Currently in his third season with EWU, junior forward Venky Jois has improved his game and is now serving as one of the co-captains of the men’s basketball team.

Eastern is currently 13-5 in the season. Jois is a part of the team’s success by averaging 18.9 points per game while shooting a field goal percentage of 60 percent. He is also grabbing 7.8 rebounds per game.

“I think this offseason, I wanted to [pay] special attention to ball-handling and movement patterns, like spins and euro steps,” said Jois. “Just so I can move [on] the court better. I can get to spots on the floor, now it’s a little bit easier. Along with working on just a bit of a hook shot, kind of a float game”

Head coach Jim Hayford talked about parts of Jois’ game that he is proud to see flourishing over the last few years.

“He’s really disciplined himself to cut his turnovers so that we can run offense through him not only as a scorer but as a distributer,” said Hayford. “He made tremendous strides in improving his defensive game.”

This season, Jois had memorable scoring performances. In the team’s first regular season game against Texas Southern University, Jois scored 22 points on 11 for 18 shooting. He also scored 20 points in Eastern’s historic win over Indiana University.

Jois had back-to-back 38 point performances against Eastern Oregon University and Seattle University. He scored 23 points in a loss to the University of California last month.

Over the span of his time at EWU, Jois reminisced about his transition from Australia to Cheney.

“Culture shock I think at the start, thrown into a totally different world,” said Jois. “Obviously, it was different, not necessarily a bad thing. But you tend to miss things a little bit more when you have more free time to think about it.”

According to Jois, the unique basketball culture in Australia prepared him for collegiate competition in the United States. The system of basketball in Australia is club-based, meaning teenagers are able to play in national leagues with older players.

“Age is no limit, age is no factor like it is over here with school,” said Jois. “When you’re playing with guys who have already played in college, 28 year-old [veterans],30 year-old [veterans] who really know the game a hell of a lot better than you; it forces you to play a little bit smarter”

Hayford said Jois has a unique situation regarding his basketball background in Australia.

“I think there’s two neat things about [Jois’] experience,” said Hayford. “The first one is that maybe he isn’t as burned out on the sport at age 21 as maybe some people in America because it’s not as intensive. Secondly, when he was 16-17 years old, he was playing with 28-29-year-old men. So it gave him a whole different kind of learning experience.”

Jois said he usually contacts friends and family back home.

“It’s definitely tough [because of] the time change. I usually go home about once a year,” said Jois.

At Eastern, Jois has been able to successfully balance his schoolwork and athletics. He currently has a 3.51 GPA and is majoring in pre-medicine.

“It hasn’t been too tough of a transition for schoolwork,” said Jois. “Basketball back home is kind of less intensive, schoolwork more so. It’s totally different over here.”

Hayford appreciates Jois’ work ethic and his assertiveness for knowledge.

“He spends tremendous amounts of time studying tape and meeting with the coaching staff,” said Hayford. “And his work ethic is one of the highest on the team.”

For the rest of the season, Jois is optimistic about how far his team can go.

“Winning the Big Sky [Conference] is huge; I don’t think offense is going to be the problem, I think we’re elite when it comes to that side of the game,” said Jois. “We could be making some noise in the NCAA tournament; obviously, goal number one is getting there.”