After Eastern’s unsuccessful start to the season on the road, with losses to Northern Illinois and Wisconsin, the Panthers (0-2) return home to play Illinois-Chicago (5-1) on Tuesday.

Eastern struggled on the road because of the mixture of youth on the team and tough competition for the first two contests.

The Panthers opened the 2003-2004 season with a seven-point loss to Northern Illinois, but they were blown out as the team traveled to Kohl Center against Wisconsin.

After the loss to the Badgers the Panthers are ready to start up their season in Lantz Arena, where the Panthers have been 19-2 in home openers since 1981.

“We have to get going now to take advantage of playing at home for the next three games,” Eastern head coach Rick Samuels said. “Because we have to go on the road until Jan. 3 after these games. So building confidence now is essential.”

To work the kinks out of the team will obviously take time, as the coaching staff believes it is a matter of chemistry. The youthful members of the Panthers have yet to really start to feel completly together throughout an entire game.

“The struggles early on are not entirely unexpected.

Its just a matter of blending the players, and that takes game time experience,” Samuels said.

So far this season only two players on the Panthers squad have averaged double figures in points through the first two games.

One is the senior leader center Jesse Mackinson, who has averaged 10.5 points per game thus far. The other is junior guard Derik Hollyfield who leads the team with 14 points per game.

“Home is a place to come back and get that first victory,” Mackinson said.

The offense thus far for Eastern has been inconsistent with new players having to blend together, and players still having to determine which roles they are ready to step into.

While the Panthers have struggled with this, the UIC Flames have a starting lineup consisting of all seniors.

The experience all these players have together even goes deeper than that as most of the members of the team as the veterans played together in high school as well.

“They have a number of veteran players who have been through the wars,” Samuels said. “A lot of their players have been together for six or seven years and have been playing together since high school.”

Because of their experience, the Flames understand who is the focal point of the offense, and who are the role players to him.

The leading scorer for UIC is Cedrick Banks, who is a lanky 6 foot 3 inch senior forward. Banks is averaging 20 points per game, and also has almost five rebounds and three assists per game.

Banks’ play is a major reason for the Flames’ fast start, as they have rattled off four straight victories since losing to Oakland.

“I don’t think they have had soft schedule because they have won on the road,” Samuels said. “Winning at Evansville and against UT-San Antonio, have been good wins and the San Antonio game wasn’t that close.”

Sports Reporter John Hohenadel also contributed to this story.