Murray State vs Eastern Illinois College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 2/18/21

The Eastern Illinois Panthers and the Murray State Racers meet Thursday in college basketball action from CFSB Center. 

The Panthers come into this one at 7-16 so far. Eastern Illinois is 1-2 in their last three games and coming off a loss to Tennessee Tech. As for Murray State, they’re 12-9 this year. The Racers have won four straight games, most recently over SIU Edwardsville. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place. 

Eastern Illinois kicked off their season on a .500 clip over their first 10 games, but then hit an eight-game losing streak. Since then the Panthers are 2-3 with losses to Belmont, Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech during that stretch. 

In the 80-67 loss to Tennessee Tech on Saturday, Eastern Illinois’ Jordan Skipper-Brown led the team on 21 points with seven rebounds and three assists. Marvin Johnson added 19 points with four assists and two rebounds, and Mack Smith had 11 points with four boards. 

Over on the Murray State side, they were 4-6 through their first 10 games but have played better since then with an 8-3 run. Over the last four games, the Racers have taken out Eastern Kentucky, Southeast Missouri State, UT-Martin and SIU Edwardsville. 

In the 86-57 win over SIUE on Monday, Murray State’s KJ Williams put up 28 points with 14 rebounds and three assists. Tevin Brown added 18 points with four assists and six boards, and Chico Carter logged 14 points with four assists. 

Murray State is 4-0 ATS in their last four overall and 5-1 ATS in their last six after a straight-up win. The Racers are 2-6-1 ATS in their last nine Thursday games and the under is 12-4 in their last 16 at home. 

Meanwhile, the Panthers are 0-5 ATS in their last five Thursday games and 19-40 ATS in their last 59 overall. Eastern Illinois is 9-23 ATS in their last 32 road games and the over is 4-0 in their last four overall. 

PICK: I’m sticking with Murray State. The Racers are on a nice run over their last four games, posting 76 or more points in each outing and holding opponents to 64 or fewer every time as well. Eastern Illinois has just 131 combined points over their last pair, so if Murray State gets going in this one I don’t think the Panthers will be able to keep up.