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Monday, November 12, 2007 11:07 PM CST
EIU seeks redemption against Loyola
BY BRIAN NIELSEN, Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON -- Even during that late-season stretch when Eastern Illinois’ basketball program made strides, it fell on its face one Saturday afternoon.
How was Loyola to be impressed that the Panthers were winning five of their last eight Ohio Valley Conference games when once they stepped out of the league for an ESPN BracketBusters game they shot .288 from the field in a 66-43 loss at Loyola.
What’s worse, this was a game in which several Panthers were in front of friends and family in Chicago.
“We didn’t feel we competed very well that day,” EIU coach Mike Miller said.
The chance to make amends or maybe show the progress from last February comes today when Loyola visits Lantz Arena for a 7 p.m. game between two 1-0 teams.
Loyola coach Jim Whitesell is not expecting his Ramblers to come to Charleston thinking this can be easy just because of last February’s laugher.
“Oh no,” Whitesell said. “I think our guys are smart enough to know that last year was last year. The other thing is we started four seniors in that game. Now we’re kind of flipping the coin a little bit. They’re the team with experience. I think we’ll have to play very well to win.”
While Loyola had to replace four starters from last season’s team that finished 21-11 and third in the Horizon League at 10-6, the Ramblers started with a 73-57 win over NCAA Division II LeMoyne on Saturday.
J.R. Blount, who averaged 12.9 points as a starter last season, scored 21 when hitting nine of 10 free throws in the opening win while Wyoming transfer Ross Forman made his Loyola debut with 19 points hitting seven of 10 shots including three of six 3-pointers.
“We’re kind of a work in progress,” Whitesell said. “We’re trying to find that go-to guy. J.R. did a nice job the other night. We’re trying to get a little bit of a grip on things still.”
Eastern, meanwhile, knows it has all of its players back from a seniorless 10-20 season.
Romain Martin averaged 14.8 points as a freshman to lead the team and then had 31- and 21-point games in exhibition wins before senior Bobby Catchings erupted for 27 points in Saturday’s season-opening 85-63 win over Harris-Stowe.
“Eastern has got their whole team back,” Whitesell said. “They invested in some young guys that played a lot. Coach Miller does a good job. Now those guys are sophomores and juniors and seniors. I think they will be one of the best teams in the Ohio Valley.”
After two exhibition wins against NCAA Division III teams and then the season-opening win over NAIA Harris-Stowe, this is the first red-letter date on Eastern’s schedule to show it is ready to reap benefits from Miller building his program in his first two years as the coach.
But Miller is not considering a mid-November game as a defining moment.
“If you win and play well, that means you played well that day,” the EIU coach said. “If you lose and didn’t play well, you didn’t have a good day. Either way there is still a lot of work to do.”
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
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