RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team plays its first road game of the year Thursday night at Big East foe Pittsburgh. Tip time is slated for 7 p.m.

Eastern Kentucky (1-0) is coming off a season-opening win where the team shot 63.3 percent (38-of-60) from the floor. It marked the best shooting percentage by an EKU team since Jan. 29, 2007 when the Colonels netted 64.4 percent (38-of-59) of their shots in a win over UT Martin.

Pitt (2-0) won its most recent outing Tuesday night against Binghamton, 71-46. Ashton Gibbs finished with a career-high 22 points, going 6-of-10 (60 percent) on three-pointers. The Panthers lost four of their five starters from last year’s team that advanced to the Elite Eight, but have won 23 straight home games, a streak which ranks third among the school’s all-time home win streaks. The streak ranks as the nation’s third longest current streak.

This is the second straight year Eastern Kentucky has faced a Big East squad. Last season, the Colonels fell to Cincinnati in overtime, 85-77. This is the first meeting between EKU and Pitt since Jan. 12, 1981 when the Panthers prevailed, 80-56. The Panthers lead the all-time series, 2-0.

Following the contest at Pittsburgh, the Colonels return home to host Fairleigh Dickinson, UC Irvine and UTSA (Nov. 23-25) as part of the 2009 O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic.

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

Game Notes
--Click here for game notes!

Television
--None

Video Streaming
--Thursday’s game can be seen on the web as part of cbssports.com. The cost is $7.95. Click here for live video stream!

Live Audio
--Thursday’s game can be heard locally on WCYO 100.7 FM. Click here for live radio broadcast!

Live Stats
--Click here for live stats!

Tickets
--Tickets are available by calling the Pittsburgh ticket office at 800-643-PITT (7488).

Directions
--Click here for directions to the University of Pittsburgh.

Storylines
-- Senior Josh Taylor, a native of Pittsburgh, played high school basketball at Brentwood. Taylor posted 19 points and a team-high six rebounds in the win over West Virginia Wesleyan on Nov. 14. Taylor leads all active Colonels with 626 career points in 95 games. The forward sent EKU to the 2007 NCAA tournament by making the game-winning shot with 2.9 seconds left in the 2007 OVC tournament championship game against Austin Peay.

-- While EKU coach Jeff Neubauer was an assistant coach at West Virginia (2002-05), the Mountaineers were 2-3 against Pitt.