The Southern Illinois Salukis and the Indiana State Sycamores meet Monday in college basketball action from Hulman Center. 

Southern Illinois enters this one at 7-3 so far. The Salukis have lost three straight games to Evansville and Drake. As for Indiana State, they’re 6-7 this year. The Sycamores have won consecutive games versus Illinois State. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place. 

Southern Illinois began their year with seven straight wins, taking out SEMO, Quincy, Murray State, North Dakota, Butler and Evansville. Since then it’s been three straight losses for the Salukis; they’ve fallen to Evansville and Drake (twice) in that stretch. 

In the 86-55 loss to Drake on January 4, the Salukis were led by Marcus Domask with 13 points and two rebounds. Both Lance Jones and Ben Harvey added 10 points apiece, combining for five assists and four rebounds. 

Over on the Indiana State side, their season began at 3-3 with losses to Purdue, Saint Louis and Drake. Three more losses for Indiana State came next as they fell to Drake and Missouri State, then the Sycamores split with Loyola and took out Illinois State in a pair of games.
In the 74-68 win over the Redbirds last Sunday, Indiana State’s Tyreke Key led the way on 18 points with two rebounds, and Randy Miller chipped in 13 points. Both Tobias Howard and Tre Williams notched 11 points apiece as well. 

The Sycamores are 1-4 ATS in their last five home games and 1-5 ATS in their last six versus a team with a winning straight-up record. The under is 21-8 in Indiana State’s last 29 overall and 21-5 in their last 26 road games. 

Meanwhile, the Salukis are 1-7 ATS in their last eight Monday games and 0-4 ATS in their last four overall. The over is 4-1 in Southern Illinois’ last five Monday games and 4-0 in their last four versus a team with a losing straight-up record. 

PICK: I’m going to stick with Southern Illinois. The Salukis came out of the gate with seven straight wins, but haven’t looked all that good over their last three and only scored a combined 110 points in the Drake games. Still, Southern Illinois has some pretty good offensive outings under their collective belt this year, and I think they’ll have another solid performance here.