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EASTERN ILLINOIS at Bradley

Nov. 9, 2012  •  8 p.m. (CST)
Carver Arena  •  Peoria, Ill.
Radio: Hit Mix 88.9 FM  •  TV: None
Mike Bradd & Jack Ashmore

GAME 1
Eastern Illinois opens its 103rd of intercollegiate basketball on Friday night as a NEW Era of Panthers basketball begins with head coach Jay Spoonhour.  Spoonhour was hired in April and becomes only the third head coach in the NCAA Division I history of the Panthers program.  EIU faces in-state foe Bradley to open the year.  The Panthers have lost their last two season openers and are coming off a 12-17 year.

EIU-BRADLEY SERIES
This will be 9th meeting between Eastern Illinois and Bradley with the series tied 4-4.  EIU won the last meeting with a 63-56 win over the Braves on Nov. 24, 2010.  Prior to that game the two teams had last met in 1972 with Bradley winning 99-84.  All six of the other meetings took place between 1916 and 1927 when both schools played as part of the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

SCOUTING BRADLEY
Bradley is coming off of a 7-25 year as the Braves finished 10th in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 2-16 record.  Bradley beat Upper Iowa and Wisconsin Parkside in its two exhibition games this year.  Tyshon Pickett had a double-double against UW Parkside while Will Egolf and Walt Lemon, Jr., had double figure scoring in both contests. 

SPOONHOUR TAKES OVER
Eastern Illinois will be under the direction of new head coach Jay Spoonhour when the Panthers open the 2012-13 season.  Spoonhour was most recently the head coach at Moberly Area Community College.  He is the 14th head coach in the history of the program and only the third in NCAA Division I history of Panther basketball.  Rick Samuels (1981-2005) and Mike Miller (2006-12) were the other two Division I coaches.  Spoonhour will be looking to become the first EIU head coach to win their first game on the Panthers sidelines since John Caine on Dec. 2, 1967 when EIU beat Missouri St. Louis, 78-73, to open the year.  Of the 13 previous head coaches at EIU, eight have posted a win in their first game while five have posted a loss.  Spoonhour won his first career Division I game at UNLV - 68-65, over San Diego State.

PANTHERS ROLL IN EXHIBITION WIN
Eastern Illinois opened with a 15-5 run and never looked back as the Panthers won their lone exhibition game 87-34 over Trinity International.  EIU led 46-13 at the break as freshman Alex Austin scored ten of his 13 points in the opening half.  Senior Malcolm Herron led the Panthers in scoring with 15 points while Josh Piper added 11.  EIU shot 55 percent as a team while holding Trinity to just 21 percent shooting.  Sherman Blanford had a team high eight rebounds while Austin Akers had nine assists.

PIPER LEADING RETURNER
Sophomore Josh Piper is the Panthers top returning scorer and rebounder after coming off the bench in all 29 games last season.  Piper averaged 4.3 points and 2.1 rebounds per game last year.  He shot 57 percent from the field and 92 percent from the free throw line.

AKERS MOST EXPERIENCED STARTER
Senior guard Austin Akers is the most experienced player returning on this year's roster that includes only seven players from last season.  Akers started six games on the year leading the team in assist-to-turnover ratio.  Akers finished with 63 assists playing in all 29 games.

YOUNG CHICAGO GUARDS
EIU has a pair of young guards from the Windy City in freshmen Alex Austin and Cameron Harvey.  Austin was a two-time All-Catholic League selection at Chicago Mount Carmel HS averaging 18.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.  Harvey averaged 16.5 points and 3.6 rebounds playing at Wheaton Academy where he earned fourth team All-State honors.

JUCO SCORING
The Panthers may look to junior college transfer R.J. McGhee to provide some scoring punch this season.  McGhee played at Dodge City CC last season averaging 18.7 points per game as he was rated as one of the top 100 JUCO players in the nation.

