North Dakota vs Western Illinois 1/13/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Western Illinois Leathernecks will travel to the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center to take on the North Dakota Fighting Hawks this Thursday night in College Basketball action.

The Western Illinois Leathernecks lost their 4^th straight game and dropped to 10-6 on the season after being defeated by the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles, 87-86, this past Saturday. Western Illinois fought back from a 73-65 deficit with 8:53 left in regulation to make it a competitive game late, however, Oral Roberts was able to hang on for the victory after a pair of FT’s by Issac McBride gave Oral Roberts an 87-83 lead with 1:20 left in regulation. Western Illinois shot 40.6% from the field & 34.6% from beyond the arc while allowing Oral Roberts to shoot 48.5% from the field & 34.6% from beyond the arc. Leading the way for the Leathernecks was Tamell Pearson who had a double-double with 21 points, 11 rebounds, & 2 assists.

On the season, Western Illinois is averaging 80.4 ppg on 43.4% shooting from the field. The Leathernecks are averaging 9.6 three-pointers per game on 34.7% shooting from beyond the arc. Offensively, Western Illinois has been led by Will Carius (16.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.1 apg), Trenton Massner (16.0 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 3.8 apg, 1.4 spg), Colton Sandage (14.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.1 spg), & Luka Barisic (12.6 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.4 apg).

Defensively, Western Illinois is allowing their opponents to average 75.2 ppg on 45.1% shooting from the field. The Leathernecks have a rebound margin of 3.8 and a turnover margin of 1.8.

The North Dakota Fighting Hawks lost their 5^th straight game and dropped to 4-13 on the season after being defeated by the South Dakota Coyotes, 75-68, this past Monday night. North Dakota trailed by a 39-28 margin at halftime and could not fight all the way back after the Coyotes took a 64-48 lead with 5:47 left in regulation. North Dakota shot 34.9% from the field & 34.8% from beyond the arc while allowing South Dakota to shoot 47.5% from the field & 13.3% from beyond the arc. Leading the way for the Fighting Hawks was Paul Bruns who had 21 points, 8 rebounds, & 1 steal.

On the season, North Dakota is averaging 70.3 ppg on 40.6% shooting from the field. The Fighting Hawks are averaging 8.6 three-pointers per game on 33.1% shooting from beyond the arc. Offensively, North Dakota has been led by Paul Bruns (14.1 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 1.2 apg, 1.3 spg), Mitchell Sueker (10.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.7 apg), Tsotne Tsartsidze (8.6 ppg, 5.4 rpg), & Matt Norman (8.4 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.7 apg).

Defensively, North Dakota is allowing their opponents to average 78.8 ppg on 49.4% shooting from the field. The Fighting Hawks have a rebound margin of -0.2 and a turnover margin of -1.6.

The Leathernecks are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games and just 1-5 ATS in their last 6 road games. The Fighting Hawks are 2-11 ATS in their last 13 games and 0-5 ATS in their last 5 January games.

Western Illinois been led by their offense which comes into this game ranked 26^th in scoring offense & 40^th in three-pointers made per game, however, the Leathernecks have struggled on the defensive end and currently rank just t-304^th in scoring defense & 289^th in defensive FG%. North Dakota has had issues on both ends of the court this season and come into this game ranked just 224^th in scoring offense, 315^th in FG%, 335^th in scoring defense, & 348^th in defensive FG%.

North Dakota is a better team at home, however, this is just not a very good basketball team on either end of the court, and I just don’t see how their defense will be able to do anything to slow down a very good Western Illinois offense. Western Illinois has picked up a nice road win at Nebraska earlier in the season and as I think their offense will have no trouble putting up 85+ points in this one, I think the Leathernecks do enough to cover this double-digit spread. Good luck!