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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Wednesday, December 5, 2007 11:06 PM CST
Panthers can start anew in OVC
Tennessee Tech (2-6, 0-1) at Eastern Illinois (1-6, 0-0)
Tip-off: about 7:15 p.m. today following 5 p.m. women's game at Lantz Arena
Radio: WEIU-FM 88.9

BY BRIAN NIELSEN Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com

At least one thing might be good about this start-it-early-in-December, 20-game Ohio Valley Conference basketball schedule.

The play-everybody-twice format does not leave much time for Eastern Illinois to worry about its 1-6 pre-conference struggles.

“We play more conference games than anyone in the country,” Eastern coach Mike Miller said. “I think we all use our non-conference games to find out what we want to do. Most teams are measured in what they do in league play.”

In the OVC, Eastern is undefeated – 0-0.

This does not necessarily mean some easy escape from a six-game losing streak after starting the season with a win over NAIA Harris-Stowe.

Playing its first home game since a Nov. 13 loss to Loyola that started these tough times, Eastern now is to face Tennessee Tech in today’s 7:15 p.m. OVC opener and then Tennessee State on Saturday night.

“They are the two most physically overpowering teams in the conference and we play them in the same swing,” Miller said.

So this could be the worst time for Eastern to be shorthanded up front with 6-foot-8 sophomore Justin Brock and 6-11 freshman Matt Dorlack sidelined by injuries.

“If there is a stronger front line in the OVC I’m not sure who it is,” Miller said of Tech’s Golden Eagles. “They are big and powerful.”

Tech’s 6-foot-7 and 6-9 Daniel Northern might have shattered a bank board when both got a hand on the basketball for a put-back dunk last Saturday, but the Eagles still could not beat defending OVC regular season champion Austin Peay.

Tech lost its OVC opener at home 79-76 after trailing 57-38 in the second half.

“We’re certainly disappointed but we’re looking forward to this week’s games,” Tech coach Mike Sutton said. “We’ve got a big challenge. Anytime you go on the road it is tough.

“We’ll have to continue to improve. We have to do a better job with turnovers. We’ve been a little haphazard taking care of the basketball.”

Now in his sixth year at Tech and coaching his third season since suffering Guillain-Barre’ Syndrome after being named 2005 OVC Coach of the Year, Sutton no doubt remembers how Eastern surprised his Eagles a year ago at Tech and that the Panthers have everyone back this season.

“Mike’s got a lot of returning players,” Sutton said. “They beat us in this same game last year at our place and deserved to win. With (Mike) Robinson and those guys they have experience and they proved last year they were capable of beating anybody.”

Now Eastern is looking to prove that again this season.

“Like a lot of teams, we’re trying to find our way a little bit,” Miller said. “We’ve found a direction we want to go. We’ve had a stretch here to where we haven’t found the rewards we were looking for. With our schedule we’ve had the big picture in mind.”

Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.

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