Meet the Opponent: Eastern Illinois, Marty Simmons Come to Indiana

Indiana hosts Eastern Illinois Sunday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Panthers are 1-1 at the start of their fourth season under former Indiana Hoosier Marty Simmons.

Eastern Illinois Panthers coach Marty Simmons directs his team against Illinois at the State Farm Center. / Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana has one more tune-up against a mid-major opponent before facing a Power Four team.

Coach Mike Woodson and the Hoosiers host Eastern Illinois at noon ET Sunday at Assembly Hall. Indiana is coming off an 80-61 win over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Wednesday, thanks to a 31-point performance by sophomore Mackenzie Mgbako. Following the Eastern Illinois game, the Hoosiers host South Carolina on Nov. 16.

Eastern Illinois is in its fourth season under coach Marty Simmons, who has a 29-67 record with the Panthers. Previously a Clemson assistant and the head coach at Evansville, Simmons played at Indiana from 1983-85 before transferring to Evansville. He started 35 games for the Hoosiers and averaged 9.4 points per game as a freshman under coach Bob Knight.

Simmons and the Panthers are off to a 1-1 start, with a season-opening loss at Illinois and a home victory over Earlham College on Wednesday.

Here’s a full breakdown of Eastern Illinois.

Key returners

• G Nakyel Shelton: 15 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 33.3 3-pt FG%
• F Kooper Jacobi: 11.5 ppg, 9 rpg, 42.9 3-pt FG%
• G Isaiah Griffin: 7 ppg, 66.7 3-pt FG%
• F Rodolfo Bolis: 2 ppg, 5.5 rpg

Key newcomers

• G Artese Stapleton (Kansas City transfer): 14 ppg, 5 apg
• G Zion Fruster (Virginia Wise transfer): 12.5 ppg, 40% 3-pt FG%
• G Obadiah Curtis (Arkansas State transfer): 11.5 ppg, 5 rpg
• G Malik Olafioye (Kansas City transfer): 3 ppg, 2.5 spg
• F Sekou Kalle (Evansville transfer): 2 ppg, 3.0 rpg

Key departures

(2023-24 stats)

• G Tiger Booker: 16 ppg, 3.4 apg, 2.1 spg
• G Kyndall Davis: 10.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg
• G Corey Sawyer: 8.9 ppg, 2.3 rpg
• G Dan Luers: 6.8 ppg, 2 rpg
• C Jermaine Hamlin: 4.7 ppg, 4.1 rpg
• F Sincere Malone: 4.1 ppg, 3.3 rpg
• G Jaylin Gibson: 2.9 ppg, 2.3 rpg
• F Lazar Grbovic: 1.7 ppg, 1.6 rpg

Schedule (1-1)

• L: 112-67 at Illinois, Nov. 4
• W: 97-61 vs. Earlham, Nov. 6

Series history

Indiana leads the all-time series 2-0, most recently winning 88-49 on Nov. 13, 2015, in Bloomington under coach Tom Crean. James Blackmon Jr. led the Hoosiers with 17 points. No. 2 seed Indiana defeated Eastern Illinois 94-55 in the first round of the 1992 NCAA Tournament, behind 19 points and 11 rebounds from Alan Henderson, on its way to the Final Four under coach Bob Knight.

Strengths

Eastern Illinois showed great balance in its win over Earlham College. That was expected, given that Earlham is a Division III school, but Eastern Illinois should feel good about having many players contribute to that win. Six players scored between 10 and 17 points. 

Senior guard Artese Stapleton led the way with 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting and eight assists. Kooper Jacobi had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and the 6-foot-7 senior forward also knocked down a pair of 3-pointers. Eastern Illinois dominated the glass against Earlham, finishing with a 51-28 rebounding advantage and 18 offensive rebounds. The Panthers also did well to force 19 turnovers and a 33.8% Earlham field goal percentage. 

The Panthers lost two double-digit scorers, but Shelton, Jacobi and Rufino return with at least 14 games of starting experience from last season. Shelton led the team with 16 points on 7-for-15 shooting at Illinois in the season opener. Though it ended in a big loss, Eastern Illinois committed just seven turnovers against the Illini.

Weaknesses

Eastern Illinois really struggled at the free throw line in its first two games. The Panthers went 11 for 25 (44%) against Illinois and 20 for 32 (62.5%) against Earlham. All eight players who attempted a free throw against Illinois missed at least one, and four players missed at least two. Seven players missed at least one free throw against Earlham, too.

Eastern Illinois didn’t shoot a bad percentage from 3-point range in either game, but it hasn’t looked like a prolific outside shooting team either. The Panthers made 4 of 12 (33.3%) 3-point attempts at Illinois and 5 of 14 (35.7%) against Earlham. It’s a small sample size, but that puts Eastern Illinois at 286th in the nation in 3-point attempt rate. 

The Panthers may struggle against Indina’s front line of 7-foot Oumar Ballo, 6-foot-9 Malik Reneau and 6-foot-9 Mackenzie Mgbako. Eastern Illinois’ tallest starters are Jacobi at 6-foot-7 and Bolis at 6-foot-8. Sekou Kalle, who’s listed at 6-foot-10, has played 12 minutes in both games this year, and 6-foot-7 freshman Terry McMorris played just four minutes in both games.

Season outlook

Eastern Illinois was picked to finish sixth out of 11 teams in the Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll. That would be the Panthers’ best finish under Simmons, following a seventh-place finish last year and 10th place finishes in his first two seasons. They are also ranked 339th out of 364 teams on KenPom.com. This is a game Indiana schedules to win easily.

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• MGBAKO PUSHES INDIANA PAST SIU-E: Mackenzie Mgbako had a career night as No. 17 Indiana defeated Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Wednesday in the Hoosiers' season-opener. CLICK HERE.

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• WHAT WOODSON SAID: Here's everything Mike Woodson said after Indiana's win over SIU-Edwardsville. CLICK HERE.