One year ago, the men’s basketball team was still on the court, practicing for its NCAA Tournament appearance against the University of Arizona, but the 2001-2002 season had a different ending.

“I don’t think we capitalized well on what was available. Not that we would repeat last year, but I think that it was a possibility to do that,” head coach Rick Samuels said.

“You need to be good, and have some luck, but we failed to capitalize on carrying that momentum from last year into this most recent season.”

A downward spiral that began in February ended last week with a 103-56 loss to Murray State, sending Eastern (15-16, 7-10) home after the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Feb. 28.

“I’m still greatly disappointed,” Samuels said. “Not obviously about just that game, but also very disappointed in context of a difficult February.”

The Panthers lost six of their eight games in February and the downward pull only strengthened Feb. 14 against Murray State with Eastern’s first home loss in 23 games.

“January, I could see us building,” Samuels said.

“As we got into February, we started that free fall. There was just not an ability to recover our confidence, nor could we find a way to rally our toughness and break through – and recover.”