Butler vs Eastern Illinois Prediction 12-3-24 College Basketball Picks

The Eastern Illinois Panthers and the Butler Bulldogs meet Tuesday in college basketball action from Hinkle Fieldhouse. Here’s a Butler vs Eastern Illinois prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Butler vs Eastern Illinois pick.

Eastern Illinois Panthers Betting Preview

The Panthers have had a pretty rough year so far. Eastern Illinois has two wins over Earlham and Northern Illinois. Otherwise it’s been losses to Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, DePaul and Valparaiso in their first seven outings.

Back on Friday versus Northern Illinois, the Panthers were up by seven points going into the second half. Eastern Illinois kept it rolling from there in a 72-59 win. Kooper Jacobi put up 19 points with 16 rebounds on a double-double, and Nakyel Shelton lead the way with 26 points.

Butler Bulldogs Betting Preview

Over on the Butler side, they’ve got just one blemish on the card so far: a 68-66 loss to Austin Peay. Otherwise the Bulldogs have beaten Missouri State, Western Michigan, SMU, Merrimack, Northwestern and Mississippi State.

Matched up against Mississippi State back on Friday, the Bulldogs scored 40 points in the first half and 47 more in the second for an 87-77 win. Jahmyl Telfort was tops on the team with 24 points and two assists. Pierre Brooks added 22 points and nine boards.

Why the Butler Bulldogs will win

• Eastern Illinois has lost each of its last 21 road night games against non-Conference opponents.
• Butler has won 77 of its last 81 games against non-Conference opponents at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
• Eastern Illinois has lost the first half in each of its last 21 road night games against non-Conference opponents.

Butler vs Eastern Illinois Prediction

I’ll lean toward Butler, even though the line is pretty hefty. The Bulldogs looked great against a very good Mississippi State team in their last outing, hitting a nice 52.8 percent from the field and 54.5 percent (12-of-22) from outside. Butler also had a 44-33 rebounding advantage, but did cough up 14 turnovers. The Bulldogs have scored 71 or more points in all six of their wins so far.

As for Eastern Illinois, they’ve failed to crack 70 points in all five of their losses, but to be fair the Panthers have played a few tough teams this year already. That said, Butler will also fall into that category, and I don’t think EIU has the offensive capacity to stay too close here.