Bills vs. Panthers

The Billikids conclude the home portion of their nonconference schedule with a game against the Eastern Illinois Panthers tonight at 8 p.m.
Eastern Illinois comes into tonight's contest with a 7-4 record. What is most unique about the Panthers' record is that five of their victories have come on the road.
One of those road victories was a 63-60 win at Belmont, which gave the Bills all they could handle a couple of weeks ago. Belmont actually beat EIU by 33 points in an earlier meeting on the Panthers' home court. What a strange turnaround that was.
With that in mind, we must proceed with caution before we can automatically chalk this one up in the win column. We have to put some work in to get the job done. I think we learned our lesson last week against UMKC when we trailed in the second half, only to see Kwamain Mitchell go on his 33-point rift to pull us through.
By the way, congrats to Kwamain for being tabbed the Atlantic 10 Player of the Week for his heroic effort last week against UMKC.
As for Eastern Illinois, the Panthers should be bolstered by the return of their top player Romain Martin to the lineup. He has been their leading scorer for the past three years and an All Ohio Valley Conference performer.
Martin has played in only one game this year before suffering an injury. I heard he is supposed to be in action tonight, so that would be a plus for the Panthers if he is able to go.
Their leading scorer is 6'1" senior guard Tyler Laser, who averages 15.8 points a game. The scoring is pretty spread out after Laser. Sophomore guard Jeremy Granger averages 8.5 points while frontcourt players Edin Suljic and Shaun Pratl average about seven points a game. Senior swingmen T.J. Marion and Curry McKinney, both 6'4', average about six points a game.
The big man in the middle is 6'8" 250-pound senior Ousmanne Cisse, who averages six points and leads the team in rebounding. I imagine he will try to put the arm on Willie tonight.
It will be the last home game of this home stand, then it's six of the next eight games on the road, beginning with the game at Bowling Green on Saturday. It would be great to finish this homestand on a great note with some solid defense and excellent perimeter shooting, which would provide a little extra working room for Willie Reed in the post.
Willie's touches have been limited by the sagging defenses in the past two games and it's been a little frustrating for him. Hopefully, we can knock a few shots down from the perimeter and make life a little easier for No. 33.
It would also be good if we could create some easy scoring opportunities off of our defense. In earlier games, we've been able to get some defensive stops and turn them into transition baskets, especially with Kwamain on the prowl. That can take some of the pressure off of our half-court offense, which gets stagnant at times.
And yes, we have to shoot our free throws better. We took a giant step backwards in our last game. Hopefully, we can do better.
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Look forward to seeing you at the Chaifetz Arena tonight. If you get a chance, show up a little early and check out Shimmy Gray-Miller's women in action tonight. They have some nice players as well such as Amanda Kemezys, Lauren Woods and Katie Paganelli.
If you can't make it, you can hear the call on 101-ESPN with myself and my SLU Hall of Fame play-by-play partner Bob Ramsey on the call.
Go Bills!