KU basketball vs. Eastern Illinois Panthers: Probable starters, tipoff time & TV info

KU basketball will meet Eastern Illinois on Tuesday in Allen Fieldhouse. Here’s how to watch and what to know about the upcoming game...

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Allen Fieldhouse (Lawrence)

Streaming: Big 12 Now on ESPN+

Radio: WHB (810) in Kansas City; ESPN Wichita (92.3 FM) in Wichita.

Probable starters

About Eastern Illinois (3-4)

Eastern Illinois, which routed Eureka College 85-39 on Saturday in Charleston, Illinois, has lost games at Illinois (80-52), Loyola Chicago (89-65) and Illinois State (69-61) and defeated Monmouth College (91-45) in Charleston. Eastern beat Coppin State (48-46) then lost to Miami of Ohio (76-64) in the Miami Redhawk invitational in Oxford, Ohio. …

Marty Simmons was hired as the 15th head coach in Eastern Illinois basketball history, the fourth for the Panthers at the NCAA Division I level, on March 31, 2021. A former Illinois Mr. Basketball winner out of Lawrenceville High School, Simmons is 300-299 overall as a head coach. He led Evansville to five postseason appearances, including winning the 2015 CIT Championship. He is 17-52 in three seasons at EIU. …

Nakyel Shelton, a junior guard from Chicago, ranked fifth in the junior college ranks in scoring a year ago at 23.6 points per game. Playing for South Suburban Community College, he had 27 double-figure scoring games, including four games with 30 or more points. He scored 22 points in a recent loss at Illinois State. … Guard Jaylin Gibson is a transfer from Mount St. Mary’s where he appeared in 68 games in two seasons. … Forward Sincere Malone had 62 steals last season, third on EIU’s single-season all-time list. He has eight steals in 2023-24… Forward Kooper Jacobi had 10 points and 11 rebounds against Illinois. …

Eastern Illinois is 0-12 versus members of the Big 12 Conference. … EIU is 0-23 all-time against nationally ranked teams with the closest chance for victory coming in an overtime loss to No. 20 Iowa State on Dec. 21, 1987.

About No. 5 Kansas (5-1)

This is the first-ever meeting between the schools. … . The Jayhawks are 11-0 against the current membership of the Ohio Valley Conference. … KU last faced an OVC team on Nov. 10, 2017, when the Jayhawks beat Tennessee State 92-56 at Allen Fieldhouse. …

Kansas senior Kevin McCullar on Monday was named Big 12 player of the week after averaging 20.0 points and 8.3 rebounds in three games at the Maui Invitational. … McCullar leads the country in triple-doubles with two. He is the seventh player in NCAA history to record consecutive triple doubles (vs. Kentucky, Chaminade) and the first since the 2007-08 season (Tony Lee of Robert Morris). …

Starting in 2012-13, the Jayhawks have been 5-1 or better in each of the last 12 seasons. … Kansas leads the country in assists per game (24.2). KU has posted 20 or more assists in four games, including a season-high 34 against North Carolina Central (Nov. 6). ... Senior Hunter Dickinson leads the country in rebounds per game at 12.7. ...

KU is 2-1 against ranked opponents. … Bill Self is 570-133 while at Kansas and 777-238 overall. … Kansas has shot above 50% as a team in four of its six games. … Dajuan Harris has eight or more assists in three games and is averaging 7.2 assists through six games. Harris dished his 498th career assist in a 69-60 Maui Invitational win against Tennessee. He ranks 13th on Kansas’ career assists list. He is two shy from becoming the 12th player in KU history to record 500 career assists.