The Southern Illinois Salukis welcome the SIUE Cougars to SIU Arena. Action begins at 8:00 pm ET on Wednesday, Dec. 9 and can be seen on ES3.
The Salukis dismantled North Texas 95-63 on Saturday. Anthony Beane was the game’s leading scorer with 27 points on 11-for-14 shooting. The Cougars are coming off an ugly 81-56 loss at the hands of Northwestern on Saturday. Burak Eslik had a good shooting night, leading the team with 13 points.
Southern Illinois is a considerable 15-point favorite in this game and the Over/Under (O/U) is set at 143 points. The Salukis enter the game with records of 8-1 Straight Up (SU) and 4-3 Against The Spread (ATS). The Salukis are a dangerously accurate shooting team with a .487 field-goal percentage, one of the highest marks in Division I.
As for their opponent, the Cougars have records of 3-4 ATS and 1-7 SU.
This game marks the season’s first head-to-head clash between these two. Their previous game was a Salukis victory, moving their SU record against SIUE to 4-0. The Salukis also hold the advantage ATS with a record of 4-0.
Predictions: SU Winner – SIU, ATS Winner – SIU, O/U – Over
Notes
Southern Illinois is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games.
Southern Illinois is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games at home.
In its last game, Southern Illinois won by a margin of 32 points. SIUE is 0-3 in games decided by a margin of 18 points or more. Southern Illinois has a 3-0 record in blowouts.
The Southern Illinois Salukis have a defensive rating of 94.5 (ranked 72nd), while the SIUE Cougars have an offensive rating of 95.9 (ranked 301st).
The SIUE Cougars average a field goal percentage of 37.3% this season. The Southern Illinois Salukis have a stellar 6-1 record in games where opponents have a FG% of 37.3% or greater.
The Southern Illinois Salukis average 20.0 three point attempts per game, while the SIUE Cougars attempt 17.0. When attempting 20 or more three pointers in a game, Southern Illinois has a winning record of 4-1, while SIUE is an even 1-1.
The SIUE Cougars make an average of 3.9 steals per game. When the Southern Illinois Salukis give up 3 or more steals, they are a formidable 7-1.
