The Illinois State Redbirds and the Saint Louis Billikens meet in college basketball action from the Chaifetz Arena on Saturday night.

Illinois State Opens With Win

The Illinois State Redbirds come into this one looking to build on their season-opening 75-56 win over subdivision Lourdes last time out. Malachi Poindexter led the Redbirds with 16 points on 6 of 10 shooting with a team-high 7 rebounds while Myles Foster added 13 points on 6 of 13 shooting with 6 rebounds and 3 steals. Darius Burford added 12 points along with a pair of threes while Dalton Banks added 10 points along with a team-high 6 assists as well to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Illinois State in the win. Brandon Lieb added 6 points with 7 rebounds of his own and Jordan Davis chipped in 3 threes as well in the victory. As a team, Illinois State shot 46.6% from the field, 37.9% from three and 52.6% from the foul line in the win.

Saint Louis Improves To 2-0

The Saint Louis Billikens come into this one fresh off of a 102-66 win over subdivision Lincoln MO to improve to 2-0 on the year. Terrence Hargrove Jr. leads the Billikens in scoring and rebounding with 18 PPG and 8.5 RPG while Sincere Parker has 14 PPG. Gibson Jimerson has 12.5 PPG with a share of the team lead in assists with 3.5 APG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Saint Louis so far this season. Tim Dalger has 9 PPG with 6.5 RPG and Michael Meadows Jr. also has 8 PPG with 4 RPG and 3.5 APG of his own as well this season. As a team, Saint Louis is averaging 88.5 PPG on 47.9% shooting from the field, 46.2% from three and 64.2% from the foul line this season.

Chris’ Pick

I’m sticking with Saint Louis here. This is a new-look Billikens team compared to the one I’m used to, but there’s still a lot of talent in the Billikens’ ranks. Illinois State is decent as well, but I trust Saint Louis’ offense more here, especially at the free throw line where Illinois State simply wasn’t good in their opener. Give me the Billikens laying the points here.