GAME NOTES: The eighth-seeded Eastern Michigan Eagles get a home game to begin play in the Mid-American Conference Tournament, as they will play host to the Miami-Ohio RedHawks at the Convocation Center on Monday.

The winner of this game will take on either Ball State or Bowling Green in Wednesday's second round at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH.

Miami-Ohio struggled this season to a 13-18 overall record, including an 8-10 league ledger. John Cooper's RedHawks lacked consistency late in the season, going 5-5 in the month of February. The team closed out the regular season with two straight losses.

Miami-Ohio does possess a winning record in the MAC Tournament at 38-29 all- time and has won four tournament crowns, the last of which came in 2007.

Rob Murphy's Eagles can reach the 20-win mark with their next victory. The team finished up the 2014-15 regular season at 19-12 overall and like Miami- Ohio, managed just an 8-10 mark in conference play. However, EMU did close out the year with back-to-back wins.

Eastern Michigan sports a 27-29 record in this tournament and like Miami-Ohio also has four tourney titles. The team's last championship came back in 1998.

These two teams split a pair of regular-season meetings, each winning at home. This marks the 72nd all-time meeting, with Miami holding a 49-22 advantage.

The RedHawks have had some success at the offensive end of the floor this season, averaging 66.5 ppg, on a healthy .441 shooting. That hasn't carried over to the defensive end however, with the team allowing foes net 69.8 ppg on .459 shooting efficiency.

The Miami attack is three-pronged, led by junior guard Eric Washington's 14.5 ppg. He is followed in the scoring column by senior guard Will Sullivan and junior guard Geovonie McKnight. who add 10.9 and 10.6 ppg, respectively. Sullivan has been a fixture in the lineup over his career. With this game, he will tie Julian Mavunga for the most career appearances in school history (124 games).

Eastern Michigan doesn't shoot the ball as well as Miami on the season at a mere .414, but the Eagles are averaging a slightly better 69.7 ppg.

Key to the EMU offensive attack is sophomore guard Raven Lee, who ranks third in the conference in scoring at a healthy 16.4 ppg. Lee has nine games this season with 20 or more points. Senior forward Karrington Ward and senior guard Mike Talley are productive as well, adding 12.7 and 12.6 ppg, respectively. The problem for Eastern Michigan is that the scoring pool dries up quickly after that, as the team's fourth-leading scorer comes in at just 6.5 ppg.

EMU has won 15 games at home this season and that advantage should carry the Eagles over the RedHawks and into the next round.