Nov. 9 will give the women’s basketball team a chance to compete with a clean slate and reestablish themselves against the University of Illinois team from the Big Ten Conference.

“Illinois is doing us a big favor by coming down and playing us on our home floor and I respect them for that,” Eastern women’s basketball head coach Brady Sallee said. “Not a whole lot of teams from that league would come here and play.”

After a 10-19 overall record and a 7-13 conference record, Sallee pursues a more balanced team as he returns his top two scorers in junior forward Rachel Galligan (17.2 points per game) and sophomore guard Jessica Huffman (16.9 points per game).

With just under a month until Illinois visits Lantz Arena, the Panthers will have two exhibition games starting on Nov. 1 to prepare for Illinois and set the stage for their pre-conference season.

Off season improvements

“First and foremost, we’re putting much more of an emphasis on our half-court defense,” Sallee said. “We’re really trying to sell our team on ‘if we defend, then we’ll win.’ We established ourselves as a darn good offensive team last year and now we need to put the whole piece together.”

The Panthers scored under 72 points per game last year, but also allowed over 75 points per game. Conference games were similar as the Panthers scored 67 points against Ohio Valley Conference teams, but relinquished just over 71 points per game.

“Our sense of urgency on the defensive end wasn’t where it needed to be,” Sallee said. “We fell in love with our ability to score. We thought that became our identity and that’s how we were going to win games, outscore (opponents).”

Keeping the intensity

Despite facing defensive improvement plans, Eastern will not have an urgent need to maintain the high-powered offense.

“The system that we ran last year will be the same and for the most part, the players who were in that system are all returning,” Sallee said. “They already know the offense and there’s no real introduction to it, we’re just continuing to make it better.”

The Panthers scored 90 plus points four times last season, and had their most offensive production with a 118-76 victory over Illinois-Springfield.

Facing the youth

Sophomores dominate the team with seven on the Panthers roster. Inexperience is not the issue as Huffman was the team’s second leading scorer last season.

“I don’t really look at us as young,” Sallee said. “Yeah, we have a lot of sophomores, but all those sophomores have a ton of experience. They’re not your typical sophomores who played a little bit as freshman; they were out on the floor for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and in crunch time.”

Sallee said his sophomores have as much or more playing experience than other team’s juniors and seniors who played roles their entire career and may be forced into starting positions.

“They had to learn under-fire as freshman,” Sallee said. “Now that they have that experience and they understand what the college game is all about, we’re looking forward to having kids who have been in the system and who understand what we’re trying to do. Nothing that they’re going to go through now will be a first.”

Facing the Big Ten Conference

While the athletic department and the coaching staff was able to get Illinois on the schedule, the focus of the season will pertain to conference opponents and the big match-up will serve as preparation for the team and an exciting match for the fans, Sallee said. The following game will be yet another inner state game, generating excitement as Illinois State will also occupy the visiting locker room.

“I hope that our fan-base gets excited about those teams coming here to play,” Sallee said. “It may not be as exciting for our team, but I hope it is for our community and the people who are going to be in the stands because we’ve got a lot more to our season than just those two games.”

As for game tactics, Eastern is focused on its own play and letting the game transpire on its own. Sallee is concerned about how his team performs and not as much on how the opposition plays.

“On any given night in college basketball, things can happen,” Sallee said. “We’re going to come out and worry about ourselves.”