MORE JUCO EXPERIENCE
EIU added two junior college players in the post with the addition of Sherman Blanford and Keenan Anderson.  Blanford was an honorable mention All-Region player at Marshalltown CC.  He led his conference in rebounding as a freshman with 8.7 rebounds per game while scoring 10.4 points per game as a sophomore.  Anderson played only one season at Olney Central College helping the team post a 25-8 record.

YOUNG LINE-UP
Eastern Illinois may feature one of the youngest line-ups in the nation based on true playing experience.  Of EIU's seven returning players the Panthers have a combined 15 starts with that group averaging 15.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game while playing an average of 9 minutes per contest.  Austin Akers, Josh Piper and Taylor Jones all averaged over 10 minutes per game.   The Panthers have four seniors, two juniors and one sophomore returning from last season.  EIU lost its top six scorers and rebounders following last year.

ONE LINERS
• EIU shot 55 percent from the field in its exhibition win over Trinity International.  The Panthers were 19-of-32 in the first half including 6-of-10 from 3-point range.

• EIU dominated play on the glass in its exhibition win with a 47-30 margin.  Sherman Blanford had eight rebounds while Mlacolm Heron had four offensive boards.

• The Panthers posted eight blocked shots in the exhibition win as Sherman Blanford swatted away three shots and Keenan Anderson rejected another two.

EASTERN ILLINOIS HEAD COACH JAY SPOONHOUR
Jay Spoonhour enters his first season as the Panthers head coach having been hired on April 9, 2012.  Spoonhour was most recently the head coach at Moberly Area Community College where he coached for three seasons.  He is a long time assistant coach at the NCAA Division I level and served as the interim head coach at UNLV to complete the 2004 season posting a 6-4 record and taking the team to the finals of the Mountain West Conference along with an NIT appearance.  In 2001 Spoonhour was named the National Junior College Coach of the Year leading Wabash Valley College to the NJCAA National Championship with a 36-1 record.  He is the son of the late legendary coach Charlie Spoonhour.  Spoonhour played basketball at Pittsburg State earning his degree in 1994.  He was an honorable mention All-Conference selection.  He has assistant coaching stops at Central Missouri, Saint Louis, UNLV, Missouri and Texas San Antonio. 

PANTHERS PICKED 5TH IN OVC WEST
Eastern Illinois was picked to finish in 5th place in the Ohio Valley Conference West Division this season.  The Panthers finished 10th last season in the one division format missing the OVC Tournament.  With the addition of Belmont to the OVC this season, the conference will play in two six team divisions.  Murray State was picked to win the West Division followed by Southeast Missouri, Austin Peay, SIU Edwardsville, EIU and UT Martin.  Belmont was selected to win the East Division after winning the Atlantic Sun Conference last year.

OVC GROWS, SPLITS TO DIVISIONS
The Ohio Valley Conference grew to 12 members with the addition of Belmont for the 2012-13 school year.  The OVC will now play in Divisions - East & West for men's and women's basketball.  Each school will play a home & home series within its division and one game against opponents from the opposite division (3 home games, 3 road games).  The two eight schools in the conference based on record will advance to the OVC Tournament in Nashville with the division winners seeded first and second.  SIU Edwardsville is now eligible to play in the OVC Tournament.  Due to NCAA APR penalties, Jacksonville State is not eligible for the OVC Tournament this season.

FATHER, SON COMBINATIONS
Jay Spoonhour and his late father, Charlie Spoonhour, are one of several father/son combinations that have coached in collegiate basketball.  Entering the season the two have combined to win 376 NCAA basketball games, all coming at the Division I level.  Only 17 father/son combinations have ever won 600 or more games with Eddie, Scott and Sean Sutton topping the list with 1,091 wins between the three.  Scott is currently the head coach at Oral Roberts.  Only three father/son combinations have ever won more than 1,000 games at the NCAA level.

OVC DIGITAL NETWORK
Basketball fans can watch each Eastern Illinois home game and all OVC road games for free online this year on the OVC Digital Network streaming platform.  Fans can view games by visiting - www.ovcdigitalnetwork.com