Saturday, February 23rd, 8:00 p.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Site: Hynes Athletics Center (2,611) -- New Rochelle, New York. Television: none. Home Record: Evansville 7-7, EIU 3-7. Away Record: Evansville 1-11, EIU 2-13. Neutral Record: Evansville 0-0, EIU 0-1. Conference Record: Evansville 3-13, EIU 4-14. Series Record: EIU leads, 11-6.

GAME NOTES: Two struggling teams with square off in a BracketBuster contest at the Hynes Athletics Center, as Eastern Illinois closes out its regular season with a three-game home stand starting with the Evansville Purple Aces tonight. Eastern Illinois has had a week to rest for tonight's game, as the Panthers dropped a hard-fought 67-56 decision at Murray State last weekend. It was the fourth loss in the past five games for EIU, as the team has managed just three victories at home and just four Ohio Valley Conference wins in 18 attempts. The squad will close out the regular season by hosting Jacksonville State and Samford next week. Offense has been tough to come by for Evansville in the past two games, falling to Missouri State (76-38) and Illinois State (49-47) in back-to-back rough outings. The Purple Aces have dropped 10 straight on the road while managing a 7-7 record in home contests. Evansville will get back to Missouri Valley Conference play next week when the squad travels to Wichita State. As for the all-time series, the Panthers of Eastern Illinois hold a strong 11-6 lead over the Purple Aces.

Darin Granger came off the bench to hit 3-of-6 from behind the arc to lead the Purple Aces with 15 points in their latest setback. It was just the third time Granger has topped Evansville in scoring, as he's needed to step up in second- leading scorer Jason Holsinger's absence. Holsinger leads the team with 103 assists, while netting 13.0 ppg, but has an injured hand and his return is unknown. Shy Ely has had to shoulder much of the load for Evansville, as his 14.5 points and 5.3 rebounds leads the team in both categories. Nate Garner has played well of late, as he recorded 10 points and nine rebounds in the loss to Illinois State earlier in the week.

Eastern Illinois' Jake Byrne connected on 7-of-10 from the field to log a team- high 16 points last weekend, but no other Panther reached double figures in the nine-point loss. The squad was outrebounded by a 36-26 margin and made just nine first half field goals. Bobby Catchings leads all healthy Panthers with 11.4 ppg, while collecting a respectable 4.7 rpg. Julio Anthony has stepped up in conference play by logging 11.0 ppg, but the team still misses leading scorer Romain Martin (13.6 ppg), who has missed extensive time with a foot injury. Ousmane Cisse is pulling down a team-high 5.7 rpg, but needs to be a bigger factor on the offensive side, as he should be putting up more than 5.3 ppg, with his field goal percentage at .492.

Eastern Illinois has kept itself in the past few games with scrappy play, and though the Panthers are a paltry 3-7 at home this season, Evansville has been even worse in picking up road victories.

Predicted Outcome

Eastern Illinois 63, Evansville 57