The Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Cougars and the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles meet Thursday in college basketball action from Eblen Center. SIU-Edwardsville comes into this one at 14-7 overall. The Cougars lost to Southern Indiana in their last game. As for Tennessee Tech, they’re 9-12 following a loss to SEMO on Saturday. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
SIU-Edwardsville Cougars
SIU-Edwardsville managed to go 11-5 in their first 16 games, losing to Fort Wayne, Missouri, Bradley, Illinois State and SEMO. Since then the Cougars are 3-2 with wins over Southern Indiana, Eastern Illinois and Lindenwood.
In the rematch versus Southern Indiana on Saturday, SIU-Edwardsville was outscored 38-22 in the first half. The Cougars rallied for 50 second-half points but still lost 82-72. Both Shamar Wright and Ray’Sean Taylor scored a team-high 19 points each.
Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles
Over on the Tennessee Tech side, they beat only Tennessee Wesleyan, East TN State, Truett-McConnell, KY Christian and Eastern Illinois in their first 16 games. The Eagles are 4-1 since then and coming off a loss to Southeast Missouri State.
Matched up against SEMO on Saturday, the Eagles came back from a 37-25 halftime deficit to force overtime. After two extra periods Tennessee Tech ended up losing 84-77. Jayvis Harvey led the team on 22 points with five boards.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’m going to stick with SIU-Edwardsville. The Cougars had a rough first half in their last game versus a tricky Southern Indiana team however, and they’re going to need a bounce-back effort here. SIU-Edwardsville didn’t have a ton of trouble the last time these teams met up back on December 29 at Vadalabene, taking a 64-51 win. This time with the change in venue Tennessee Tech should post a stronger resistance effort. The Eagles are 5-1 in their last six games with 70 or more points scored in each. This one could get interesting.