Panthers to host Blackburn Sunday

CHARLESTON — A postponed game from last month between the Eastern Illinois University Panthers and the Blackburn College Beavers will tip off on Sunday.

The showdown between the Panthers and Beavers was to be held on December 1, 2025. However, heavy snow in the region would prompt a postponement to Sunday.

The Panthers will host Blackburn at 2 p.m. at Groninger Arena.

A look before the game

Eastern Illinois enters this game with a 7-11 record. Before Thursday, the Panthers had been riding on a three-game winning streak and a five-game winning streak at home. The former was snapped during the Panthers’ game against Arkansas-Little Rock.

Blackburn is 3-13 overall, and the Beavers are in action today against Westminster College before making the trek to Charleston.

Sunday’s game will mark the sixth meeting of the men’s squads, and the fourth straight since the series was revived in 2022. Before that, they had not met since 1917, back when both schools were members of the Little 19 Conference.

Blackburn College was second team to leave the Little 18 at the end of the 1922-23 academic year, remaining independent until joining the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 1989.

Eastern Illinois was one of our three remaining Illinois state universitites in the conference when the conference dissolved in 1970. They, too, were independents until 1978, joining the Association of Mid-Continent Universities, which would later become the Summit League. The Panthers left that conference in 1984, joining the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference (for women’s sports) and the Gateway Football Conference (now known as the Missouri Valley Football Conference) in 1985 until their departure in 1995.

Since 1996, the Panthers have been part of the Ohio Valley Conference, with the exception of football, which has been part of a joint merger of the Ohio Valley and Big South conferences to form the OVC-Big South Football Association since 2023.

The Panthers are 5-0 in the all-time series, defeating the Beavers last season 99-55 in Groninger Arena.

Steady play from Fisher

Nazareth Fisher scored eight points for the third straight game, going 4-for-4 from the field on Thursday at Little Rock. 

Fisher added eight rebounds as he is averaging eight points and six rebounds per game over the last three games.

His field goal percentage is also on the rise, connecting at 81.2 percent from the field over the last four games (13-for-16).

Johnson scoring from the post

Prince Johnson turned his best offensive performance this season as the post player scored seven points at Little Rock going 3-for-3 from the field and 1-for-1 at the line.

Johnson added a blocked shot for his second straight game with block. His previous season high was six points in the win over East-West University.

Production from the bench

The Panthers finished with an advantage in bench production over its opponent for the second straight game with a 25-4 margin against Little Rock on Thursday. 

EIU won the bench production battle over Western Illinois on Tuesday and has had the advantage in that category in eight total games this year.

For the season, EIU is now averaging 23.5 points per game from its bench just slightly ahead of the 23.2 points per game for its opponents with their bench.

Game details

EASTERN ILLINOIS (7-11) vs. Blackburn (3-13)
Sunday, January 18  •  2 pm 
Charleston, Ill.  •  Groniger Arena

GAME INFO
RADIO: Hit Mix 88.9 WEIU
TV: ESPN+
LIVE STATS:www.eiupanthers.com