2000–01 Eastern Illinois Panthers men's basketball team

The 2000–01 Eastern Illinois Panthers men's basketball team represented Eastern Illinois University as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference during the 2000–01 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was Rick Samuels' 21st season as head coach at Eastern Illinois. After finishing second in the conference regular season standings, Eastern Illinois won the OVC tournament to secure the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Playing as No. 15 seed in the Midwest region, the Panthers were beaten by No. 2 seed and eventual National runner-up Arizona, 101–76, in the opening round.

2000–01 Eastern Illinois Panthers men's basketball
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Record	21–10 (11–5 Ohio Valley)
Head coach	Rick Samuels (21st season)
Home arena	Lantz Arena

2000–01 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Tennessee Tech	13	–	3		.813			20	–	9		.690
Eastern Illinois †	11	–	5		.688			21	–	10		.677
Murray State	11	–	5		.688			17	–	12		.586
Austin Peay	10	–	6		.625			22	–	10		.688
Southeast Missouri State	8	–	8		.500			18	–	12		.600
Tennessee State	7	–	9		.438			10	–	19		.345
Morehead State	6	–	10		.375			12	–	16		.429
Tennessee-Martin	5	–	11		.313			10	–	18		.357
Eastern Kentucky	1	–	15		.063			7	–	19		.269
† 2001 Ohio Valley Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

2000–01 Eastern Illinois Panthers men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown G Kyle Hill 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Sr Chicago, Illinois G Henry Domercant 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) So Chicago, Illinois	Head coach Rick Samuels Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 18, 2000*		at Butler	L 73–90	0–1	Hinkle Fieldhouse  Indianapolis, Indiana
Nov 21, 2000*		at Nebraska	L 71–85	0–2	Bob Devaney Sports Center  Lincoln, Nebraska
Ohio Valley tournament
Feb 27, 2001*		Morehead State Quarterfinals	W 102–80	19–9	Lantz Arena  Charleston, Illinois
Mar 2, 2001*		vs. Murray State Semifinals	W 97–71	20–9	Gaylord Entertainment Center  Nashville, Tennessee
Mar 3, 2001*		vs. Austin Peay Championship game	W 84–83	21–9	Gaylord Entertainment Center  Nashville, Tennessee
NCAA tournament
Mar 16, 2001*	(15 MW)	vs. (2 MW) No. 5 Arizona First round	L 76–101	21–10	Kemper Arena  Kansas City, Missouri
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest. All times are in Central Time.