The Chicago State Cougars and the Southern Illinois Salukis meet Friday in college basketball action from SIU Arena. Chicago State is 3-9 overall this year. The Cougars lost to Murray State in their last game. As for Southern Illinois, they’re 7-4 on the season and coming off a blowout win over Lincoln MO. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Chicago State went 2-2 over their first four games with wins over IUPUI and Valparaiso. The Cougars have gone just 1-7 since then, taking losses to Kent State, Marshall, Cleveland State, Marquette, Bethune-Cookman, TN-Martin and Murray State.
In the Murray State game, the Cougars had a commanding 42-27 lead by the break. Chicago State was drilled 39-23 in the second half during a 66-65 loss. Tops in scoring was Jahsean Corbett with 25 points and five rebounds.
Over on the Southern Illinois side, they hit a 5-2 run over their first seven games with wins over Little Rock, Oklahoma State, Tennessee State, Cal Baptist and Evansville. It’s been a 2-2 run since then with wins over Alcorn State and Lincoln MO.
In the Lincoln MO matchup on Tuesday, the Salukis were up 38-23 by halftime. Southern Illinois kept it up in the second with a 50-28 run during an 88-51 win. Both Lance Jones and Marcus Domask scored a team-high 17 points.
PICK: I’ll probably stick with Southern Illinois. The Salukis have scored 72 or more points in five straight games, going 3-2 during that stretch. It’s been the best scoring run of the young season so far and I like Southern Illinois to keep it going here. As for Chicago State, they’ve got to come back form a bad loss to Murray State. The Cougars have lost the last two games by just one point each; I like them to hang around for most of the game before Southern Illinois takes the cover.