GAME NOTES: Looking to improve on a 2-2 overall record, the Ball State Cardinals will hit the road to take on the Eastern Illinois Panthers in a non- conference battle at Lantz Arena Wednesday night.

Ball State lost its first contest of the season to Utah, then easily defeated IU Kokomo, 101-62, for the team's first win. Since then, the Cardinals have dropped an overtime contest to IUPUI (71-69) and took down Grambling State (88-46) for some fairly polarizing results.

Eastern Illinois finally put a stop to a four-game losing streak with a win in the final leg of the Emerald Coast Classic against Southern University, 54-43. But the damage had been done, and the Panthers will try to climb out of an early-season 2-5 hole.

These two non-conference rivals have met a total of 20 times on the floor before this meeting. The Cardinals own the all-time series lead by a 16-4 margin, which includes wins in each of the last 10 games, although the sides have only met three times on the court since 1985.

Ball State used a strong offensive showing to push around Grambling State in the Cardinals' 88-46 destruction of the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tigers. The Cardinals hit 14-of-28 from 3-point range, and made 14-of-21 from the free-throw line to add to the 88-point outburst. Jeremie Tyler netted 18 points to pace Ball State, while Rocco Belcaster chipped in with 15, Frank House and Sean Sellers each has 12 and Bik Gill added 11 in the win. Matt Kamieniecki pulled down a team-best 13 rebounds for the Cards, and added two steals.

In four games played, Sellers leads the team in scoring average with 19.5 ppg, connecting on 57.1 percent of his shots from the floor. Tyler isn't too far off the pace, hitting 16.3 ppg on 53.1 percent shooting, and last year's freshman star Zavier Turner checks in with a 12.5 ppg average to round out the team's double-digit scorers. Turner however, is suspended for disciplinary reasons. The Cardinals have a pretty deceptive scoring average for a 2-2 record. Ball State is netting 82.5 ppg and is only allowing opponents to score 67.2 ppg. That should change as the season goes on for the Cardinals, who finished in the Mid-American Conference basement last season.

Eastern Illinois bounced back from a four-game losing streak in a big way in the team's most recent outing. The Panthers played well defensively in holding Southern to a mere 31.9 percent shooting from the floor, while the Panthers netted an impressive 58.1 percent of their shot attempts in the game en route to their second win of the season. Trae Anderson scored a team-high 16 points with six rebounds, and Dylan Chatman contributed 11 points in the win. EIU only made 18 shots from the field in the entire game, but that's all the Panthers would need to win.

Anderson is the team's only double-digit scorer this season, averaging 10.6 ppg through seven games played (just three starts). He also brings in a 4.1 rpg average to the contest against Ball State, which is a team best, and his 11 assists on the season is second only to Cornell Johnston's 27 helpers. Chris Olivier is the next closest to netting a double-digit scoring average at 9.3 ppg for the Panthers, who are scoring just 55.9 ppg as a unit and allowing 59.3 ppg in seven meetings.

Eastern Illinois has no offense, and its only two wins this season have come against lowly competition. Ball State isn't much better, but at least the Cardinals have players that are capable of taking a game over offensively. The Panthers will be outmatched in this one, despite the home advantage.