2026-27 EIU Men's Basketball Schedule

Eastern Illinois men's basketball has completed its 2026-27 schedule with the announcement of the Panthers finalized non-conference schedule.  The Ohio Valley Conference portion of the schedule was released in late July.
 
The slate includes eight home non-conference games including matchups against in-state rivals Illinois State and Northern Illinois at Groniger Arena this season.  
 
The road portion of the schedule has a gauntlet of Power Conference teams including three straight to open the season.
 
EIU opens on Monday, November 2 at Indiana followed by a November 5 game at Iowa and November 9 at Notre Dame.
 
The home opener is November 11 against Blackburn College, one of four home games for EIU in the month of November.  The Panthers will also host Purdue Fort Wayne (Nov. 15), IU South Bend (Nov. 23) and Northern Illinois (Nov. 28).   The IU South Bend contest will be this year's EIU Kid's Day Game.  Those early and late November games will be sandwiched around two more Power Conference games at Vanderbilt (Nov. 17) and Illinois (Nov. 20).
 
The December schedule opens at home on December 2 hosting Illinois State.  EIU also hosts Arkansas Pine Bluff (Dec. 12) and East-West University (Dec. 22) at Groniger Arena in December.  Road contests for the month include at Bellarmine (Dec. 5), at Kansas City (Dec. 9) and at Northern Illinois (Dec. 19).
 
The Panthers final non-conference game will be January 9 against Ohio Christian with that game played during an early season break in OVC play.