SIU-Edwardsville vs Eastern Illinois Prediction Basketball Picks 3-6-24

The Eastern Illinois Panthers and the Southern Illinois Edwardsville Cougars meet Wednesday in Ohio Valley Tournament college basketball action from Ford Center. Eastern Illinois fell to Western Illinois last week, dropping the Panthers to 14-17 overall. As for SIU Edwardsville, they’re 16-15 following a loss to Western Illinois over the weekend. Let’s get into our Eastern Illinois vs. Southern Illinois prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Eastern Illinois Panthers

The Panthers managed a sketchy 10-13 run to start the year. A 3-1 run came in February however, featuring wins over Southern Indiana, Southeast Missouri State and Lindenwood. Since then it’s been a 1-3 run with losses to Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and Western Illinois.

In the Western Illinois matchup last Thursday, the Panthers came out of the break with a 35-28 deficit. Eastern Illinois fought back with a 38-35 run from there but it wasn’t enough in a 70-66 loss. Nakyel Shelton was the leading team scorer with his 24 points, four rebounds and two assists.

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SIU-Edwardsville Cougars

Over on the Cougars’ side, they were 13-9 at the 22-game mark this year. SIU-Edwardsville went 3-3 over the next six with losses to TN-Martin, Southern Indiana and Morehead State before wins versus Lindenwood, SEMO and Tennessee Tech. It’s been losses to Tennessee State, Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois since then.

Matched up against Western Illinois on Saturday, the Cougars trailed by six points heading into the second half. SIU Edwardsville was outscored 36-31 the rest of the way in a 76-65 defeat. Damarco Minor managed to double up with 20 points and 11 rebounds in the losing effort.

ANDREW’S FREE EASTERN ILLINOIS VS SIU EDWARDSVILLE PREDICTION

I’ll try Eastern Illinois here. It’s a coin flip, though. The Panthers were a mixed bag in their last outing against a decent Western Illinois team, shooting 40 percent from the field with a 45-33 rebounding deficit (16-7 offensive). The 3-point shooting (58.8 percent) was good, though.

These teams split their season series this year, with the home team getting a win each time. SIU Edwardsville took it 67-58 on December 29, and Eastern Illinois got theirs 84-79 on February 27. The Cougars didn’t shoot very well in that last matchup (38.7 percent) but they had a 50-38 advantage in rebounding (19-7 offensive). Eastern Illinois is going to have to get more aggressive on the boards, but if all goes well I think the Panthers have a solid cover shot.