EIU men’s basketball clinched the final spot in the Ohio Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Championships despite losing on the final day of the regular season.
With the help of a loss from Tennessee Tech to Southeast Missouri, Eastern (12-19, 8-12) still has a path to an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Here’s what the Panthers would need to do to become OVC Champions.
First round: Eastern beats SIUE
The Panthers would need to win their first-round game against Southern Illinois Edwardsville on Wednesday. Eastern split the season series with the Cougars, and most recently lost 77-50 on Saturday. Eastern is set to take on SIUE for the second time in the same week.
“We have to watch [the game film], we have to learn from it,” head coach Marty Simmons. “It’s not going to be easy to watch. They dominated us.”
Eastern won the other meeting during the regular season with a 76-72 overtime victory at Groniger Arena on Dec. 18.
Quarterfinals: Eastern beats UT Martin
If Eastern takes down the 5-seed SIUE, its next game would be in the quarterfinals on Thursday against 4-seed UT Martin. The Panthers would need to beat the Skyhawks for the first time all season to survive and advance. The Panthers lost 65-61 in Martin, Tennessee, on Jan. 3 and lost at Groniger Arena 76-68.
Semifinals: Eastern beats Tennessee State
Emboldened by back-to-back upsets in the previous days, the Panthers would then be in the final four of the conference tournament and face their biggest test yet. Eastern would be slated to face off against the regular season co-champion and 1-seed Tennessee State.
Eastern split the season series with the Tigers. The first meeting was a feisty encounter at Groniger Arena that involved plenty of back-and-forth between both sets of players, and a post-game skirmish in the handshake line after Eastern won 74-70 on Jan. 10.
Down in Nashville, Tennessee State got a 77-68 win on Feb. 5. This would be the first game of the tournament broadcasted on national network television, as both semifinal games of the men’s tournament are set to be shown on ESPNU.
FINAL: Eastern cuts down the nets
If Eastern gets to this point, it means that the Panthers will have pulled of three upset victories in as many days, including a win over the 1-seed. At this point, the Panthers would take on the other semifinal winner, which will consist of 2-seed Morehead State and one of SEMO, Lindenwood or Little Rock. A conference title and an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament would be put on the line, and the winner could say that their team is the first one in the country to get into the March Madness bracket.
Eastern opens up tournament play on Wednesday against SIUE, tipoff is set for 6 p.m.
Gabe Newman can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].
