Game 27
SIUE Cougars (17-9, 8-5 OVC) 
vs. Eastern Illinois Panthers (8-18, 4-9 OVC) 
Saturday, February 11, 3:30 p.m. 
First Community Arena (4,000), Edwardsville, Illinois

LAST TIME OUT 
SIUE erased an early deficit and won for just the second time after trailing at halftime, downing Lindenwood 63-58 Thursday night at Hyland Arena. The Lions got off to a 12-2 start and pushed the lead to 16-5 just nine minutes into the game. Lindenwood matched its largest lead at 25-14 with just more than six minutes to play before halftime. From there, the Cougars finished the first half on a 14-5 run to cut the LU lead to 30-28 at the break. DeeJuan Pruitt scored a driving layup to tie the score in the first minute of the second half. A forceful two-hand dunk by Pruitt off a feed from Ray'Sean Taylor gave SIUE its first lead of the night at 38-36 with 16:21 to play. SIUE never trailed in again in the game.

CONFERENCE CALL
SIUE is playing its 12th season in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Cougars are 66-134 in the OVC. Brian Barone is 25-43 in his fourth season in the league.

RECORD WINS
With 17 overall wins, SIUE has won its most games at the Division I level. Seven road wins also is a program high at Division I. Eight OVC wins ties the program best. 

BLOCK PARTY
SIUE tied the school record for blocks with 11 against Illinois Tech. The Cougars lead the OVC in blocks at 4.2 per game, which ranks 59th in the NCAA. Five Cougars appear in the top 14 individually in the OVC. 

DO IT FOR FREE
SIUE is second in the OVC in free throw percentage at .732. The Cougars lead the league in free throws made per game at 16.4, which ranks 18th in the NCAA and attempts at 22.4, which is 20th nationally. SIUE has had eight games this year with at least 30 free throw attempts. The Cougars attempted 41 free throws Jan.5 vs. Tennessee State, which was the most in a single game since 2018.

WRIGHT PLACE
With 15 points against UT Martin, Shamar Wright eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau for his career, becomming the 17th player at SIUE to do so. He has 1,023 career points, which is 15th all-time at SIUE. He is averaging a career-best 10.6 points per game. He scored a season-best 19 against Southern Indiana.