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EASTERN ILLINOIS (9-9, 2-4) at Jacksonville State (7-14, 2-6)

Jan. 26, 2012  •  7 p.m. (CST)
Mathews Coliseum  •  Jacksonville, Ala.
Radio: Hit Mix 88.9 FM  •  TV: None
Mike Bradd

GAME 19
Eastern Illinois opens up a tough part of its schedule this Thursday with a road game at Jacksonville State.  The Panthers will play three games over five days including a Saturday date at nationally ranked Murray State and a home game on Monday against Southeast Missouri.  EIU is looking to snap its three game losing streak as the Panthers are now 9-9 on the year, 2-4 in the OVC.  EIU has had some recent success in Jacksonville State winning four of their last five meetings in Alabama.  Jacksonville State is currently 7-14 overall, 2-6 in the OVC.  The Gamecocks did beat Tennessee Tech, 63-62, on the road in their last outing on Jan. 19.

EIU-JACKSONVILLE STATE SERIES
This will be the 15th meeting between Eastern Illinois and Jacksonville State.  The Panthers hold the series lead 9-5 including wins in eight of the last ten meetings.  The two schools split the season series last year with each team winning on the opponents court.  EIU won at JSU 61-54 in December.  JSU won at EIU 56-46 in January.  EIU is 4-3 all-time at Mathews Coliseum, 4-1 in their last five trips.

SCOUTING JACKSONVILLE STATE
The Gamecocks are the lowest scoring team in the Ohio Valley Conference averaging 61.9 points per game.  JSU's defense is leading the conference in field goal percentage defense limiting opponents to just 41.8 percent from the floor.  JSU is 4-2 at home this year and is coming off a road win at Tennessee Tech.  Brian Williams leads the team with 12.1 points per game.  Tarvin Gaines is second at 10.3 points per game.  JSU is shooting 27 percent from 3-point range.

MURDERS ROW SCHEDULE COMING UP
Eastern Illinois will play three games over the course of five days and five games over the course of ten days as the Panthers are working to try and secure a spot in the OVC Tournament.  The five game trip opens on Thursday with a game at Jacksonville State.  EIU then travels to face No. 9 Murray State on Saturday.  The Panthers then return home to host Southeast Missouri on Monday, Eastern Kentucky on Thursday - Feb. 2 and Morehead State on Saturday - Feb. 4.

AUSTIN PEAY SLOWLY PULLS AWAY FOR WIN
Eastern Illinois held an early lead over Austin Peay behind the solid play of freshman Josh Piper.   The Governors turned to the hot hand of TyShwan Edmondson midway through the first half and slowly pushed the margin to double figures in a 76-64 win over the Panthers.  Alfonzo McKinnie had a double-double for the Panthers and EIU held a plus ten margin on the boards.  APSU was able to get to the line 29 times making 21 to overcome EIU's rebound advantage. 

McKINNIE COLLECTS SECOND DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Alfonzo McKinnie had his second career double-double in the loss to Austin Peay on Saturday.  McKinnie matched his career high of 14 rebounds while scoring 15 points.  McKinnie's first career double-double came earlier this season against Maine where he had 24 points and 14 rebounds.  On the season McKinnie is third in the OVC in rebounding at 7.6 rebounds per game and fourth in the league in field goal percentage at 55.5.  Against Austin Peay, McKinnie had nine offensive rebounds giving him 57 for the season.  He is second in the OVC in offensive rebounds for the season.

GRANGER QUICKLY CLIMBING SCORING LIST
Senior Jeremy Granger scored in double figures for the 16th time this season as he continues to climb on the EIU career scoring list.  Granger went over the 1,100 point mark for his career on Thursday night as he is now 26th on the EIU charts.  Granger needs two assists to reach 300 for his career and one steal to reach 100 for his career.  When Granger reaches the 300 assist and 100 steal plateaus he will join Kyle Hill as the only other EIU player to ever score 1,000 points, pass out 300 assists and get 100 steals.  Against Tennessee State on Thursday Granger collected his 300th rebound.

EIU ONE LINERS
• Saturday's game at No. 9 Murray State has been picked up as an ESPN3 broadcast as the Panthers tip off at 7 p.m. in CSFB Arena.  EIU was the last team to knock off Murray State on the Racers home court as Jeremy Granger sank a jumper with three seconds left to lift EIU to the 61-60 victory last year on January 20.

• Eastern Illinois shot below 70 percent from the free throw line for only the third time this season on Saturday against Austin Peay hitting 8-of-12.  That 67 percent clip at the line dropped EIU's season percentage to 76.8 as the Panthers are now 7th in the NCAA in free throw shooting.  Jeremy Granger is 36th nationally at 86.7 percent.

• James Hollowell started to play like his old self on Saturday as he finished with 8 points and four rebounds against Austin Peay.  Hollowell missed ten games with an injury before returning on Thursday against Tennessee State.  Against APSU he was 4-of-6 from the field with two offensive and two defensive rebounds.

