The Eastern men’s basketball’s opponent on Saturday, Northern Kentucky University, likes to play aggressive, and Panthers head coach Jay Spoonhour thinks his team will need to be ready for a challenge on defense.

“They play fast,” Spoonhour said. “They really push the ball and play with a lot of energy. They’ve got quality guys that can score.”

Both teams are struggling in scoring margin, with NKU outscored by 13 on average and Eastern surrendering nearly 16 more points per game than its own.

Eastern’s numbers improved against Indiana State Tuesday with the Panthers allowing a season-low 62 points on 38.5 percent shooting. A win against the Sycamores also gave Eastern its first victory of the season.

“I think that was a big win for us over a good team in a good conference,” junior guard A.J. Riley said. “It gave us a lot of confidence and I hope we can keep it going.”

Riley picked up the Eastern offense quickly in his first year and leads the team in scoring with 15.6 PPG.

“It’s surprising, coming from a junior college,” Riley said. “It’s a big step, so I thought I would start off slow, but I have a great group of guys around me to help me … I’m just blessed to have good teammates.”

Another newcomer, freshman forward Patrick Muldoon is playing quality minutes for the Panthers and started all five games this season. Muldoon thinks the win against Indiana State was most indicative of how this young Eastern team can play.

“For us, it was big to prove to the people who keep coming to the game that we do have the ability to beat a high caliber team on any given night,” Muldoon said. “We can come out and play together like we did (against ISU) and spread the ball around with the freshman scoring 18 points.”

This weekend’s game against Northern Kentucky is the final matchup of a four-game homestand in which the Panthers are currently 1-2. Spoonhour said the early-season struggles are typical for both non-conference schedules and a team with more than half its players being underclassmen.

The experience gained from losing against quality opponents will help the team, but Spoonhour said there are other things to work on.

“We’re not efficient enough offensively,” Spoonhour said. “We don’t organize ourselves well enough at times … and we weren’t chasing down rebounds.”

Through five games, Eastern scores an average of 61.6 points and grabs 30.8 rebounds, both of which rank in the bottom two teams in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Eastern received a spark offensively in their last game after freshman guard Casey Teson scored 18 points on 6 three-pointers, breaking the previous Panthers record for threes in a game by a freshman.

The Panthers may have more success scoring against the Norse, who allow nearly 79 points per game. As a result, the key matchup may be how Eastern’s transition defense plays against NKU’s fast attack.

Spoonhour said getting back on defense has been troublesome, but the problem also lies on offense.

“We don’t always get it done the way we need to,” Spoonhour said. “Bad shots (on offense) lead to easier transition and turnovers lead to easier transition … those have hurt our transition defense more than anything.”

After the game Saturday, the Panthers will travel to Marshall and begin first round play at the Global Sports Classic.

Tip-off is at 7 pm from Lantz Arena on Saturday.

Nicholas Ruffolo can be reached at 581-2812 or nfruffolo@eiu.edu