Gus giving the Big Sky the business
bigskyconf.com and Daily Inter Lake | Daily Inter-Lake | UPDATED 2 days, 15 hours AGO
FARMINGTON, Utah — Who is this guy?
Coming off the bench, Idaho State’s Gus Etchison averaged 32.5 points per game against Montana and Montana State this past weekend to earn the Big Sky Conference’s player of the week honors for men’s basketball Tuesday.
Heading into the weekend the Bengals were on a nine-game losing skid and Etchison was averaging just 6.4 points per game.
After 80 minutes of basketball, the Bengals had defeated the Grizzlies and Bobcats in the same weekend for the first time since 2007-08. Etchison, a 5-foot-11 senior transfer from Marian Univerity, also averaged four rebounds per game and dished out 10 assists.
On Thursday he scored 29 points, going 4-for-7 from the 3-point range and 10 of 16 overall, in Idaho State’s 73-69 win over Montana. On Saturday he hit 15 of 25 shots (3 of 8 from deep) for 36 points against MSU, a 91-76 victory. He also had eight assists against the Cats.
On Monday Etchison was named National Player of the Week by CollegeInsider.com, becoming the fourth Big Sky player this season to earn that recognition. Etchison, a transfer from NAIA Marian University, is the first Bengal to earn weekly honors from the Big Sky this season.
The Big Sky had not announced its women’s player of the week as of Tuesday evening.
Vikings Clinch
On Saturday the Portland State Vikings clinched a share of the Big Sky men’s basketball regular season championship for the first time since 2008.
With one more victory the Vikings will be outright champions and secure the No. 1 overall seed for Starch Madness in Boise.
The Vikings play at Montana State Thursday and at Montana Saturday before wrapping up their regular season at home against Weber State on Monday.
Both Eastern Washington and Montana State are still able to also clinch a share of the regular season title, but this is only possible if Portland State loses its three remaining games and each program wins its final three contests.
Still Money
Montana’s Money Williams will enter the final week of the regular season as the Big Sky’s leading scorer, averaging 19.4 points per game for the Grizzlies. He is trailed by Portland State’s Terri Miller Jr. (19.2 ppg) and Sacramento State’s Prophet Johnson (18.8 ppg).
Portland State’s Tre-Vaughn Minott remains the Big Sky’s top rebounder, averaging 8.8 per contest for the Vikings.
Northern Colorado’s Quinn Denker is the conference leader for assists, with a total of 188 through 26 contests for an average of 7.2 per game.
Sac State’s Johnson is the league leader in steals, with a total of 72 for an average of 2.8.
Idaho State’s Evan Otten is the Big Sky leader in blocked shots at 1.8 per game.
Starch Madness
The 2026 Big Sky Basketball Championships in Boise, Idaho will take place from March 7-11 inside Boise’s Idaho Central Arena. Visit StarchMadness.com for more details.