2020–21 Eastern Illinois Panthers men's basketball team

2020–21 Eastern Illinois Panthers men's basketball
2020–21 Eastern Illinois Panthers men's basketball
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Record	9–18 (6–14 OVC)
Head coach	Jay Spoonhour (9th season);
Assistant coaches	Justin Brown; Matt Bringman; Mark Bernsen;
Home arena	Lantz Arena
	Seasons ← 2019–20 2021–22 →

The 2020–21 Eastern Illinois Panthers men's basketball team represented Eastern Illinois University in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Panthers, led by ninth-year head coach Jay Spoonhour, played their home games at Lantz Arena in Charleston, Illinois as members of the Ohio Valley Conference. They finished the season 9–18, 6–14 in OVC play to finish in a tie for ninth place. They failed to qualify for the OVC Tournament.

2020–21 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Belmont	18	–	2	.900	26	–	4	.867
Morehead State †	17	–	3	.850	23	–	8	.742
Eastern Kentucky	15	–	5	.750	22	–	7	.759
Jacksonville State	13	–	6	.684	18	–	9	.667
Austin Peay	10	–	10	.500	14	–	13	.519
Murray State	10	–	10	.500	13	–	13	.500
Southeast Missouri State	9	–	11	.450	11	–	16	.407
SIU Edwardsville	7	–	12	.368	9	–	17	.346
Eastern Illinois	6	–	14	.300	9	–	18	.333
UT Martin	6	–	14	.300	8	–	16	.333
Tennessee Tech	5	–	15	.250	5	–	22	.185
Tennessee State	3	–	17	.150	4	–	19	.174

† 2021 OVC tournament winner

On March 4, 2021, the school announced that they would not renew head coach Jay Spoonhour's contract.^[1] Nearly a month later, the school named Clemson assistant and former Evansville head coach Marty Simmons the team's new head coach.^[2]

Previous season

The Panthers finished the 2019–20 season 17–15, 9–9 in OVC play to finish in a tie for fifth place. They defeated Jacksonville State in the first round of the OVC tournament,^[3] before losing in the quarterfinals to Austin Peay.^[4]

Roster

2020–21 Eastern Illinois Panthers men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	1	Kashawn Charles	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Sr	Labette CC	Wyandanch, NY
F	2	Jordan Skipper-Brown	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Sr	McLennan CC	Killeen, TX
G	3	Mack Smith	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Sr	Warren Central HS	Indianapolis, IN
G	4	Marvin Johnson	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sr	Coffeyville CC	Ardmore, OK
G	5	Junior Farquhar	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Jr	South Plains College	Mono, Ontario
G	10	Ryan Leonard	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	So	Santa Fe College	Kerry, Ireland
F	11	Barlow Alleruzzo IV	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Jr	Des Moines Area CC	Chicago, IL
G	12	Micah Schnyders	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Fr	Yorkville Christian HS	Yorkville, IL
G	13	Henry Abraham	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Fr	Cambridge-Isanti HS	Cambridge, MN
G	14	Isaac Miller	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Fr	Charleston HS	Charleston, IL
F	20	Sammy Friday IV	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	GS	Siena	Jersey City, NJ
F	21	Madani Diarra	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	So	Saint Louis	Bamako, Mali
G	22	Josiah Wallace	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Sr	Olney Central College	Marshall, IL
G	25	Deang Deang	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Sr	Highland CC	Madison, WI
G	35	George Dixon	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Sr	Vincennes	Milwaukee, WI

Head coach

Jay Spoonhour (Pittsburg State)

Assistant coach(es)

Justin Brown (Southwest Baptist)
Matt Bringman (Palm Beach Atlantic)
Mark Bernsen (Missouri–St. Louis)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: January 16, 2021

