SIUE Cougars (9-19, 3-12 OVC) vs. Eastern Illinois Panthers (5-23, 3-12)

Monday, February 21, 7:00 p.m.
First Community Arena (4,000) 
Edwardsville, Illinois

LAST TIME
SIUE men's basketball fought hard on one of the toughest home courts in the Ohio Valley Conference Saturday before falling 73-62 to Belmont. After SIUE struck first, Belmont ran off the next seven points to go up 7-2 and stretched its lead to double digits at 18-8. The Bruins had their largest lead of the game at 29-15 after a layup with 8:02 to play before halftime.
The Cougars chipped away and got the lead down to six with less than a minute to play in the half. Belmont used a steal and a layup to push the lead back to eight, but Courtney Carter buried a half-court heave at the buzzer to bring SIUE within five at 37-32 at the break. The Cougars reeled off a 13-3 run, capped off by a Polk three-pointer to pull the score to 60-59 with 5:40 to play and that is as close as the Cougars would come.

CONFERENCE CALL
SIUE is playing its 11th Ohio Valley Conference season. The Cougars are 56-128 in OVC play. Head Coach Brian Barone has a 15-37 record in OVC play. 

LAST MEETING
SIUE won its third consecutive road game at Eastern Illinois, defeating the Panthers 66-53 Jan. 13. SIUE got out to a strong start, jumping out to leads of 6-0 and 13-4. The Panthers pulled within two (31-29) at half. After EIU tied the score at 31 to start the second half, SIUE scored the next seven points and 11 of 13 to pull away for good. The Cougars shot 50 percent (14-28) from the field in the second half and connected on 46 percent of its shots for the game. The Cougars outrebounded the Panthers 50-28, marking their most rebounds against a Division I opponent this year.

TAYLOR TO MISS REMAINDER OF SEASON
Guard Ray'Sean Taylor will miss the remainder of the season after tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Taylor sustained the injury in the second half of SIUE's game at Southeast Missouri Jan. 29, undergoing immediate testing and a subsequent MRI which revealed the ligament tear. Taylor sat out the 2020-21 season with the same injury, which he sustained in August 2020. Taylor led SIUE in scoring 14 times, scored in double figures in 19 of 21 games, and scored 20 or more points in a game nine times. He remains the leading scorer among first-year players in the country at 17.6 points per game. Taylor won the OVC Freshman of the Week award five times this season. 
HOME SWEET HOME
SIUE play its remaining three games at First Community Arena. 

JUST ANOTHER MANIC MONDAY
Tonight's game marks the fifth Monday game which was not originally on the Cougars' schedule. They have been added as SIUE has had to reschedule games. Tonight's game was originally scheduled for Feb. 3 and was postponed due to weather.