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EASTERN ILLINOIS at Illinois
Monday, November 4  •  7 pm 
Champaign, Ill.  •  State Farm Center

RADIO: Hit Mix 88.9 WEIU
TV: Big Ten Plus
LIVE STATS: www.eiupanthers.com
GAME NOTES: EIU Complete Game Notes
SERIES RECORD: Illinois leads 8-0
LAST MEETING: @Illinois 80, EIU 52 on Nov. 6, 2023

GAME 1
Eastern Illinois opens the 2024-25 season on November 4 at Illinois facing the Illini for the third straight year to open the basketball season.   EIU is coming off a 14-18 season including a 8-10 mark in the OVC as they advanced to the OVC Tournament for the first time since the 2019-20 season.  Illinois is coming off a 29-9 season having advanced to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight last year.  This marks the fifth straight season EIU has opened the year against a Big Ten team and the ninth straight season playing a Power 4 Conference team.  EIU's last season opener against a non-Power 4 team was in 2016-17 with a win over St. Francis (Ill.).

SHELTON NAMED TO OVC PLAYERS TO WATCH LIST
Senior Nakyel Shelton was one of two Eastern Illinois players named to the Ohio Valley Conference preseason players to watch list for the upcoming season.  Shelton is the Panthers top returning scorer from last season after averaging 11 points per game.  He was the Panthers top rebounder among active players at the end of the season at 4.4 rebounds per contest.  Shelton had 16 double figure scoring games including five games with 20 or more points. His top effort for the season was 24 points against Western Illinois.

JACOBI ON OVC PLAYERS TO WATCH LIST
Kooper Jacobi was the Panthers other player named to the OVC preseason players to watch list for this year.  Jacobi missed the final half of the season after starting the first 17 games.  Jacobi was EIU's leading rebounder at the time of his injury at 7.7 rebounds per game which ranked in the top five in the league.  He averaged 10.5 points per game for the season.  Jacobi, a transfer from Toledo last season, opened his EIU career with a double-double against Illinois with ten points and eleven rebounds.

ROSTER RETURNING
Eastern Illinois returns seven players from last season's roster with that group combining to start 72 games.  Corey Sawyer Jr., Nakyel Shelton, Isaiah Griffin, Carson Prost, Lazar Grbovic, Rodolfo Bolis and Kooper Jacobi all return accounting for 41 percent of EIU's scoring and 43 percent of EIU's rebounding last season.

UP NEXT
Wednesday - Nov. 6 vs. Earlham College, 7 pm (ESPN+)