Little Rock Trojans (18-11, 12-6 OVC) at Eastern Illinois Panthers (10-19, 6-12 OVC)
Charleston, Illinois; Thursday, 8:30 p.m. EST
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Trojans -5.5; over/under is 128.5
BOTTOM LINE: Little Rock visits Eastern Illinois after Jordan Jefferson scored 25 points in Little Rock’s 75-61 victory against the Western Illinois Leathernecks.
The Panthers have gone 5-7 in home games. Eastern Illinois is sixth in the OVC with 9.0 offensive rebounds per game led by Kooper Jacobi averaging 2.8.
The Trojans are 12-6 against OVC opponents. Little Rock averages 69.7 points while outscoring opponents by 3.5 points per game.
Eastern Illinois’ average of 5.3 made 3-pointers per game is 2.3 fewer made shots on average than the 7.6 per game Little Rock allows. Little Rock averages 6.6 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.7 fewer made shots on average than the 8.3 per game Eastern Illinois gives up.
TOP PERFORMERS: Nakyel Shelton is scoring 16.3 points per game and averaging 4.8 rebounds for the Panthers. Artese Stapleton is averaging 11.2 points and 3.5 rebounds over the last 10 games.
Johnathan Lawson averages 2.4 made 3-pointers per game for the Trojans, scoring 15.7 points while shooting 44.4% from beyond the arc. Tuongthach Gatkek is averaging 12.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.6 steals and two blocks over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Panthers: 5-5, averaging 60.5 points, 31.0 rebounds, 11.1 assists, 8.9 steals and 2.0 blocks per game while shooting 37.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 62.6 points per game.
Trojans: 6-4, averaging 71.8 points, 29.2 rebounds, 13.1 assists, 9.5 steals and 4.7 blocks per game while shooting 47.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 63.5 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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