Indiana’s 2024-25 non-conference schedule was finalized on July 9 and Inside the Hall will have a team-by-team look at each opponent. Today: Eastern Illinois.
After opening the regular season against SIU Edwardsville, Indiana will play another Ohio Valley Conference opponent just four days later for its second game of the 2024-25 season.
Eastern Illinois, which finished 14-18 overall and 8-10 in OVC play last season, will come to Assembly Hall on Sunday, November 10. It will be the third all-time meeting between the Hoosiers and the Panthers. IU beat Eastern Illinois 94-55 in the 1992 NCAA tournament in Boise and 88-49 in Bloomington in November 2015.
The Panthers are led by Marty Simmons, who played at Indiana from 1983 through 1985 before finishing his college career at Evansville. Simmons, a native of Lawrenceville, Illinois, owns a career 310-314 all-time as a head coach. The bulk of his head coaching career was at Evansville, where he served from 2007 through 2018 and compiled a 184-175 record.
Eastern Illinois finished last season ranked 320th in the final KenPom ratings and in Bart Torvik’s ratings. In Torvik’s current projections for the 2024-25 season, Eastern Illinois is 313th in the country.
Simmons returns two of his top three scorers from last season in guard Nakyel Shelton and forward Kooper Jacobi, a Silver Creek product.
The 6-foot-3 Shelton averaged 11 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 27 minutes per game. He played in 29 of the team’s 32 games and made 24 starts. He also made a team-high 38 3-pointers and shot 33.9 percent from distance.
Jacobi, a 6-foot-7 forward, began his career at Toledo before transferring to Eastern Illinois. In 17 games last season for the Panthers, Jacobi averaged 10.5 points and 7.7 rebounds in 29.4 minutes per game.
Another semi-regular starter, guard Corey Sawyer Jr., also returns for the Panthers. The 6-foot-4 Sawyer started 16 times for Eastern Illinois and averaged 8.9 points and 2.3 rebounds in 25.4 minutes per game. Sawyer shot 34.2 percent on 3s in 79 attempts.
Senior Roldolfo Rufino Bolis, who started 14 times last season, should take on a larger role in the Eastern Illinois frontcourt this season. The 6-foot-8 forward averaged just 1.7 points and 3.3 rebounds in 11.4 minutes per game as a junior.
A Division II transfer, 6-foot-2 guard Zion Fruster, is expected to be a major part of the backcourt for Simmons. Fruster missed the final month last season for Virginia Wise, but avearged 18 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 17 games.
Looking at the Eastern Illinois offense over the last three seasons under Simmons, the Panthers have been one of the nation’s worst teams. Eastern Illinois finished 357th in adjusted offensive efficiency in 2021-22, 350th in adjusted offensive efficiency in 2022-23 and 332nd last season.
Defensively, things haven’t been much better as the Panthers haven’t ranked better than 246th in the country over the last three seasons. Last season, Eastern Illinois beat only two Division I opponents in non-conference play and they were both among the bottom three teams in all of the country in IUPUI and Coppin State.
Like the season opener against SIU Edwardsville, the matchup against Eastern Illinois is one Indiana should win and needs to win convincingly. The Hoosiers had too many close calls last season against inferior teams, which dragged down its computer rankings despite putting together wins.
Filed to: Eastern Illinois Panthers
