Eastern Illinois Panthers (10-15, 6-8 OVC) at Western Illinois Leathernecks (4-21, 0-14 OVC)
Macomb, Illinois; Tuesday, 8:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Western Illinois faces Eastern Illinois after Lucas Lorenzen scored 24 points in Western Illinois’ 83-56 loss to the Tennessee State Tigers.
The Leathernecks have gone 3-7 at home. Western Illinois is eighth in the OVC with 9.4 offensive rebounds per game led by Karyiek Dixon averaging 3.0.
The Panthers are 6-8 in OVC play. Eastern Illinois averages 11.6 turnovers per game and is 7-7 when winning the turnover battle.
Western Illinois’ average of 5.5 made 3-pointers per game is 1.6 fewer made shots on average than the 7.1 per game Eastern Illinois gives up. Eastern Illinois’ 42.8% shooting percentage from the field this season is 4.5 percentage points lower than Western Illinois has allowed to its opponents (47.3%).
The matchup Tuesday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Lorenzen is shooting 38.4% and averaging 15.1 points for the Leathernecks. Isaiah Griffin is averaging 11.3 points over the last 10 games.
Zion Fruster is shooting 39.9% and averaging 14.5 points for the Panthers. Preston Turner is averaging 1.5 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Leathernecks: 0-10, averaging 63.2 points, 27.6 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 5.7 steals and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 38.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 80.1 points per game.
Panthers: 5-5, averaging 68.1 points, 28.9 rebounds, 12.5 assists, 8.1 steals and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 44.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 65.6 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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