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The 2022-2023 NCAA men’s basketball season is kicking off this week and one of the marquee matchups is the Eastern Illinois Panthers taking on the Fighting Illini of Illinois.
The game (9 p.m. ET start time) will be televised on ESPNU, but if you don’t have cable, you can watch a live stream on FuboTV or DirecTV Stream, which both come with a free trial.
Those are the two best live stream options if you’re cutting cable, but there are also some other alternatives, so here’s a full guide on the different ways to watch Eastern Illinois vs Illinois streaming live online:
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DirecTV Stream
DirecTV Stream has four different channel packages: “Entertainment,” “Choice,” “Ultimate” and “Premier.” ESPNU is included in “Choice” and above, but you can pick any package and any add-on you want with your free five-day trial:
Once signed up for DirecTV Stream, you can watch Eastern Illinois vs Illinois live on the DirecTV Stream app or DirecTV Stream website.
Compatible devices for the DirecTV Stream app include Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Samsung TV, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
You can also watch the game live on the ESPN app or ESPN.com. You’ll need to sign in to a cable provider to watch this way, but you can use your DirecTV Stream credentials to do that.
FuboTV
You can watch a live stream of ESPNU and 100-plus other live TV channels on FuboTV. You’ll need both the main channel package and the “Sports Plus” add-on, both of which can be included with your free seven-day trial:
Once signed up for FuboTV, you can watch Eastern Illinois vs Illinois live on the FuboTV app or FuboTV website.
Compatible devices for the FuboTV app include Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One or Series X/S, Samsung TV, LG TV, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
You can also watch the game live on the ESPN app or ESPN.com. You’ll need to sign in to a cable provider to watch this way, but you can use your Fubo credentials to do that.
Sling TV
You can watch a live stream of ESPNU and 40-plus other live TV channels via Sling TV’s “Sling Orange + Sports Extra” bundle. This option doesn’t include a free trial, but it’s the cheapest long-term streaming service with the ESPN channels, and you can your first month for half off:
Once signed up for Sling TV, you can watch Eastern Illinois vs Illinois live on the Sling TV app or Sling TV website.
Compatible devices for the Sling TV app include Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One or Series X/S, Samsung TV, LG TV, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), airTV Mini, Oculus, Portal, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
You can also watch the game live on the ESPN app or ESPN.com. You’ll need to sign in to a cable provider to watch this way, but you can use your Sling credentials to do that.
Hulu With Live TV
You can watch a live stream of ESPNU and 65+ other TV channels via Hulu With Live TV, which now also includes access to both ESPN+ and Disney+ at no added cost:
Once signed up for Hulu With Live TV, you can watch Eastern Illinois vs Illinois live on the Hulu app or Hulu website.
Compatible devices for the Hulu app include Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One or Series X/S, PlayStation 4 or 5, Nintendo Switch, Samsung TV, LG TV, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
You can also watch the game live on the ESPN app or ESPN.com. You’ll need to sign in to a cable provider to watch this way, but you can use your Hulu credentials to do that.
Vidgo
You can watch a live stream of ESPNU and 65+ other TV channels on Vidgo, which does not come with a free trial:
Once signed up for Vidgo, you can watch Eastern Illinois vs Illinois live on the Vidgo app or Vidgo website.
Compatible devices for the Vidgo app include Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), iPhone, Android phone, iPad, or Android tablet.
You can also watch the game live on the ESPN app or ESPN.com. You’ll need to sign in to a cable provider to watch this way, but you can use your Vidgo credentials to do that.
Eastern Illinois vs Illinois Preview
The Eastern Illinois Panthers are opening up the 2022-2023 season on the road against No. 23 Illinois, though the Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood knows it won’t be an easy win.
“Got EIU coming in here from right down the road. They have one of the best coaches in the country, in my opinion. [Head coach Marty Simmons] is an unbelievable tactician, unbelievable teacher, he’s turned that around, in my opinion, pretty quick. I’ve liked what I’ve seen in terms of their team, they’re very good,” said Underwood, adding, “His staff has done a nice job of replacing talent, so you look forward to these challenges early in the season when you face a well-coached team. They run great actions, they run great stuff, and you know it’s one of those things that you know Marty’s gonna counter what you do and maybe once or twice, so it’s good for the coaching staff as well, to face a guy like that,” said Underwood in his pre-game press conference.
He went on to say that there are still a lot of unknowns for the Fighting Illini men’s basketball team this year and getting into some real games against good opponents will help them figure things out.
“We’re excited. Excited to put our group out there. Again, there’s still a lot of role identification out in front of us to come, we’ll see how that all plays out,” said Underwood. “We’ve been able to define a few things, not a lot yet, but I’m very curious to see our pace, our communication, I’m very excited to see how this team, how we play in terms of not turn the ball over. One of the things I’m cautious about is we don’t have tons of game experience. There’s going to be some slippage and I’m really curious to see how quickly we grow.”
Underwood also said it is tricky to plan for a team that is made up of so many new members, but he does know some of Simmons’ coaching tendencies and that helps.
“I think you know coaches and you know tendencies. I followed Marty’s teams for years when he was at Evansville. You know tendencies,” said Underwood, adding, “You coach those maybe a little more than you coach personnel because you don’t know exactly those guys’ strengths and that’s one of the challenges with all this roster turnover and completely new deals. They’ve also got the same scenario [with us]. But again, it’s adapting on the fly … you want your foundation and there may be some stuff on the periphery that you haven’t spent enough time on. That’s very typical in the early season. We’ll see. We’ll have to adapt and we’ll have to lean on our veterans who have hopefully seen just about everything.”
The Eastern Illinois vs Illinois game is Monday, November 7 at 9 p.m. Eastern on ESPNU.