The Illinois State Redbirds and the Indiana State Sycamores meet Saturday in college basketball action from Hulman Center. Illinois State is sitting at 11-14 on the year and took out Valparaiso in OT during their last appearance. As for Indiana State, they played Evansville on Thursday. In that game the Sycamores powered out a three-point overtime win. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Illinois State managed to stay above .500 at 10-9 through their first 19 games this year, but it’s been a struggle since then. After losses to Evansville, Drake, Northern Iowa, Loyola and Southern Illinois, Illinois State finally managed a win over Valparaiso.
Matched up against Valparaiso on Wednesday, the Redbirds came back from a 33-37 halftime deficit to force overtime. At the buzzer Illinois State had a 78-75 victory. Antonio Reeves was the leading scorer on the team with 34 points and three rebounds.
Over on the Indiana State side, they went 8-6 over the first 14 games this year. The Sycamores would then hit a 1-8 stretch, though. Indiana State lost to Bradley, Drake, Valparaiso and Evansville in the four games heading up to the rematch with the Aces.
On Thursday versus Evansville, Indiana State played a tight game the whole way and needed two overtime periods to finish it off. Ultimately the Sycamores won 80-77. Tops in scoring was Cooper Neese with 35 points and six boards.
The Sycamores are 2-5-1 ATS in their last eight Saturday games and 0-4 ATS in the last four after an ATS loss. Indiana State is 0-5 ATS in the last five overall.
Meanwhile, the Redbirds are 1-6 ATS in the last seven Saturday games and the over is 8-2 in their last 10 road games. The over is 20-6 in Illinois State’s last 26 after an ATS loss.
PICK: I’m going to take a stab on Illinois State here. Probably staying away though; both teams have been struggling lately. In any case, the Redbirds have had some tough matchups over the last half-dozen games or so and they’re not scoring very well. That said, Illinois State does do a pretty solid job on offense in comparable matchups this year and I think they’ll be okay on the scoreboard here. Provided the Redbirds can finish around the 70-point mark or so I think they’ll be alright on a potential cover/win.