Central vs. Western '24

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

Round 1 of this seasons CWU-WWU rivalry is tomorrow. Last season CWU came away with a rare sweep of the Vikings, but Western is much better this year. They average nearly 95 points and 37 rebounds per game, shooting nearly 51% from the field and nearly 40% from 3-point range. All 5 starters plus 1 more average double-digits. As usual, they have serious D1 height as 3 of their starters are over 6'9" while the always-undersized CWU only has 2 players on the roster taller than 6'6", both reserves. So Central's guards and wings will have to be at their very best for Central to stand a chance and keep pace with Western.

CWU has just 2 players averaging double-digits and average nearly 77 ppg, only allowing less than 68 ppg. Reserve Seattle U transfer Anjaylo Lloyd leads the Wildcats scoring nearly 20 ppg in his last 8 games. Coming out of JUCO as the top scorer in the NWAC he initially transferred to WWU but the pandemic arrived and he never played for the Vikings and ended up being out of basketball for two full seasons before playing at Seattle U last season. CWU will have to rely on their defense and rebounding (over 37 rpg) but their 32% 3-point shooting will be a concern, as that will be their only chance to keep up with Western. On paper WWU looks like the clear favorites, but that never ends up being the case and these games are always super close. On their home court, I like Central's chances.

I look forward to seeing the new arena and having a fun time. Hopefully I will be able to get over the mountains alright! I do have an Outback so as long as the freeway is open I am not concerned.

[Goods]

Central shut 'em down. Opened big, held off an early comeback and probably held the lead for good at the 12:00 mark or so in the first half. Held Western to nearly 20 points under their average. We shot over 57% for the game!?!?!? Incredible performance.

Disappointed in the attendance. The fans who were there were engaged. Student section stood the entire time and were loud. That's outstanding. But 1300 people for a rivalry game in a new arena that holds 3,000? C'mon now.

Huge momentum booster for CWU.

[D2Rover]

Was watching Western women instead, flipped over in the second half and decided based on the score it wasn't worth watching. I almost feel ashamed that a Western-Central game wasn't my #1 priority for the week, but it's unfortunate that seems to be the case for many others too. Western might do a little better than that for attendance on the return leg, with it being senior night and free students, but it still feels like what the rivalry was even a decade ago is so out of reach now. Glad to see there are a few people who still care, my impression is y'all have honestly kept up your end of it better than we have for the most part.

[tsull]

I don't get college basketball fans these days. Washington State has their best team in 15 years and they drew 2,600 fans for Utah. It's not like Pullman has a lot of great things going on. Which brings me to Ellensburg, just what are the 10,000 students doing in Ellensburg in the winter time? Most of them live fairly close to the gym I would guess. But I did read that college basketball attendance has dropped 12 of the last 15 years so I'm guessing that trickles down to the small colleges, too. It's too bad because the CWU-WWU game is the best small college game in the Northwest and really the only small college rivalry game in the Northwest.

However, getting well over a thousand people to a small college game these days is pretty outstanding, in my opinion, so good job Wildcats on this one.

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

Disappointed in the attendance. The fans who were there were engaged. Student section stood the entire time and were loud. That's outstanding. But 1300 people for a rivalry game in a new arena that holds 3,000? C'mon now.

Student section was nice, the benefit of being a Thursday. Sure half of it was the football team. Cool seeing Tanner Volk there front and center. As for the lack of other fans, being a Thursday and pretty wet weather going over the pass surely did not help. But the athletics department still struggles to promote these games. What ever happened to t-shirt giveaways? Or doing black out/red out nights.I've seen much worse crowds for that game though. It wasn't too bad. Fans who were there were into it.

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

First of all, incredible new arena and surrounding facilities! The AD was kind enough to give me and my dad a tour. Saw the field house, weight room, PT center, etc. All top notch! The arena itself looks great. I enjoyed watching some of the game from the walkway being the hoop. Good vantage point.

As for the game, oh wow CWU outplayed the Vikings in every way. So much more energy. The WWU bigs were completely ineffective against the smaller CWU lineup. That Hector dunk over Jonathan Ned was stunning. To start 3 true freshmen with Lloyd and Dawson off the bench shows their depth this year. It was fun to have Lloyd on our side considering he was going to play for WWU before COVID hit. And wow that freshman class is the best I have ever seen at this level! What a great core to have going forward. Those kids showed maturity and serious hustle and defense. Great game!

I look forward to the game in Bellingham later next month! And the game at SPU on Thursday too!