Eastern Illinois Panthers
Tuesday, November 25, 7:00pm
Omaha
Last Season: The Panthers went 11-19 a year ago, going 7-9 in the Ohio Valley Conference to finish tied for third in the West Division. It was a tough second season for coach Jay Spoonhour, with EIU going 4-10 in the non-conference as they lost to Northwestern, Purdue, Western Kentucky, Western Illinois, and Indiana State, among others.
Last Meeting/All-Time Series: Creighton and Eastern Illinois have met twice previously, with the schools splitting a pair of games during the Rick Johnson Era — a 61-60 Jays win January of 1992, and a 49-45 loss in January of 1993.
Head Coach: Spoonhour is the son of Valley legend Charlie Spoonhour, who coached at Missouri State, Saint Louis, and UNLV, and later provided color commentary on MVC-TV. Prior to taking the reigns at EIU, Spoonhour coached at Moberly Area Community College (coincidentally, the school where Dana Altman got his start) and had a 100-29 record, going to two NJCAA Region 16 Tournaments in three years. He served as the interim head coach at UNLV to complete the 2004 season, and posted a 6-4 record and took the team to the finals of the Mountain West Conference along with an NIT appearance after taking over for his father.
Top Returners: Three starters return from last year’s team. Reggie Smith, a 6’0″ guard who transferred from UNLV and debuted for EIU last season, was second on the team in scoring a year ago with 13.0 points a game, and also contributed 2.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists a game. He led the team in assists (85) and ranked second in steals (33), while shooting 39.8% from the floor and 30.2% from three-point range.
Dylan Chatman, a 6’1″ guard, averaged 6.1 points and 2.2 rebounds a game, and led the team in steals with 36 and in three-pointers made with 36 (35.0%, 36-103). Josh Piper (4.6 points, 2.9 rebounds) and Luke Piotrowski (4.1 points, 1.9 rebounds) also return after starting at times last year.
Key Losses: Small forward Sherman Blanford graduated in the spring, taking his team-leading 14.3 points and 8.0 rebounds with him. He’s a tough player to replace, as he had averaged 17.6 points and 9.5 in conference games, and finished the season with three consecutive double-doubles.
Key Additions: Cornell Johnston, a 5’9″ guard out of St. Louis, is smaller than most D1 players but has talent — with 1,626 points and 799 assists, he’s the career leader in both categories for Ladue High. Starting all but one game since his freshman year, he averaged 17 points, 10 assists and 3 steals as a senior for the Class 5 state champions.
JuCo transfer LeTrell ‘Snoop’ Viser averaged 9.4 points and 3.9 rebounds for DMACC (Des Moines Area Community College) a year ago, helping them advance to the NJCAA Elite Eight. A 6’2″ guard, he played his high school ball with UCONN’s Ryan Boatright at East Aurora HS.
The third newcomer is Corvon Butler, who began his career at North Carolina A&T and then transferred closer to home to play at Southwestern Illinois Community College. Another SWIC player, Trae Anderson, will also take the court for Eastern Illinois this fall. Anderson is a 6’4″ wing who was a first-team all-region player as a sophomore two years ago before sitting out a year to complete his associate’s degree.
