The Panther men’s basketball team heads back on the road looking for their first conference win Saturday, when it takes on the Tennessee State Tigers in Nashville, Tenn.

The Panthers (5-9, 0-3 Ohio Valley Conference) haven’t played at home since Dec. 21, and have lost five in a row over that span.

And the Tigers (5-8, 1-1) might be vulnerable playing without senior center Rod Flowers, the OVC’s leading rebounder and sixth-best scorer.

Flowers, who may be out with an injury, missed the Tigers’ last two OVC games, a 93-69 win at Jacksonville State and a 79-68 loss to Samford.

“They played without him last weekend and looked really good against Jacksonville State and not so good against Samford,” Eastern head coach Rick Samuels said. “If, he’s not able to play, we’re matched up better size-wise.”

One Panther who would benefit from Flowers’ absence is senior forward Aaron Patterson.

Patterson, who stands at 6-feet-5, is coming off a 14-point, four-rebound night in Eastern’s 79-60 loss to Southeast Missouri State Tuesday. He said the team needs to get its offense back on track.

“We’ve won games this year; we know we can do it,” he said. “We just got to take care of the ball, penetrate to the basket and execute our offense.

“We’ve got guys who can score from each position, but our motion offense hasn’t been as consistently effective.”

The Panthers may be playing the perfect team to kick-start their offense against.

Tennessee State is last in the OVC in scoring defense, allowing an average of 81.3 points per game (ppg). However, the Tigers do have a potent offense, averaging 76.5 ppg – third best in the OVC.

Samuels said the opening minutes of the game will be crucial in the outcome.

“They’ve always been a team that runs in big spurts,” he said. “If they start out the game on one of those spurts and we’re in the hole, it’s going to be difficult to dig ourselves out.”

A quick start by the Tigers wouldn’t help Eastern’s confidence, which has been strained, Samuels said.

“We’re suffering a little bit from our confidence getting eroded by not winning,” he said. “And, we’re suffering a little bit from our individual player’s confidence eroding by maybe not playing so well a few games in a row.

“We have to start building that confidence back up, and a win helps that tremendously.”

Patterson said he has been conveying a message to his younger teammates, in order to keep confidence high.

“I just tell them to keep working hard, to take practice seriously and to play with passion,” Patterson said. “Things will get right for us.

“Once we get one win, we’ll be all right.”