Don’t call this a redemption game for the Eastern men’s basketball team.

At least that is how coach Jay Spoonhour views Eastern’s rematch with Tennessee-Martin at 7 p.m. Thursday in Lantz Arena.

The Skyhawks defeated the Panthers 84-77 on Jan. 23 in Martin, Tenn., and it was the third most points Eastern has surrendered this season.

“We have to worry about the technical part of it rather than the emotional part of it,” Spoonhour said. “The word ‘redemption’ has too much emotion to it.”

The Skyhawks erased an 11-point deficit with a 50-point second half where they shot 60 percent from the field and 6-of-8 from 3-point range.

“Containment got us beat last time,” Spoonhour said. “We just can’t let them drive it past us like we did.”

Eastern, now at 5-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference and second in the west division, will try to avoid all emotion it can when it hosts Tennessee-Martin, the OVC’s second worst team at 2-7 in conference play.

“We can be as fired up as we want, but that can only get us so far unless we actually guard,” Spoonhour said.

Tennessee-Martin has four quick guards who are as good as any in the OVC, which caused fits for Eastern’s size-dominated lineup, Spoonhour said.

Sherman Blanford, Chris Olivier and Josh Piper, who are all 6-foot-7 or 6-foot-8 forwards, are forced to guard smaller, faster guards against the Skyhawks, and Spoonhour is forced to play different matchups.

“It’s hard for (Blanford), (Olivier) and (Piper) to guard a 6-foot-1 guard and that causes us to lose the height advantage inside,” Spoonhour said.

Blanford, Olivier and Piper are three of Eastern’s top six players in minutes per game.

But Tennessee-Martin’s guard combo of Terence Smith, Mike Liabo, Marshun Newell and Dee Oldham combine for 46.3 points per game — more than half of the Skyhawks’ 73.1 points per game.

Those same four guards dropped 59 points on the Panthers in their matchup just four games ago.

Smith and Liabo scored 19 and 20, respectively, on a combined 14-of-26 shooting. Liabo also scored 16 of his game-high points in the Skyhawks second-half comeback.

But all of that culminates into the last game, something Spoonhour said does not relate to Thursday night.

“We don’t bring up stuff like that,” Spoonhour said. “This is simply a game we have to win.”

Anthony Catezone can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].