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Illinois announced that they will take on Eastern Illinois on Friday in a charity exhibition game to benefit disaster relief efforts. The game will take place Friday night at Lantz Arena, making it a road game for the Illini. It’ll also be the first time Illinois will travel to play a game at Eastern Illinois.
The tickets went on sale earlier in the week and will likely sellout well in advance, with Eastern Illinois noting that technical issues with their website being the main reason tickets hadn’t sold out by Monday night. Lantz Arena seats 5,400 fans, so it should be a lively arena when Illinois comes to town. As of writing (Monday night), only around 600 tickets were available.
The exhibition game will be the second in a double header, with EIU’s women team hosting Indiana State prior to the men’s game.
“This will be a fun night and if we can get a nice dollar figure to donate, that will be something great. We have a chance to have a good crowd and raise some money," said Eastern Illinois head coach Jay Spoonhour.
Illinois announced that proceeds from the game will go to the American Red Cross.
Friday’s exhibition against Eastern Illinois will be the last tuneup for the Illini before they open the season a week later against Southern.