The Panther’s men’s basketball team takes on the Ohio Valley Conference’s best, the undefeated Samford Bulldogs, at 8 p.m. today.

Eastern (6-11, 1-5 OVC) will have to defend the Bulldog’s offense that left Morehead State head coach Kyle Macy impressed.

“It just makes every possession so important,” Macy said.

Samford (11-6, 6-0) is coming off consecutive road wins, defeating Morehead State 55-51 on Thursday and Eastern Kentucky 67-61 on Saturday.

Tonight’s game will be Samford’s first visit to Lantz Arena since joining the OVC last season.

Panther head coach Rick Samuels said he hopes the unfamiliar territory helps keep Samford from feeling comfortable.

“They’ve never been here, so we’re going to hope that they don’t shoot the ball very well,” he said. “It is a system, but the system requires that you shoot threes very well.”

Eastern Kentucky head coach Travis Ford said shooting is one the Bulldog’s biggest strengths.

“I’ve never seen a team come in and shoot that well,” Ford said. “They were 25 feet out on most of them.

“They’re a gutty basketball team.”

The Bulldogs used those guts to come back from a 30-17 deficit at the half against Eastern Kentucky.

In fact, the Panthers had similar fortunes in last year’s meeting at Samford, leading for late into the second half before losing 73-69.

Samford is led by junior forward J. Robert Merritt who is averaging 15.8 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the field.

Merritt’s also connecting on just under half of his three-point attempts, connecting on 49-of-105 attempts behind the arc.

The Bulldogs are shooting 50 percent from the field, something Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette is pleasantly surprised with.

“The biggest surprise has been how we’ve been able to collectively shoot 43 percent from three as a team,” he said, “but that can go away really quick, especially on the road.”

Samuels said Eastern will switch defenses to keep Samford uncomfortable and limit its overall effectiveness.

“One play isn’t going to kill us,” Samuels said. “They’re going to make some threes, and they’ll probably get a backdoor cut, but that doesn’t beat you.

“When you let it happen consistently is when it beats you.”