The Omaha Mavericks and the Western Illinois Leathernecks meet in college basketball action from the Western Hall on Thursday night.
The Omaha Mavericks will look to rebound from a 75-59 loss to Kansas City in their last game. Marquel Sutton leads Omaha in scoring with 12.3 PPG while Frankie Fidler has 12.1 PPG with 5.5 RPG as the only other double-digit scorer for Omaha up to this point in the season. JJ White’s dished out a team-high 4.1 APG as well this season. As a team, Omaha is averaging 68.9 PPG on 44.5% shooting from the field, 33.5% from three and 79.2% from the foul line this season.
The Western Illinois Leathernecks will try to bounce back after an 80-63 loss to South Dakota last time out. Alec Rosner leads the Leathernecks in scoring with 15.3 PPG while Trenton Massner has 15.2 PPG with 5.8 RPG and a team-high 5.8 APG to lead the Leathernecks in assists as well this season. Jesiah West has 11.1 PPG with a team-high 6.3 RPG to lead Western Illinois on the glass while Quinlan Bennett has 10.2 PPG with 5 RPG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Western Illinois so far this season. As a team, Western Illinois is averaging 75.7 PPG on 46.2% shooting from the field, 31.7% from three and 72% from the foul line this season.
Omaha is 13-6 ATS in their last 19 games overall and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games following a double-digit loss at home while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games against a team with a winning record. Western Illinois is 4-1-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall and 3-8-1 ATS in their last 12 games against a team with a losing record while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 home games.
I get the case to be made for Omaha in this game, but I’m looking at Western Illinois. I just feel that the Leathernecks are the better team here and while Omaha’s done a decent job covering the number on the road, a lot of times they were getting huge numbers. I don’t think they’ll have the same kind of success here, so give me the Western Illinois laying the points.