OVC Release
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Ohio Valley Conference held its annual basketball media day event on Tuesday at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, site of this year's OVC Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments taking place March 6 to March 9. Eastern Illinois was selected to finish in seventh place in the men's basketball preseason poll released at the event.
Terrell Lewis also represents the Panthers as a member of the Preseason All-OVC Team.
EIU is coming off a 12-19 season including a 7-11 run in conference play making the OVC tournament under head coach
Jay Spoonhour. The Panthers return two starters from last season and added eight new players in the offseason to the 2018-19 roster.
Lewis returns for a redshirt senior season following an injury that sidelined him after only eight games. Prior to his injury, Lewis averaged nine points per game and 4.8 assists per game. With his 13 points scored at Bradley on Dec. 1, he surpassed the 1,000 point mark and he ended his season ranked 37th all-time at EIU with 1,009 career points. Lewis became the ninth player in OVC history to join the 1,000 point, 500-assist club. He enters his final season with 501 career assists, which is just 198 away from the OVC all-time record.
Mack Smith joins Lewis as a key-returner for the Panthers. He was named to the OVC All-Newcomer team last season as he averaged 12.4 points per game. Smith connected on 54 3-pointers and set the EIU freshman single game scoring record with 31 points against Tennessee Tech. Smith earned OVC Freshman of the Week honors twice last season. His first award followed a double-double performance against UT Martin with 22 points and 11 rebounds going 6-of-13 from the arc. His second honor followed his 31 point performance vs. TTU and he later added 28 points vs. Austin Peay that same week.
Lucas Jones,
Logan Koch,
Aboubacar Diallo, and
Shawn Wilson also return for the 2018-19 season for the Panthers.
JaQualis Matlock,
Rade Kukobat,
Ben Harvey,
Josiah Wallace,
Braxton Shaw Cam Burrell,
Shareef Smith, and
Kashawn Charles make up the eight newcomers to this year's squad.
Belmont was picked for the fourth consecutive season as the OVC favorite. They have won four of the past six OVC regular season championships. Murray State, Jacksonville State, and Austin Peay round out the top four favorites in this season's poll. Lewis is joined by 11 other players on the 2018-19 Preseason All-OVC team. Belmont's Dylan Windler picked up Preseason Player of the Year honors.
The Panthers host Eureka College on Friday Nov. 2 for an exhibition game set to tip-off at 7 pm. EIU will then open the regular season on the road at Texas on Nov. 6 at 7 pm. Men's basketball will host Western Illinois on Saturday Nov. 17 for their home opener set for 7 pm.
