CHICAGO – Embarrassing.

Disappointing.

Horrible.

Out-hustled and out-played.

These were words what Eastern men’s basketball players used to describe its disheartening performance in Saturday’s 66-43 loss to Loyola of Chicago.

And the performance was all those words and more.

It seemed as though Loyola had put imaginary lids on the baskets in the Gentile Center, or Loyola had magnetic reactions to the game ball when every time Eastern had the ball, a Rambler defender magically took it away from them.

Or perhaps Eastern forgot in the first 20 minutes of the game, how to play basketball.

The Panthers seemed tentative to shoot the ball, dribble the ball or pass the ball. The Panthers did a terrible job of blocking out Loyola defenders, with the Ramblers having a clear path to the basket the entire first half.

It seemed Eastern shied away from most physical contact in the first half and seemingly made it easier for Loyola to win the game. It was like Eastern was saying to Loyola head coach Jim Whitesell ‘Well, we’re in tenth place in the Ohio Valley Conference, you guys are in third place in the Horizon League, we should just feel honored to be playing against a good basketball team.’

Eastern head coach Mike Miller said the concept of Saturday’s Bracket Buster game is to match similar teams together.

Clearly, whoever, put these match ups together did not take this into consideration because Loyola was better than Eastern in every facet of Saturday’s game.

But the big question is why can’t Eastern compete with a fellow Illinois school like Loyola?

Or why it has had trouble competing against teams with better records this season.

This current Panther squad has the athletes, the shooters and the defenders to win basketball games. But for some reason, it doesn’t on a consistent basis.

Loyola is a perfect example. The team is led by seniors, but plays an aggressive style of defense and executes efficiently on offense.

Eastern isn’t led by seniors and doesn’t execute efficiently on offense.

If the main option in Miller’s triangle offense isn’t there, it seems the whole offense breaks down and Eastern players scramble around having no idea what’s going on.

Which is inexcusable this late in the season.

All the Eastern players and coaches keep saying that they want to build something, they’re looking towards the future and they just want to keep getting better every day.

These are nice words to say and think optimistically.

But the question is, when do you stop saying those words and actually follow through on them by producing in games.

Miller’s about to finish his second year at Eastern, and barring a miracle, his team will miss the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament for the second straight year.

Next season, on paper, should produce better results.

The team returns everyone from this year’s roster and different adjectives should fit next year’s squad.

Intelligent.

Disciplined.

Hardworking.

Better.

But for Miller and his teams’ sake, they should be hoping one verb that’s been consistent with Eastern men’s basketball won’t be there next year:

Losing.

-To see Daniels’ blog on any Eastern sport click here.