EASTERN ILLINOIS (8-11, 4-4 OVC) at Southern Indiana (4-14, 1-7 OVC)
Thursday, January 22  •  7:30 pm 
Evansville, Ind.  •  Liberty Arena

GAME INFO
RADIO: Hit Mix 88.9 WEIU
TV: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: www.eiupanthers.com
SERIES RECORD: Series tied 4-4
LAST MEETING: EIU 63, @Southern Indiana 54 on Feb. 20, 2025
NOTES: EIU Complete Game Notes

GAME 20
Eastern Illinois had its three game win streak snapped last Thursday at Little Rock before bouncing back on Sunday with a non-conference win over Blackburn College to improve to 8-11 overall, 4-4 in the OVC.  The game with Blackburn was a rescheduled contest from an originally scheduled December 1 game that was postponed due to weather.  EIU travels to Southern Indiana this Thursday to start a two game weekend swing as the Panthers are still looking for their first road win of the season (0-9).  Southern Indiana is 4-14 overall, 1-7 in the OVC following a road win at Tennessee Tech last week.  USI is 2-5 at home this year (0-4 OVC).

HOME SHOOTING RECORD FOR EIU
Eastern Illinois opened Sunday's win over Blackburn College shooting 64.5 percent from the floor racing out to a comfortable 53-26 halftime lead.  In the second half the Panthers shooting got even better finishing the half at 71 percent and the game at 67.7 percent which set the Groniger Arena record for home shooting percentage.  The previous mark was 67.3 percent set by the Panthers over 40 years ago against Missouri State on March 10, 1985.  EIU went 42-of-62 from the field against Blackburn College.

EVERYONE CONTRIBUTES IN THE WIN
All eleven players in uniform contributed in Sunday's home win over Blackburn College as the Panthers won their sixth straight at Groniger Arena.  In the win all eleven players had at least one field goal, collected at least one rebound and passed out at least one assist.  As a team EIU passed out 27 assists, the third time this year EIU had 20 or more assists in a game.  Andre Washington and Zion Fruster led the team with 16 points each.  Prince Johnson had a team-high six rebounds with Meechie White passing out a team-high six assists.

TURNER 3-POINT FIRING
Preston Turner was one of four players to reach double figures in Sunday's win over Blackburn College as he knocked down 4-of-5 from 3-point range to finish with 14 points.  It was the ninth double figure scoring game this season for the junior college transfer.  Turner has nine games this season with multiple 3-pointers and is shooting 46.7 percent from long range with a team-high 28 made 3-pointers.  As a team EIU knocked down 10-of-20 from 3-point range against Blackburn with the last time EIU made ten or more 3's in a game (Jan. 16, 2025 at UT Martin).

UP NEXT
Saturday - January 24, 2026 at Morehead State (2:30 pm / ESPN+)