2023–24 Eastern Illinois Panthers men's basketball team

2023–24 Eastern Illinois Panthers men's basketball
2023–24 Eastern Illinois Panthers men's basketball
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Record	14–18 (8–10 OVC)
Head coach	Marty Simmons (3rd season);
Assistant coaches	Marlon London; Kylen Butler; Rich McBride; Bob Lockart; Jalen Hutton;
Home arena	Groniger Arena
	Seasons ← 2022–23 2024–25 →

The 2023–24 Eastern Illinois Panthers men's basketball team represented Eastern Illinois University during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Panthers, led by third-year head coach Marty Simmons, played their home games at the newly renamed Groniger Arena^[a] located in Charleston, Illinois, as members of the Ohio Valley Conference.

2023–24 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Little Rock	14	–	4	.778	21	–	13	.618
UT Martin	14	–	4	.778	21	–	11	.656
Morehead State †	14	–	4	.778	26	–	9	.743
Western Illinois	13	–	5	.722	21	–	12	.636
Tennessee State	10	–	8	.556	18	–	15	.545
SIU Edwardsville	9	–	9	.500	17	–	16	.515
Eastern Illinois	8	–	10	.444	14	–	18	.438
Southern Indiana*	5	–	13	.278	8	–	24	.250
Tennessee Tech	5	–	13	.278	10	–	21	.323
Southeast Missouri State	4	–	14	.222	9	–	22	.290
Lindenwood*	3	–	15	.167	9	–	22	.290
* ineligible for the 2024 NCAA tournament due to transition period

† 2024 OVC tournament winner

Previous season

The Panthers finished the 2022–23 9–22, 5–13 in OVC play, to finish in last place.^[2] They failed to qualify for the OVC tournament.^[3]

Roster

2023–24 Eastern Illinois Panthers men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	1	Corey Sawyer Jr.	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	Jr	Cloud County Community College	Orlando, FL
G	3	Nakyel Shelton	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Jr	South Suburban College	Chicago, IL
G	4	Isaiah Griffin	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Fr	Sunrise Christian Academy	Orange, NJ
F	5	Sincere Malone	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	So	We Are United Prep	Chicago, IL
G/F	10	Kyndall Davis	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Jr	Panola College	Chicago, IL
G	11	Jordan "Tiger" Booker	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sr	Tarleton State	Chicago, IL
G	12	Carson Prost	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Jr	Rend Lake College	Mount Vernon, IL
F	17	Lazar Grbovic	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	RS So	Moberly Area Community College	Belgrade, Serbia
G	20	Caleb Donaldson	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Sr	St. Cloud State	Rockton, IL
F	22	Luke Light	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	So	Paradise Honors High School	Surprise, AZ
F	23	Rodolfo Bolis	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Jr	NBA Academy Latin America	Espírito Santo, Brazil
G	24	Jaylin Gibson	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Jr	Mount St. Mary's	Evanston, IL
G	25	Dan Luers	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jr	Defiance College	Lebanon, OH
F	34	Jermaine Hamlin	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Sr	Illinois	Lincoln, IL
F	40	Kooper Jacobi	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	RS So	Toledo	Sellersburg, IN

Head coach

Marty Simmons (Evansville)

Assistant coach(es)

Marlon London (DePaul)
Kylen Butler (Indianapolis)
Rich McBride (Illinois)
Bob Lockart (Millikin)
Jalen Hutton (Culver–Stockton)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: November 28, 2023