• Josh Piper helped the Panthers stay in the contest on Saturday against Austin Peay with big minutes in the first half.  Piper scored seven early points as he finished with nine.  He was 3-of-3 from the field as he has shot 50 percent or better from the field in 14 of 18 games.  He is hitting 59.7 percent from the field.  Piper has also been solid at the free throw line shooting 90.5 percent for the season.  He has made 11 straight free throws.

• L.C. Doss broke out of his 3-point shooting slump on Saturday night to knock down 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.  Against SIU Edwardsville, Houston Baptist and UT Martin, Doss had made 11-of-14 3-pointers including a string of seven straight.  In the games against Southeast Missouri and Tennessee State, Doss hit a bit of a cold spell going 0-for-9 from beyond the arc.  Doss leads the team with 30 3-pointers and is 7th in the OVC in 3-point shooting at 41.7 percent.

• Eastern Illinois held a plus ten rebound margin over Austin Peay on Saturday night as the Panthers now have a plus 0.8 rebound margin for the season.  It marked the fourth time in the last six games that EIU has held a double digit rebound margin over its opponent.  The season best was plus 16 in the win over UT Martin.  EIU is 5-3 this season when it ends the game with a positive rebound margin.

• Jonathan Miller saw his first significant playing time since mid-December on Saturday against Austin Peay.  Miller played six minutes scoring one point.  He did pick up two steals on the defensive end of the floor and added two rebounds.  Miller's best game this season was 15 points in a win over Oakland City.

EASTERN ILLINOIS HEAD COACH MIKE MILLER
Mike Miller enters his seventh season as the head coach of the Eastern Illinois with what may be his most athletic team in his tenure at EIU.  Last year EIU battled through several injuries as EIU played 12 different starting line-up combinations, a figure ranking among the top ten in the nation.  The previous season Miller led the Panthers to their first winning season in 10-years as they finished 19-12 with an 11-7 mark in the OVC.  EIU advanced to the OVC Tournament semifinals after winning a school Division I record eight straight games in February.  The 19 wins were the third highest win total for EIU as a NCAA Division I member as Miller has posted a 72-122 record at EIU.  The seven game OVC win streak was the best in school history as Miller has a 41-77 OVC mark.  A 1987 graduate of East Texas State, Miller was hired with a history of helping to build programs after success as a head coach at Texas State and associate head coach at Kansas State.  While at Texas State, Miller coached the team to two Southland Conference championships and a 1997 NCAA Tournament appearance.  He owns a 159-201 career record. 

PANTHERS PICKED 9TH IN OVC RACE
Eastern Illinois was picked to finish ninth the preseason Ohio Valley Conference preseason predictions.  The Panthers finished in ninth place last year ending a two-year run of making the OVC post-season tournament.  The Panthers were picked ahead of Jacksonville State and SIU Edwardsville in the 11 team race.  Austin Peay was the preseason favorite just ahead of Tennessee Tech and Murray State.  The top eight teams will advance to this year's tournament at Municipal Auditorium in Nashville on Feb. 29 - March 3.  SIU Edwardsville will play a league schedule and games will be counted in the standings but the Cougars are not eligible for the conference tournament.

GRANGER A PRESEASON ALL-OVC SELECTION
Senior Jeremy Granger was named to the preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference team after earning second team NABC All-Region honors last year.  Granger led EIU in scoring at 14.5 points per game while passing out a team high 98 assists.  The senior was 8th in the NCAA in free throw shooting connecting on 90.4 percent from the stripe.  He enters the 2012 season as the Panthers career leader in free throw percentage at 87.4 percent.  Granger is on pace to finish the season over the 1,000 point mark for his career and in the top ten for career assists. 

PANTHERS SIGN THREE IN EARLY PERIOD
EIU head coach Mike Miller signed three players to National Letters of Intent during the early signing period.  Joining the Panthers next season will be Cameron Harvey, R.J. McGhee and Alex Phillips.  Harvey is a 6-3, 190 guard playing his senior season at Wheaton Academy in West Chicago.  McGhee is a 6-6, 190 guard who is currently a sophomore at Dodge City CC in Kansas.  Phillips is a 6-2, 185 guard who is currently a sophomore at New Mexico JC.

OVC GOES TO NEW SCHEDULE FORMAT
The Ohio Valley Conference will have a new format this season as all league schools will play a 16-game schedule.  Conference schools will play a home-and-home series against six opponents while playing the remaining four schools on their schedule only one time.  This season EIU will travel to Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech without a return visit from those two schools.  The Panthers will play host to Austin Peay and Tennessee State without having to pay a return visit to Clarksville or Nashville.  The OVC season will also start later than in year's past with the conference opener for EIU on Dec. 30 against Murray State.

OVC EXPANDING TO 12 TEAMS IN 2012
Much like many of the larger conferences, the Ohio Valley Conference will also be undergoing expansion next year as Belmont University (Nashville, Tenn.) will become the OVC's 12 member institution.  Belmont currently plays as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference.  EIU is 1-1 against Belmont splitting a home-and-home series in 2010.