Eastern Illinois will play its only exhibition game of the season this Thursday hosting Chicago State.  The Panthers are coming off a 21-8 season in which they set a school record for consecutive conference wins and finished second in the OVC regular season standings with a 14-4 record.   Chicago State was 6-22 last season playing as a Division I independent including a loss to Eastern Illinois (87-64) in Chicago.  
 
Eastern Illinois will open the regular season next week with a pair of games in the Hoosier State.   EIU opens the regular season on Monday, Nov. 6 at IUPUI and then travels to nationally ranked Indiana on Thursday night.   The home opener for EIU for the regular season will be on Sunday, Nov.12 against Valparaiso.
 
EIU had two players named to the preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference team with forward Macy McGlone and guard Miah Monahan.   McGlone was a first team All-OVC selection last season averaging 12.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.  She shot 54 percent from the field and led the OVC in blocked shots with 41.   Monahan averaged 9.2 points per game while leading the Panthers with 140 assists.   She started all 29 games for EIU.
 
The Panthers dipped into the transfer portal this off-season as they added shooting guard Ellie Buzzelle from Grand Canyon.  Buzzelle played one season in Phoenix averaging 3.5 points per game.   She is originally from Rogers, Minn., averaging 16 points per game as a senior in high school.
 
In addition to Buzzelle as a new face on the Panthers bench, EIU added three freshmen and one junior college transfer to the 2023-24 roster.  Charita "Tiny" Lewis comes to EIU as a junior college transfer after one season at North Dakota State College of Science.   The three freshmen on the roster are Lalani Ellis from Milwaukee, Adriana Arroyo from Madrid, Spain and Georgia Cox from Ballarat, Australia.