The Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles and the Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Cougars meet Wednesday in Ohio Valley Tournament college basketball action from Ford Center. Southern Indiana finished their regular season at 16-15 overall. The Eagles beat Tennessee State in their last game. As for SIU-Edwardsville, they’re 18-13 so far after a win over Southeast Missouri State on Saturday. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles
Southern Indiana posted a 13-11 run through their first 24 outings this year. In the seven games since, the Screaming Eagles are a sketchy 3-4, however. Southern Indiana’s losses in that time came to Morehead State, Tennessee Tech, Southeast Missouri State and Tennessee Tech.
In the Tennessee State matchup on Saturday, the Eagles went into the locker room with a 37-37 tie. Southern Indiana hit a 56-44 run in the second for the 93-81 victory. Both Isaiah Swope and Trevor Lakes scored a team-high 25 points each.
SIU-Edwardsville Cougars
Over on the Southern Illinois-Edwardsville side, they managed a 15-9 run over the first 24 games of the year. The Cougars have since gone a rough 3-4, taking losses to Eastern Illinois, TN-Martin, Tennessee State and Little Rock in that time.
Matched up against Southeast Missouri State on Saturday, the Cougars stormed out to a 52-35 halftime edge. SIUE cruised on 41 more points from there and won 93-78. Damarco Minor was the high man on 25 points and six boards.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’m going to take a stab on Southern Indiana here. The Screaming Eagles are just 1-2 in their last three games, but the two losses each came by five points or fewer. Southern Indiana has been scoring well with 69 or more points in six straight games. These teams split the two regular-season meetings—both road wins. SIU Edwardsville took a 69-62 victory on January 7, and Southern Indiana struck back 82-72 on January 21. This matchup should be another competitive one, and I like Southern Indiana to power out a cover. It’ll be a fun one to check out.