The Illinois State Redbirds and the Northern Iowa Panthers meet Friday in Missouri Valley Tournament college basketball action from Enterprise Center. Illinois State is 13-19 on the year. The Redbirds beat Indiana State in their Thursday tournament game. As for Northern Iowa, they’re currently 18-10 this season and coming off a win over Loyola. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Illinois State was above .500 as recently as January 21, but the Redbirds would lose 10 of their next 11 games. Last weekend Illinois State managed a 20-point win over Indiana State, then in the tournament game they faced the Sycamores again.
In the Thursday matchup versus Indiana State, the Redbirds were down 23-28 at the break. Illinois State managed a 35-25 run in the second half for a 58-53 comeback victory. Tops in scoring was Antonio Reeves with 15 points and four rebounds.
Over on the Northern Iowa side, they hit a shaky 4-7 start this year but have only lost three games since December 23. The Panthers are currently riding a four-game win streak, taking out Illinois State, Missouri State, Indiana State and Loyola in that time.
Matched up against the Ramblers on Saturday, the Panthers kept the pace the whole way and ended up needing overtime to decide an eventual 102-96 win. Leading the team in scoring was AJ Green on 32 points, four rebounds and two assists.
The Panthers are 1-6 ATS in their last seven neutral-site games and 5-1 ATS in the last six after an ATS win. The over is 4-1 in Northern Iowa’s last five overall.
Meanwhile, the Redbirds are 5-1 ATS in their last six overall and 4-1 ATS in their last five neutral-site games. The under is 5-2 in Illinois State’s last seven overall.
PICK: I’m probably going to stay with Northern Iowa. The Panthers have been on a scoring tear lately; they’ve hit 72 or more points in seven of their last nine outings. Outside of a bad loss to Loyola and a couple of OT defeats in January, Northern Iowa has been great over their last 17 outings.
As for Illinois State, they were close in a 72-70 defeat the last time these teams met up back on February 15. The Redbirds should hang around in this one as well.