THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, January 7, 2016

Whether Eastern Washington has emerged as a rival for the University of Idaho men’s basketball team depends on who you ask.

But one thing’s for sure — the Vandals are a way different basketball team than the one which lost three excruciating games to the Eagles last year.

“Eastern is a rival, but this is a whole new Vandal team — this team’s totally different than last year’s team,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said the other day, as the Vandals prepare to host the Eags on Saturday at noon at Reese Court in Cheney.

PART OF that difference is the natural turnover of a roster from year to year.

Last year’s Vandals were led by seniors Connor Hill (the former Post Falls High standout), Mike Scott and Bira Seck. Sekou Wiggs, a sophomore point guard, transferred out after two years in the program. Hill, Scott and Wiggs were the top three scorers last year, and Seck was fifth.

This year, junior guard Perrion Callandret has taken on an increased role. Sophomore guard Victor Sanders has gone from one start and 3.8 points per game as a freshman to 14 starts in 15 games, and is second on the team at 13.6 points per game (Callandret is the leading scorer at 14.6 per game).

And the Vandals have yet to see the best this year from sophomore forward Arkadiy Mkrtychyan, their fourth-leading scorer last year, who is rounding into shape after being injured earlier this year.

“We’re a lot better defensively than we’ve been in the past, a lot more committed,” said Verlin, in his eighth season as Vandals coach. “Last year’s team, Mike and Connor dominated the ball a lot, took a lot of the shots. Vic and Perrion, even though they’re good offensive players, are very good defensively, and the addition of Chris Sarbaugh (the former Gonzaga recruit who played a year at North Idaho College, then two more at the University of San Diego) has really helped us. Chris, he’s our glue. He’s a really good defender, he’s a really good leader, and he and Perrion have done a really good job of keeping our guys in the right mindset. And I think we have a lot of room for improvement, I really do. Arkadiy Mkrtychyan hasn’t played nearly like I thought he would play at this point, and for the first time, at the Davis game, I finally started to see some bounce back in his step.”

This year, junior forward Ty Egbert and sophomore guard Chad Sherwood were rewarded with their first starts last Saturday, when Idaho (10-5) won at Northern Colorado to start Big Sky play with two road wins.

“Last year we had trouble winning games on the road,” Egbert said. “This year we are more together, and instead of breaking down later on in games, we’re coming together and focusing on the details we need to win.”

LAST YEAR, Idaho lost by three point at home to Eastern, lost by three in overtime at EWU, then lost to the Eags by eight in the first round of the Big Sky tournament in Missoula.

At Cheney, Idaho led by 17 with 8 ½ minutes left before faltering. At Missoula, Tyler Harvey scored 26 of his 42 in the second half as EWU overcame a seven-point Vandal lead.

“I think this is a revenge game for us,” said Egbert, who prepped at Lake Roosevelt High in Coulee Dam, Wash., so he’s familiar with EWU.

Suffice it to say Verlin was not disappointed to see Harvey leave EWU a year early for the NBA draft.

But even without Harvey, Verlin said this year’s Eagles (6-8, 0-2 after losing at Northern Colorado and North Dakota, the same two teams the Vandals beat) are “exactly the same. It’s obviously a new version of Eastern without Harvey … but they play the same way, they play hard, they’re very successful offensively.”

Sherwood attributed his improvement from last year to adjusting to the speed of the college game, and learning from the other Vandals guards that played ahead of him the past couple of years -- Hill, Scott, Wiggs, Callandret and Glen Dean.

Egbert said he got better from his redshirt season by going up against the likes of Kyle Barone in practice, and putting on weight since then.

“I probably weighed 180 soaking wet,” he said.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.