Taking care of the ball.

That’s what Gino Myers-Kyles thinks will fix the men’s basketball teams early season problems.

“We have to rebound the ball, take care of the ball, and defend the ball,” said the senior guard. “If we do those three things well, we will be a great team.”

The Panthers (1-4) will look for a first round win in the Iowa Hawkeye Challenge in Iowa City, Iowa, against the Rice Owls (0-4).

If the Panthers defeat Rice in the first round, they will play the winner of Iowa and Louisiana-Monroe.

Senior center Jake Byrne said there’s a great deal of pressure on the Panthers and they need to come out and win this first game of the tournament to get momentum for OVC play.

“Both teams are coming in needing to show who they are,” Byrne said. “We are in a good position. This is a winnable game. There is a lot of pressure on us going into the Ohio Valley and we must win this first game in the tournament. We are improving and we want to make a statement that we are a force to be reckoned with.”

Byrne said no matter the style Rice plays, Eastern has to play its game.

“Regardless of how they want to play, we have to play to our style and strengths,” Byrne said.

Rice is coming off a loss to Arkansas-Little Rock in which they surrendered the lead late in the second half. The Trojans scored seven unanswered points in the last 4 minutes and 21 seconds of regulation.

Eastern will look to shut down Owls senior forward Paulius Packevicius, who leads the team in both points (13.5 points per game) and rebounds (9.8) this season.

Eastern is coming off a loss to Wisconsin-Green Bay where they were out rebounded 33-25 and were outscored 12-0 in second chance points.

“We have to go out and clean a few things up from the last game,” Byrne said. “We have to go over that and we should be all right.”

This will be the first meeting between the two programs and Eastern is 2-2 all time against current Conference USA teams.

The Panthers are 0-3 all-time in Iowa City.

The game will be broadcast on 88.9 with tip-off schedule for 5:45 p.m.