The Tennessee State Tigers and the SIU Edwardsville Cougars meet Thursday in college basketball action from Vadalabene Center. Tennessee State enters this one at 9-6 overall. The Tigers beat Little Rock in their last game. As for SIU Edwardsville, they’re 10-5 on the year after a loss to Southeast Missouri State on Saturday. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Tennessee State went 5-4 over their first nine games with losses to Southern Illinois, High Point, Saint Louis and Austin Peay. The Tigers are 4-2 since then with wins over Lipscomb, Bryan, Brescia and Little Rock.
Back on Saturday versus Little Rock, the Tigers drilled the Trojans 45-26 in the first half. Tennessee State scored another 49 points from there and won 94-69. Marcus Fitzgerald led the team on 27 points and seven boards.
Over on the SIU Edwardsville side, they went 7-3 to start the year, losing to Fort Wayne, Missouri and Bradley. The Cougars have gone 3-2 in their last five with wins over Illinois Tech, Tennessee Tech and Saint Louis.
In their Saturday game versus Southeast Missouri State, the Cougars were down 37-32 by the break. SIU Edwardsville posted another 41 points from there in an 82-73 loss. Ray’Sean Taylor was tops on 23 points with five rebounds.
PICK: I’m going to try SIU Edwardsville here. The Cougars really need a good bounce-back effort, though; they didn’t play well against a struggling Southeast Missouri State team in their last game. That said, SIU Edwardsville has hit 69 or more points in four of their last five games and should post a decent total here. Tennessee State has been cooking on the scoreboard themselves with 75 or more points in seven straight games. This should be a pretty high-scoring outing, and I think the Cougars can get there if they play well.