EASTERN ILLINOIS (11-14, 5-7 OVC) vs. Southeast Missouri (8-17, 3-9 OVC)
Thursday, Feb. 15 • 7:30 pmÂ
Charleston, Ill. • Groniger Arena
GAME INFO
RADIO: Hit Mix 88.9 WEIU
TV: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: www.eiupanthers.com
SERIES RECORD: SEMO leads 38-31
LAST MEETING: @SEMO 78, EIU 64 on Feb. 16, 2023
NOTES: Complete EIU Game Notes
GAME 26
Eastern Illinois returns home to Groniger Arena for a pair of crucial games as the race to make the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament has just three weeks remaining.  EIU enters the week in seventh place in the league standings as the top eight teams qualify for the post-season event. The Panthers are 11-14 overall, 5-7 in the OVC after splitting a pair of road games last week. EIU hosts Southeast Missouri and Lindenwood this week, two teams currently behind EIU in the league race. On Thursday Southeast Missouri comes to town for the only meeting this season between the teams, the winner would own any tie-breakers at the end of the year. SEMO is currently 8-17 overall, 3-9 in the OVC sitting in tenth in the conference standings.
DAVIS WITH BACK-TO-BACK DOUBLE-DOUBLES
It had been just over two months since the Panthers had a player collect a double-double in a game when
Kyndall Davis posted his first career double-double on Thursday at Southern Indiana.  It only took one more game for EIU to have its most recent as the junior wing had his second straight double-double with 19 points and ten rebounds at Morehead State. Davis had 20 points and a career high 12 rebounds in the road win at Southern Indiana. It was his second 20-point game this season after a career high 23 in the OVC opener at SIUE. In addition to his scoring, Davis picked up six steals for the week. He has at least one steal in 12 straight games and ranks sixth in the OVC in steals with 35.Â
Kooper Jacobi is the only other EIU player with a double-double this season (two total) with his last on Dec. 7 versus IUPUI.
PANTHERS AND POINTS OFF TURNOVERS
Eastern Illinois has been up and down shooting the basketball during parts of the OVC season with six of the 12 games shooting below 40 percent from the field. The one thing that has kept the Panthers in many of the games is their ability to create turnovers and then convert those into points.  On Saturday at Morehead State that played out once again as EIU forced 14 turnovers and converted those into 19 points.  On the flip side, EIU has been solid in maintaining the basketball as well not allowing turnovers to hurt them. At Morehead State, EIU had six turnovers leading to just two points for MSU. It was the third time in OVC play that EIU has allowed two or fewer points off turnovers in a game. EIU leads the league in turnover margin averaging a league low 10.4 turnovers per game while forcing an OVC high 14.3 turnovers per game. The plus 4.1 turnover margin ranks 17th in the NCAA this season with EIU averaging 16.3 points per game off turnovers this season.
UP NEXT
Saturday, February 17 vs. Lindenwood - 3:30 pm (ESPN+)
