The Eastern Oregon University men's basketball team will face a very unfamiliar opponent Thursday in the first round of the NAIA Div. 2 National Tournament.

The Mountaineers (22-8) take on Davenport University in the opening round of the tournament in Point Lookout, Missouri. EOU is seeded 14th, marking the third year in a row Eastern has been a seeded team. The Mountaineers were a seven seed two years ago when it made the Sweet 16, and were a nine-seed when they made a run to the national quarterfinals a year ago.

Davenport, in Grand Rapids, Mich., makes its debut in the national tournament. The Panthers (23-9) have only had a men's basketball program since the 2003-04 season. Before current head coach, Burt Paddock, took the reins last season DU was 28-123. Paddock turned the program around and went 20-11 last year, and won the school's first postseason game this season before leading the Panthers to the national tournament.

Thursday's meeting between the programs is not only the first against each other, but it will be the first time EOU has faced an opponent from the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference. DU has never faced a Cascade Collegiate Conference foe. Davenport was ranked 19th in the final national poll, before falling to unranked Aquinas in the conference semifinals at home. The Panthers began the year 7-0, including a road win at Southern Nazarene University, the sixth-ranked team in NAIA Div. 1.

Davenport went on an eight-game tear through the conference schedule with wins over then-ranked No. 18 Siena Heights and No. 12 Cornerstone. The Panthers finished a game behind Cornerstone in the final WHAC standings, and entered the conference tournament as the two-seed. DU grabbed the eighth out of the 11 at-large bids to qualify for the 32-team national field.

The Panthers are paced by three players that average double-digit points per game. Nathan Cox leads the team with 14.1 points per contest. The 6-6 forward adds six rebounds a game, which is second on the team behind Lorenzo Ecford's 6.8 per outing. Cox was the first player in school history to crack the 1,000 point barrier, and is the school's all-time leading scorer. Davenport is second in the NAIA in steals per game with 11.7. Thirteen of the 14 players on the current Panther roster are from Michigan.

Thursday's game tips off at 2 p.m. Pacific Time from the Keeter Gymnasium. There is a live showing of the game on the EOU campus in the Quinn Building in Room 127. The game will also be shown at Benchwarmers Pub and Grill in La Grande. There will be live video at www.watchnaia.com/liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml , live stats at www.dakstats.com/WebSync/Pages/Tournament/TournamentPage.aspx , and live audio from Davenport at secure.stretchinternet.com/demo/games.php