Western Illinois Leathernecks (4-9, 0-2 OVC) at UT Martin Skyhawks (9-4, 1-1 OVC)
Martin, Tennessee; Thursday, 4:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: UT Martin plays Western Illinois after Andrija Bukumirovic scored 28 points in UT Martin’s 86-62 win against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles.
The Skyhawks are 5-0 in home games. UT Martin is second in the OVC with 15.4 assists per game led by Filip Petkovski averaging 3.3.
The Leathernecks are 0-2 against conference opponents. Western Illinois is 3-6 in games decided by at least 10 points.
UT Martin is shooting 44.4% from the field this season, 1.3 percentage points lower than the 45.7% Western Illinois allows to opponents. Western Illinois averages 68.2 points per game, 2.0 more than the 66.2 UT Martin allows.
The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Petkovski is averaging 5.8 points and 3.3 assists for the Skyhawks. Matas Deniusas is averaging 14.1 points over the last 10 games.
Lucas Lorenzen is scoring 14.5 points per game with 4.5 rebounds and 0.8 assists for the Leathernecks. Antwaun Massey is averaging 10.4 points and 3.0 rebounds while shooting 59.2% over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Skyhawks: 6-4, averaging 73.1 points, 39.3 rebounds, 14.5 assists, 8.3 steals and 4.1 blocks per game while shooting 42.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.0 points per game.
Leathernecks: 4-6, averaging 69.6 points, 31.7 rebounds, 8.6 assists, 6.4 steals and 2.1 blocks per game while shooting 42.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 74.6 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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