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
November 6, 2023* 7:00 pm, B1G+		at No. 25 Illinois	L 52–80	0–1	State Farm Center (15,014) Champaign, IL
November 8, 2023* 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Monmouth (IL)	W 91–45	1–1	Lantz Arena (1,455) Charleston, IL
November 11, 2023* 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Loyola–Chicago	L 65–89	1–2	Joseph J. Gentile Arena (3,311) Chicago, IL
November 15, 2023* 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Illinois State	L 61–69	1–3	CEFCU Arena (3,061) Normal, IL
November 18, 2023* 2:30 pm, ESPN+		vs. Coppin State Miami Classic	W 48–46	2–3	Millett Hall (357) Oxford, OH
November 19, 2023* 12:00 pm, ESPN+		at Miami (OH) Miami Classic	L 64–76	2–4	Millett Hall (1,063) Oxford, OH
November 25, 2023* 2:00 pm, ESPN+		Eureka	W 85–39	3–4	Groniger Arena^[a] Charleston, IL
November 28, 2023* 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at No. 5 Kansas	L 63–71	3–5	Allen Fieldhouse (16,300) Lawrence, KS
December 2, 2023* 2:00 pm, ESPN+		UHSP	W 112–50	4–5	Groniger Arena (1,085) Charleston, IL
December 7, 2023* 7:00 pm, ESPN+		IUPUI	W 75–58	5–5	Groniger Arena (1,338) Charleston, IL
December 10, 2023* 2:00 pm, ESPN+		Central Arkansas	L 70–73	5–6	Groniger Arena (1,060) Charleston, IL
December 17, 2023* 2:00 pm, ESPN+		Blackburn	W 87–66	6–6	Groniger Arena (960) Charleston, IL
December 21, 2023* 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Iowa State	L 48–80	6–7	Hilton Coliseum (12,841) Ames, IA
OVC regular season
December 29, 2023 7:30 pm, ESPN+		at SIU Edwardsville	L 58–67	6–8 (0–1)	First Community Arena (1,627) Edwardsville, IL
January 4, 2024 8:00 pm, ESPN+		at UT Martin	W 79–72	7–8 (1–1)	Skyhawk Arena (1,368) Martin, TN
January 6, 2024 3:00 pm, ESPN+		at Little Rock	W 90–88	8–8 (2–1)	Jack Stephens Center (987) Little Rock, AR
January 11, 2024 7:30 pm, ESPN+		Morehead State	L 52–78	8–9 (2–2)	Groniger Arena (1,108) Charleston, IL
January 13, 2024 3:30 pm, ESPN+		Western Illinois	L 60–63	8–10 (2–3)	Groniger Arena (1,338) Charleston, IL
January 20, 2024 3:30 pm, ESPN+		at Lindenwood	W 78–68	9–10 (3–3)	Hyland Performance Arena (1,261) St. Charles, MO
January 25, 2024 7:30 pm, ESPN+		Tennessee Tech	W 68–59	10–10 (4–3)	Groniger Arena (1,439) Charleston, IL
January 27, 2024 3:30 pm, ESPN+		Tennessee State	L 60–64	10–11 (4–4)	Groniger Arena (1,533) Charleston, IL
February 1, 2024 7:30 pm, ESPN+		UT Martin	L 59–76	10–12 (4–5)	Groniger Arena (1,217) Charleston, IL
February 3, 2024 3:30 pm, ESPN+		Little Rock	L 47–71	10–13 (4–6)	Groniger Arena (1,192) Charleston, IL
February 8, 2024 7:30 pm, ESPN+		at Southern Indiana	W 81–71	11–13 (5–6)	Screaming Eagles Arena (1,877) Evansville, IN
February 10, 2024 2:00 pm, ESPN+		at Morehead State	L 57–69	11–14 (5–7)	Ellis Johnson Arena (2,578) Morehead, KY
February 15, 2024 7:30 pm, ESPN+		Southeast Missouri State	W 75–57	12–14 (6–7)	Groniger Arena (1,369) Charleston, IL
February 17, 2024 3:30 pm, ESPN+		Lindenwood	W 72–57	13–14 (7–7)	Groniger Arena (1,611) Charleston, IL
February 22, 2024 7:30 pm, ESPN+		at Tennessee State	L 73–78	13–15 (7–8)	Gentry Complex (1,072) Nashville, TN
February 24, 2024 3:00 pm, ESPN+		at Tennessee Tech	L 67–75	13–16 (7–9)	Eblen Center (1,544) Cookeville, TN
February 27, 2024 7:30 pm, ESPN+		SIU Edwardsville	W 84–79	14–16 (8–9)	Groniger Arena (1,628) Charleston, IL
February 29, 2024 7:30 pm, ESPN+		at Western Illinois	L 66–70	14–17 (8–10)	Western Hall (1,047) Macomb, IL
OVC tournament
March 6, 2024 9:00 pm, ESPN+	(7)	vs. (6) SIU Edwardsville First round	L 57–68	14–18	Ford Center Evansville, IN
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central.

Sources:^[4]^[5]

Notes

^ ^a ^b On November 25, it was announced that the arena, known as Lantz Arena, would be renamed to Groniger Arena, "following a seven-figure gift by long-time benefactor Jerry Groniger".^[1]

References

^ "Lantz Complex". Eastern Illinois University Athletics. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
^ "2022-23 Men's Basketball Standings". Ohio Valley Conference. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
^ "Malone With A Double-Double In EIU's Final Game". Eastern Illinois University Athletics. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
^ "2023-24 Men's Basketball Schedule". Eastern Illinois University Athletics. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
^ "Eastern Illinois Panthers 2023-24 Regular Season NCAAM Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved November 28, 2023.

[arenanamechange-2] On November 25, it was announced that the arena, known as Lantz Arena, would be renamed to Groniger Arena, "following a seven-figure gift by long-time benefactor Jerry Groniger".^[1]

[1] "Lantz Complex". Eastern Illinois University Athletics. Retrieved November 28, 2023.

[3] "2022-23 Men's Basketball Standings". Ohio Valley Conference. Retrieved November 28, 2023.

[4] "Malone With A Double-Double In EIU's Final Game". Eastern Illinois University Athletics. Retrieved November 28, 2023.

[5] "2023-24 Men's Basketball Schedule". Eastern Illinois University Athletics. Retrieved November 28, 2023.

[6] "Eastern Illinois Panthers 2023-24 Regular Season NCAAM Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved November 28, 2023.

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