Eastern Illinois men's and women's basketball are set to open the 2026-27 season the first week of November with the preseason Ohio Valley Conference polls released this week prior to the annual Basketball Media Day in Evansville, Indiana on Friday Oct. 16.
 
The EIU women were selected to finish seventh in the OVC preseason poll while the EIU men were selected to finish in eighth place.
 
The top eight teams for both the men and women advance to the OVC Tournament held in early March at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.
 
Ava Stoller and Janyah Bohanon were named EIU preseason players to watch for the Panther women's team by the league office on October 14.
 
Markus Blackwell and Jaden Miller were named EIU preseason players to watch for the men's basketball team.
 
The EIU women play two home exhibition games in October at Groniger Arena on Oct. 22 vs. Quincy and Oct. 27 against Illinois Wesleyan before opening the regular season on the road November 3 at Drake.  EIU's home opener is Saturday, Nov. 14 against Evansville.
 
The EIU men open the season on the road tipping off on Monday, Nov. 2 at Indiana.  The home opener for the Panther men will be Wednesday, Nov. 11 against Blackburn College.
 
The Panthers open the OVC season at home on New Year's Eve with an afternoon matinee against Southeast Missouri.  The women tip at 1 pm that day followed by the men at 3:30 pm.
 
Season ticket renewals and sales are now underway along with single game tickets for the 2026-27 season at www.eiupanthers.com
 
Southern Indiana was voted as the women's preseason favorite with Tennessee State the men's preseason favorite.