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EASTERN ILLINOIS (2-4) vs. Tennessee State (1-5)

Dec. 2, 2010 • 7:30 p.m. (CST)
Lantz Arena • Charleston, Ill.
Radio: Hit Mix 88.9 FM 

GAME 7
Eastern Illinois opens Ohio Valley Conference play on Thursday against Tennessee State. EIU enters the game with a 2-4 record following road games at Bradley and South Dakota State. The game kicks off what will be a four-game homestand for the Panthers over the next two weeks. TSU enters the contest with a 1-5 record following a Monday night loss to Belmont. This marks the third straight season that EIU and TSU have faced each other to open OVC play. EIU has won both of those games including last year's three-overtime victory in Nashville.

EIU-TENNESSEE STATE SERIES
This will be the 43rd meeting between Eastern Illinois and Tennessee State in a series that dates back to the late 1950's when both schools played at the NAIA level. TSU holds a 23-19 series lead but EIU has won three of the last four meetings. Last season EIU swept the season series with a three-overtime win in Nashville to open OVC play and a 66-61 win over the Tigers in the final regular-season contest in which EIU celebrated 100 years of intercollegiate basketball.

SCOUTING TENNESSEE STATE
Tennessee State is off to a 1-5 start on the season with their lone win of the year coming over Fisk University. The Tigers lost on Monday night against Belmont, 87-72. This season TSU has played with a short bench as only seven players have played in all six games. Three players average 13.5 points or more per game with Kenny Moore the leader at 14.3 per contest.

EIU LOOKING TO BUILD ON OVC WIN STREAK
Eastern Illinois ended the 2010 season winning six straight Ohio Valley Conference games to end the year at 11-7 in the league. EIU looks to continue that streak as they open OVC action on Thursday night against Tennessee State. That six game OVC win streak is tied for the longest in school history matching the Panthers six game OVC win streak in 1997-98 between Jan. 17 and Feb. 3.

GRANGER AND LASER NEAR TOP OF THE OVC FROM THE LINE
Guards Tyler Laser and Jeremy Granger are once again two of the top players in the Ohio Valley Conference in terms of success from the free throw line. As the Panthers enters OVC action, Granger currently ranks 4th in the OVC and Laser is 5th. Last season Granger led the OVC in free throw percentage as he ranked 20th in the NCAA hitting 87.5 percent from the stripe. This season Granger is has hit 17-of-19 (89.5) including a current streak of 11 straight makes. Granger was 8-of-8 from the stripe in the win over Bradley. Laser has made 14-of-16 from the free throw line this season for 87.5 percent. Laser is currently fourth on the OVC career free throw percentage list at 86.9 percent as he has made 173-of-199 for his career.

LAST TIME OUT AT HOME
The Panthers have been at home in Lantz Arena for only two games this season but in the last EIU home contest the defensive effort landed this Panther team in the record book. During EIU's 57-40 win over IU South Bend the Panthers tied a record for fewest points allowed by an opponent in Lantz Arena at 40. That score tied the record set on Dec. 7, 1987 against Harris-Stowe. The Panthers did set a record for fewest field goals allowed by an opposing team as IU South Bend made only 12 field goals in the game. The previous record was 16 by two previous teams - the 1987 Harris-Stowe squad and Western Illinois on Dec. 6, 1968.

CLOSING IN ON RECORD BOOK SPOTS
Tyler Laser and James Hollowell continue to make steady progress up the Eastern Illinois career record books. Laser enters the game with Tennessee State with 1,050 career points (11.2 per game) as he passed Bill Thommen (1971-73) for 33rd place on the career scoring list on Saturday at South Dakota State. Next up on the list for Laser to pass is Rob Pinnell (1972-75) who scored 1,058 points. In the coming weeks Laser should also start to move up the career 3-pointers made and attempted list with Charleston native Derrick Landrus (1992-95) sitting just above Laser. Hollowell is quickly closing in on the career top ten for blocked shots. He needs just five more blocks to catch Kyle Hill (1998-01) for tenth place on that career list.

YOUNG PLAYERS SEE SOME MINUTES IN SOUTH DAKOTA
Eastern Illinois was able to give some young players minutes on Saturday in the second half at South Dakota State. Seeing their most significant time of the season were freshmen Alfonzo McKinnie and Isaac Smith. McKinnie had 13 minutes of action and responded with six points and six rebounds, both career highs. Smith scored his first career points with a second half bucket. Prior to the game at SDSU both Chicago products had played less than 25 minutes each for the season.

BIG SCORING NIGHTS NOT FREQUENT
So far this season there have been 19 games in which an OVC player has scored 20 or more points in a game. Two of those games have come from Eastern Illinois players with Curry McKinney tossing in 22 at Bradley and Tyler Laser scoring 20 at Loyola-Chicago. Last season EIU had 14 games in which a player scored 20 or more points in a game with Tyler Laser leading the way with seven. The high point game for an EIU player was 25 by Edin Suljic in the Panthers three-overtime victory at Tennessee State. The last time an EIU player scored 30 or more points in a game was Feb. 28, 2008 when Jake Byrne had 30 points in a win over Jacksonville State.