Panthers host Baker University in non-conference game
February 2, 2015
The Eastern men’s basketball team hosts NAIA school Baker University at 7 p.m., Tuesday in the
Trae Anderson, a junior forward, attempts to make a lay-up while being defended in the game Saturday in Lantz Arena against SIU Edwardsville. Anderson finished the game with 20 points.
Panthers’ last home game for the next two weeks.
The game against Baker (7-14) will be Eastern’s (13-9) first matchup with a non-conference opponent since Dec. 23 when they beat Cleveland State.
This is the first time the Panthers and the Wildcats have faced each other.
The Wildcats are sitting in last place of the Heart of America Athletic Conference. Baker has a 1-10 record against HAAC teams and is currently on a nine-game losing streak.
Eastern comes into Tuesday’s game following its first win in four games. Junior forward Trae Anderson led the Panthers to a 57-54 win over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Saturday.
Anderson scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds to push Eastern past the Cougars and snap a three-game losing streak.
He is now leading the Panthers with 12.6 points per game after putting up double-digit scoring efforts in eight of the last 10 games he has played.
Anderson has steadily increased his efficiency shooting from behind the three-point line. He has made five of his last nine attempts. Anderson went 5-of-15 for the entire season before that.
The Panthers are the third best three-point shooting team in the Ohio Valley Conference. They are shooting 36 percent from outside the arc.
Baker is led by senior guard EJ Carter. He scores a team-high 12.1 points per game on 46 percent shooting. Carter also leads the team in rebounds with 5.8 per game.
The Wildcats are putting up 64.7 points per game this season. Eastern leads the OVC averaging the least amount of points allowed at 60.1 per game.
While the Panthers also boast a conference best three-point percentage defense, Baker is shooting under 30 percent on the season. Eastern allows teams to shoot just above the Wildcats’ average from beyond the arc.
Freshman guard Cornell Johnston is coming off a 12 point and four assist performance against Edwardsville. Johnston averages the sixth most assists in the OVC at 4.2 per game.
Eastern’s game against the Wildcats is the last game of a brief home stand in Charleston before enduring a string of games on the road. The Panthers will travel to face Southeast Missouri followed by Austin Peay and then onto Edwardsville.
Eastern does not return to Lantz arena after Tuesday’s game until Feb. 19 when they host the University of Tennessee-Martin in their second matchup of the season.
The six remaining games on the schedule after the Panthers face Baker are all conference games. Three of the six games are against teams that account for Eastern’s only OVC losses on the season.
Eastern will try to improve to its 7-3 record at Lantz Arena on Tuesday night against Baker before getting back to OVC play.
Jehad Abbed can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].
