The Eastern men’s basketball team is off to its worst start in 23 years after the Panthers lost 84-68 to Tennessee State Monday at Lantz Arena.

The Panthers (0-6, 0-2 Ohio Valley Conference) started the 1982-83 season 0-12 before finishing the year 13-18.

Eastern head coach Mike Miller said nothing was working for his team.

“We completely embarrassed ourselves tonight,” he said. “That was a poor effort, and it was poorly executed.

“There were no positives really. It was too difficult to get anything done.”

Against the Tigers(2-2, 1-1), Eastern’s turnover problems continued as TSU’s defensive pressure kept the Panthers from finding offensive rhythm.

Eastern committed 18 turnovers leading to 28 TSU points.

And when the Tigers weren’t creating pressure on the Panther offense, they were lighting up the Eastern defense.

TSU senior guard Wayne Arnold led all scorers with 25 points and junior guard Bruce Price, a preseason All-OVC Second Team pick, added 18 points in the win. Senior forward Kareem Grant added 17 points and 7 rebounds, and junior forward Clarence Matthews scored 16.

As a team, the Tigers shot 60.8 percent form the field.

For the Panthers, sophomore guard Bobby Catchings scored a season-high 20 points and junior guard Josh Gomes had 17.

Gomes said some members of his team aren’t living up to their potential.

“We didn’t have five guys out there playing together at one time during the game out there,” he said. “Some guys, it looks like, don’t care if we care 0-27.”

After having a double-digit lead for much of the second half, the Tigers used a late 14-2 run to put Eastern away.

Eastern’s inability to get to the free-throw line continued, as the Panthers made just 7-of-8 attempts. TSU shot 15-of-21 from the line.

One the season, Panther opponents are averaging 26 free-throw tries per game – 9 more than the Panthers.

The Panthers trailed 45-35 at halftime – the first time at home where Eastern failed to enter the second half with a lead.

Both teams shot the ball well from the field in the opening half, but Tennessee State took care of the ball and forced the Panthers into 11 first-half turnovers.

The Tigers shot 64.3 percent from the field in the half, hitting 4-of-8 three-point tries. All four three-point shots came from Arnold, who led all scorers with 16 points at the half.

Price, Tennessee State’s leading scorer, shot 6-of-7 from the floor to finish with 14 points in the half. In the half. TSU shot 64 percent from the field, and Eastern shot 43 percent.

Things could’ve been worse for Eastern, though, as hot outside shooting of its own kept the team in the game.

The Panthers, led by Gomes, hit 7-of-11 three-point attempts. Gomes shot 4-of-6 and Catchings hit 2-of-3 three pointers.

However, Eastern couldn’t get the job done on the interior. The Tigers doubled the Panthers’ scoring output in the paint, 16-8.

“It’s kind of frustrating we didn’t get anything done down there,” Gomes said.

Tennessee State heads to Southern Mississippi for a non-conference game Monday.

Eastern will head to the road for the first time in the OVC schedule, traveling to Eastern Kentucky Monday Dec. 19 and to Morehead State two days later.

The Panthers game at EKU will be televised on ESPNU at 6 p.m..

But before the Panthers move forward, they’ll have one week to reflect on their regression against Tennessee State.

“It’s a step backwards,” Catchings said. “We had been getting better every game. It’s embarrassing.”