GAME NOTES: The Eastern Illinois Panthers and the Southern University Jaguars will close out their stays in the Emerald Coast Classic with a fourth-round matchup at The Arena on Saturday afternoon.

EIU has gotten off to a sluggish start this season with just one win in its first six games, with that victory coming against Division III Eureka College on Nov. 17 (81-51). The Panthers have dropped each of their contests in this event - falling to Cincinnati (54-49), Creighton (75-53) and most recently North Carolina Central on Friday (65-40).

Southern has also struggled in the early going, winning just one of its first six games, which includes three losses in a row. The Jaguars battled back from a double-digit second-half deficit against Northern Arizona on Friday to force overtime but eventually fell in the extra session, 70-63.

EIU has won both previous meeting against Southern, with the last coming in 1982.

The Panthers never had much of a shot in their contest with NCCU on Friday, as they fell behind by 20 at intermission and never sniffed the lead in the second half. They were outshot from the field, 48.9 percent to 31.8 percent, and lost both the rebounding (33-23) and turnover (12-9) battles. Reggie Smith paced the losing effort with 15 points, while LeTrell Viser came off the bench to net 10 points.

Unsurprisingly, EIU has had difficult generating offense all season long, as it shoots only 39.1 percent from the field for 56.2 ppg. Its inability to light up the scoreboard has spoiled a stellar scoring defense (62.0 ppg). Chris Oliver is the only player averaging in double figures with 10.5 ppg, doing so on 53.8 percent field goal shooting while also adding a team-best 4.5 rpg. Trae Anderson brings 9.7 ppg to the mix and Comell Johnston (6.3 ppg) dishes out 4.0 apg.

Trailing NAU by 10 with under 14 minutes to play on Friday, the Jaguars climbed all the way back to tie the game at 59-59 with seven seconds remaining in regulation on a Tre Lynch layup to force overtime, but in the extra session it gave up the first nine points and could not recover. They shot just 41.1 percent from the field, compared to 45.1 percent for NAU, and they were really hampered by a poor showing from 3-point range (3-of-21). Trelun Banks paced the losing effort with 14 points, while Lynch provided a spark off the bench with 13 points.

The poor shooting effort was no surprise for Southern as it has developed a familiar trend in the early going this season, coming into Friday's matchup shooting just 38.4 percent from the field and 21.7 percent from 3-point range for 59.4 ppg. Adrian Rodgers (11.4 ppg) and Banks (10.2 ppg) are the leading scorers but both shoot less than 33 percent from the field.

Neither team has showed much promise in the early going this season, but EIU has at least been tested against some quality competition, which has prepared it to take care of business against a lesser opponent in this one.