The men’s basketball team will travel to Western Illinois Saturday to face the longest-standing rival on its schedule.

The game in Macomb will mark the Panthers (5-3) 144th meeting with the Leathernecks (4-2). Eastern defeated Western two years ago on the road and took the most recent win at Lantz Arena last season.

“The last couple of years, we’ve played well against them,” Panther head coach Rick Samuels said. “But we’ve certainly had peaks and valleys since I’ve been here.”

Eastern beat WIU 99-78 last year, but Samuels warns its team has improved since that game. Western is coming off its second loss of the year, a 72-53 defeat Wednesday night at the University of Nebraska.

“Their program has gotten better,” Samuels said. “They won on the road at Southeast Missouri and at Eastern Kentucky, and losing to Nebraska by 19 is not a devastating loss.”

Forwards J.D. Summers and Shawn Mason led the Leathernecks with 14 points each against Nebraska, but the Panthers will have to keep their eyes open for more than those two players.

“They have good inside kids,” Samuels said. “Their two leading guys are big, strong kids and powerfully built. They have a good perimeter kid too.”

Summers, a sophomore, has been successful from three-point range this season, making 5-for-9 to lead the team with a .559 percentage. Mason, a junior, leads the team with an average of 12.4 points per game while four others are averaging 11.

“We match-up. We have a good feel for their tendencies and that will give us a chance to defend,” Samuels said. “They’re active at the post, but with their offensive structure, we’ll have the helpside defense to trap them at the post.”

Eastern’s offense has changed over the past few games with the addition of sophomore guard Chris Herrera to the starting lineup, but most recently with a change at the starting center position as sophomore center Jesse Mackinson started in his first game Wednesday night at Evansville. Mackinson is a probable starter over junior center Jan Thompson for Saturday’s game.

“It was a two-fold thing. We needed Jesse’s offense in the game early because of Evansville’s gimmick defense,” Samuels said. “We didn’t want to give them two people to go after Henry (Domercant). But I think we’ll leave Jesse there right now in the starting lineup.”

More importantly than the starting lineup for the Panthers, however, is the chemistry in those minutes on the floor.

“It’s not who starts but who has the minutes and plays well,” Samuels said.

A new face playing more minutes at the point guard position for the Panthers has been sophomore guard Jason Wright, who came off the bench against Evansville for nine assists.

“Jason has played well and we don’t want to change that position when we know we have a chance to win on the road,” Samuels said of Wright’s 27 minutes at Evansville. “Point guard is the position we need to develop the most.”

The Panthers, who are currently on a four-game winning streak, will return to Lantz Arena after its trip to Macomb to host Loyola. The Panthers will be back on the road for four consecutive games starting with Oklahoma State, Ohio State and ending with its conference opener at Austin Peay. Eastern then begins a four-game homestand Jan. 5 against Southeast Missouri.

But for now, the Panthers carry a four-game win streak into their faceoff against the Leathernecks.

“The confidence factors are growing, but we don’t want to go too far in that direction,” Samuels said. “We need to go in ready to play every game.”