The 2025–26 Eastern Illinois Panthers men's basketball team represented Eastern Illinois University during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Panthers, led by fifth-year head coach Marty Simmons, played their home games at Groniger Arena in Charleston, Illinois as members of the Ohio Valley Conference. They finished the season 13–20, 8–12 in OVC play to finish in eighth place. They upset No. 5-seeded SIU Edwardsville in the first round of the OVC tournament before losing to UT Martin in the quarterfinals.
Previous season The Panthers finished the 2024–25 season 12–19, 8–12 in OVC play, to finish in ninth place. They failed to qualify for the OVC tournament, as onlt the top eight teams make it.
Preseason On October 14, 2025, the OVC released their preseason polls. Eastern Illinois was picked to finish tenth in the conference.
Preseason rankings +ASUN Preseason Coaches Poll Place Team Votes 1 188 (12) 2 177 (6) 3 163 (1) 4 135 (1) T-5 100 7 80 8 79 9 67 (2) 10 Eastern Illinois 63 11 57
Source:
Players to Watch Each OVC team selected two "Players to Watch" for their team. Players to WatchPlayerPositionYearKooper JacobiForwardGraduate StudentZion FrusterGuardSenior Source:
Roster
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=""| Regular season
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Sources:
References