The Missouri State Bears (8-11) welcome the Southern Illinois Salukis (17-3), the Missouri Valley’s best team, to JQH Arena. The game gets underway at 4:00 pm ET on Sunday, Jan. 24 and will air on ES3.
The Bears beat Drake 79-70 on Wednesday. Dequon Miller led all scorers on the team with 23 points on 6-for-13 shooting. The Salukis, meanwhile, are coming off a 79-66 win over Indiana State on Wednesday. Leo Vincent led the team in scoring with 18 points on 4-for-6 shooting.
Missouri State is a small underdog, with Southern Illinois favored by one. The Over/Under (O/U) is set at 144 points. The Bears enter the game with records of 8-11 Straight Up (SU) and 9-9 Against The Spread (ATS). Expect Missouri State to have lots of opportunities at the line against the Salukis, who are one of the most foul-prone teams in the nation with an average of 22.1 fouls per game.
On the other side, the Salukis head into the game with records of 11-7 ATS and 17-3 SU. Most recently, Southern Illinois is 7-3 ATS over the last 10 games. The Salukis rank 23rd in the country in road scoring, averaging 79 points per game. The Southern Illinois defense as a whole has been firing on all cylinders so far, ranking 22nd in Division I with only 66.2 points allowed per road game.
Missouri State and Southern Illinois will be facing off in their first head-to-head clash of the season. When they last met the Bears were winners, moving their SU record against Southern Illinois to 7-3 in their most recent head-to-head meetings. The Bears also hold the advantage ATS with a record of 6-4. Missouri State held the edge in field goals, rebounds, and three-pointers once in the last five games, while Southern Illinois wasn’t able to do so in that span.
Predictions: SU Winner – SIU, ATS Winner – SIU, O/U – Over
Notes
Missouri State is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Missouri State’s last 6 games.
Missouri State is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games at home.
Missouri State is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games at home.
Missouri State is 11-3 SU in its last 14 games when playing Southern Illinois.
The Southern Illinois Salukis hold a solid 6-1 SU record in matchups against Missouri Valley Conference rivals, while the Missouri State Bears currently sit at 4-3 in these games.
Southern Illinois is one of the top-scoring teams on the road, averaging 79.0 points per game (ranked 23rd). Missouri State, on the other hand, allows 72.0 points per home game (ranked 246th).
Ranked 96th, the Southern Illinois Salukis have an offensive rating of 109.5. The Missouri State Bears rank 184th with a defensive rating of just 103.2.
Missouri State has an average field goal percentage of 41.6%. Southern Illinois is a tremendous 10-3 when opponents have a similar or higher field goal percentage.
The Missouri State Bears and the Southern Illinois Salukis both rank higher in average field goal percentage when compared to their effective field goal percentages. Missouri State is 319th and 291st in the nation for eFG% and FG% respectively, while Southern Illinois ranks 43rd and 36th in these categories.
On average, Missouri State makes 6.4 steals per game. Southern Illinois has a stellar 9-2 record when it gives up at least 6 steals.
