8 Eastern Oregon University men's basketball team travels to Ashland and Klamath Falls this weekend for its next games.

ABOUT THE RAIDERS
Southern Oregon is off to a fantastic start to its season. The Raiders were picked last in the Cascade Collegiate Conference preseason coaches' poll, but sit third in the current standings and are one of only three teams to have swept through the opening weekend of league play. SOU is sixth in NAIA Div. 2 in field goal percentage defense (0.378), 12th in three-point field goal percentage (0.402), 13th in free throw percentage (0.744), and 13th in scoring defense per game (63.8).

ABOUT THE HUSTLIN' OWLS
Oregon Tech, the preseason conference favorites, have won four straight heading into the weekend. The Owls continue their dominance over opponents at home and have won 43 consecutive games in Danny Miles Court. OIT averages a national best 11.3 three-pointers per game, making a NAIA Div. 2 best 136 total three-pointers. Joseph Foster leads Tech with 289 total points, which is the fourth-most in the country. The Owls take care of the ball when they have it with a second-ranked 1.58 assist to turnover ratio.

LAST TIME OUT
The Mountaineers won their 10th game of the season with a 73-66 win over No. 14 Northwest University. EOU trailed by 10 points in the top 10 battle, but rallied to win the largest deficit in the Isaac Williams' coaching era. Thomas McCarthy scored 18 points to lead Eastern in the win. Eastern Oregon has now won 13 of the past 15 games against Top 25 teams in La Grande. The prior evening, the Mountaineers opened conference play with a 77-59 win over Evergreen State. JC Cook scored a season-high 22 points to lead EOU. Eastern shot 50 percent from the field and 60 percent from behind the perimeter. The series between the Geoducks and the Mountaineers is now even at 12 to 12.

NEW START TIMES FOR 2010-11
A new doubleheader format featuring men's and women's teams alternating time slots in conference play headlines the release of the 2010-11 Cascade Collegiate Conference men's and women's basketball schedules, CCC commissioner Dave Haglund announced. The first half concludes Jan. 15; the second half runs from Jan. 21 to Feb. 19. The CCC recently voted to modify the structure of its conference doubleheaders, which historically have featured the women playing at 5:30 p.m. followed by the men at 7:30 p.m. Beginning with the upcoming campaign, genders will split the two time slots. In the first half of conference play in 2010-11, men will play at 5:30 p.m. and women at 7:30 p.m.; in the second half, the genders will flip time slots. Men's and women's teams will flip their playing orders on a yearly basis.

DIALING LONG DISTANCE
Eastern Oregon is hitting its share of shots from behind the perimeter this season. The Mountaineers are second in NAIA Div. 2 in three-pointers made per game (10.5), and total three-pointers made (116). EOU is 11th in the country in three-point percentage (40%). Thomas McCarthy is 10th in NAIA Div. 2 with 34 three-pointers, making 3.0 per game which is 13th in the nation. Jamar Johnson is 27th in the country with his 28 made three-pointers. EOU's three-point field goal percentage on defense is fifth in NAIA Div. 2.

CASCADE COLLISION
The Mountaineers and Oregon Tech have had battles over the last few years. The 158th meeting between the Oregon Institute of Technology men's basketball team and Eastern Oregon University will feature a pair of top 25 teams for only the eighth time. The Hustlin' Owls have won 93 of the 157 games. EOU has won the last five meetings at home, but has not won in Klamath Falls since Feb. 16, 1979. Tech and Eastern have finished in the top two of the CCC standings the past three seasons.

MOUNTAINEERS LOVE FEBRUARY
Eastern Oregon has closed the season strong the past few seasons. The Mountaineers have gone 14-3 in the month of February the past two years. Only Oregon Tech has done a better job finishing the regular season strong. The Hustlin' Owls are 15-3 in February the past two seasons. Warner Pacific is 12-5 and Evergreen is 12-5 over the same amount of time.

FAMILIAR FOES
EOU and Southern Oregon meet for the 168th time Friday. The Mountaineers have met only Western Oregon more times, 187. SOU holds a 95-72 all-time lead in the series. Five games since 2000 have been decided by 10 or fewer points, and three games have been decided by five or fewer points.

BACK AMONG ELITE COMPANY
The Mountaineers moved up to No. 8 in the NAIA Div. 2 Top 25 this week, thanks to their great start to the
2010-11 season. EOU is in the top 10 for the 14th time in school history. Eastern last appeared in the top 10 before this season on March 4, 2009 when it was No. 10. The No. 8 ranking is the highest ranking since Dec. 1, 2008 when the Mountaineers were No. 5.

LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARIES
Eastern Oregon is one of five teams to have made it to the past three Sweet 16 rounds at the NAIA Div. 2 National Tournament. Two programs in those five, Oregon Tech and EOU, are from the Cascade Collegiate Conference. There are only a dozen teams that have made the national tournament in each of the past three years, including Eastern.

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