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
November 25, 2020* 9:00 pm, BTN	at No. 7 Wisconsin	L 67–77	0–1	Kohl Center Madison, WI
November 27, 2020* 6:30 pm, FS1	at Marquette	L 50–75	0–2	Fiserv Forum Milwaukee, WI
November 29, 2020* 5:30 pm, FS1	at Butler	Postponed due to COVID-19		Hinkle Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN
December 1, 2020* 6:00 pm, ESPN+	at Dayton	L 63–66	0–3	UD Arena Dayton, OH
December 3, 2020* 2:00 pm, ESPN+	Chicago State	W 78–56	1–3	Lantz Arena Charleston, IL
December 5, 2020* 2:00 pm, ESPN3	at Green Bay	W 93–91 ^2OT	2–3	Kress Events Center Green Bay, WI
December 9, 2020* 6:00 pm, ESPN+	at Evansville	L 65–68	2–4	Ford Center Evansville, IN
December 12, 2020* 4:00 pm, ESPN+	Western Illinois	W 92–88	3–4	Lantz Arena Charleston, IL
Ohio Valley regular season
December 30, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+	at Eastern Kentucky	L 61–69	3–5 (0–1)	McBrayer Arena (704) Richmond, KY
January 2, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN+	Tennessee Tech	W 87–81	4–5 (1–1)	Lantz Arena Charleston, IL
January 7, 2021 7:30 pm, ESPN+	Murray State	W 74–68	5–5 (2–1)	Lantz Arena Charleston, IL
January 9, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN+	Austin Peay	L 71–74	5–6 (2–2)	Lantz Arena Charleston, IL
January 14, 2021 8:00 pm, ESPNU	Morehead State	L 61–87	5–7 (2–3)	Lantz Arena Charleston, IL
January 16, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN+	Eastern Kentucky	L 85–93 ^OT	5–8 (2–4)	Lantz Arena Charleston, IL
January 21, 2021 7:00 pm, ESPN+	at Belmont	L 66–79	5–9 (2–5)	Curb Event Center (247) Nashville, TN
January 23, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN+	at Tennessee State	L 54–65	5–10 (2–6)	Gentry Complex (338) Nashville, TN
January 26, 2021 7:00 pm, ESPN+	SIU Edwardsville	L 74–87	5–11 (2–7)	Lantz Arena Charleston, IL
January 28, 2021 8:00 pm, ESPN+	at UT Martin	L 41–51	5–12 (2–8)	Skyhawk Arena (360) Martin, TN
January 30, 2021 5:00 pm, ESPN+	at Southeast Missouri State	L 44–75	5–13 (2–9)	Show Me Center (842) Cape Girardeau, MO
February 2, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN+	at SIU Edwardsville	W 70–61	6–13 (3–9)	First Community Arena Edwardsville, IL
February 4, 2021 7:30 pm, ESPN+	Belmont	L 61–89	6–14 (3–10)	Lantz Arena (12) Charleston, IL
February 6, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN+	Tennessee State	W 86–72	7–14 (4–10)	Lantz Arena (19) Charleston, IL
February 11, 2021 7:30 pm, ESPN+	at Jacksonville State	L 64–76	7–15 (4–11)	Pete Mathews Coliseum (421) Jacksonville, AL
February 13, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN+	at Tennessee Tech	L 67–80	7–16 (4–12)	Eblen Center (550) Cookeville, TN
February 18, 2021 7:30 pm, ESPN+	at Murray State	W 68–59	8–16 (5–12)	CFSB Center (1,260) Murray, KY
February 20, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN+	at Austin Peay	W 76–69	9–16 (6–12)	Dunn Center (747) Clarksville, TN
February 25, 2021 7:30 pm, ESPN+	Southeast Missouri State	L 88–94	9–17 (6–13)	Lantz Arena (29) Charleston, IL
February 27, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN+	UT Martin	L 68–73	9–18 (6–14)	Lantz Arena (50) Charleston, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central.

Sources^[5]

References

^ STAFF, JG-TC. "Eastern Illinois announces it's not renewing men's basketball coach Jay Spoonhour's contract". JG-TC.com. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
^ Hancock, Aaron. "Marty Simmons Hired as New Head Basketball Coach at Eastern Illinois". www.14news.com. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
^ "2020 OVC Men's Basketball Championship - First Round". Ohio Valley Conference. March 4, 2020. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
^ "Men's Basketball Drops OVC Quarterfinal Game". Eastern Illinois University Athletics. March 5, 2020. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
^ "2020-21 Men's Basketball Schedule". Eastern Illinois University Athletics. Retrieved January 16, 2021.

[1] STAFF, JG-TC. "Eastern Illinois announces it's not renewing men's basketball coach Jay Spoonhour's contract". JG-TC.com. Retrieved April 7, 2021.

[2] Hancock, Aaron. "Marty Simmons Hired as New Head Basketball Coach at Eastern Illinois". www.14news.com. Retrieved April 7, 2021.

[3] "2020 OVC Men's Basketball Championship - First Round". Ohio Valley Conference. March 4, 2020. Retrieved January 16, 2021.

[4] "Men's Basketball Drops OVC Quarterfinal Game". Eastern Illinois University Athletics. March 5, 2020. Retrieved January 16, 2021.

[5] "2020-21 Men's Basketball Schedule". Eastern Illinois University Athletics. Retrieved January 16, 2021.

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