Who’s Playing
Eastern Illinois Panthers @ Eastern Kentucky Colonels
Current Records: Eastern Illinois 3-6, Eastern Kentucky 5-5
How To Watch
What to Know
The Eastern Kentucky Colonels will face off against the Eastern Illinois Panthers at 8:00 p.m. ET on Saturday at Baptist Health Arena. The Colonels are strutting in with some offensive muscle as they’ve averaged 76.3 points per game this season.
Eastern Kentucky managed to keep up with Pittsburgh until halftime on Wednesday, but things quickly went downhill from there. Eastern Kentucky was dealt a punishing 96-56 defeat at the hands of Pittsburgh. The contest marked the Colonels’ lowest-scoring match so far this season.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from George Kimble III, who scored 16 points plus three steals.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Eastern Kentucky struggled to work together and finished the game with only six assists. Sadly, that’s becoming something of a trend for them; they were averaging 15 assists per game earlier this season, but in their last five games they’ve fallen to only 11.2 per game.
Meanwhile, there’s no place like home for Eastern Illinois, who bounced back after a tough loss on the road last Tuesday. They put a hurting on Calumet to the tune of 87-57 on Friday. With the Panthers ahead 39-18 at the half, the matchup was all but over already.
Eastern Kentucky has traveled a rocky road recently having lost three of their last four contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-5 record this season. As for Eastern Illinois, they pushed their record up to 3-6 with the win, which was their sixth straight at home dating back to last season.
Keep an eye on the arc in Saturday’s match: Eastern Kentucky has made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having averaged 8.9 threes per game. It’s a different story for Eastern Illinois, though, as they’ve been averaging only 5.3. Given Eastern Kentucky’s sizable advantage in that area, Eastern Illinois will need to find a way to close that gap.
Everything came up roses for Eastern Kentucky against Eastern Illinois in their previous matchup back in November of 2021, as the team secured an 82-43 victory. Will Eastern Kentucky repeat their success, or does Eastern Illinois have a better game plan this time around? We’ll find out soon enough.
Series History
Eastern Kentucky has won 5 out of their last 9 games against Eastern Illinois.
- Nov 22, 2021 – Eastern Kentucky 82 vs. Eastern Illinois 43
- Jan 16, 2021 – Eastern Kentucky 93 vs. Eastern Illinois 85
- Dec 30, 2020 – Eastern Kentucky 69 vs. Eastern Illinois 61
- Feb 06, 2020 – Eastern Kentucky 91 vs. Eastern Illinois 84
- Jan 09, 2020 – Eastern Kentucky 77 vs. Eastern Illinois 74
- Jan 31, 2019 – Eastern Illinois 67 vs. Eastern Kentucky 66
- Jan 06, 2018 – Eastern Illinois 54 vs. Eastern Kentucky 53
- Jan 07, 2017 – Eastern Illinois 74 vs. Eastern Kentucky 60
- Jan 14, 2016 – Eastern Illinois 97 vs. Eastern Kentucky 85
