SIU-Edwardsville Cougars (9-6, 2-2 OVC) at Eastern Illinois Panthers (5-9, 1-2 OVC)
Charleston, Illinois; Tuesday, 8:30 p.m. EST
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Cougars -2.5; over/under is 132.5
BOTTOM LINE: Eastern Illinois hosts SIU-Edwardsville after Zion Fruster scored 23 points in Eastern Illinois’ 75-67 loss to the Western Illinois Leathernecks.
The Panthers are 5-1 on their home court. Eastern Illinois is seventh in the OVC with 9.3 offensive rebounds per game led by Kooper Jacobi averaging 3.2.
The Cougars are 2-2 against OVC opponents. SIU-Edwardsville scores 73.1 points and has outscored opponents by 7.4 points per game.
Eastern Illinois averages 71.3 points, 5.6 more per game than the 65.7 SIU-Edwardsville gives up. SIU-Edwardsville has shot at a 43.0% rate from the field this season, 0.3 percentage points less than the 43.3% shooting opponents of Eastern Illinois have averaged.
The Panthers and Cougars meet Tuesday for the first time in OVC play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Nakyel Shelton is scoring 17.3 points per game with 4.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists for the Panthers.
Ray’Sean Taylor is shooting 35.5% from beyond the arc with 3.3 made 3-pointers per game for the Cougars, while averaging 17.5 points, 4.5 assists and 1.7 steals.
LAST 10 GAMES: Panthers: 4-6, averaging 72.1 points, 33.2 rebounds, 11.9 assists, 9.5 steals and 3.1 blocks per game while shooting 44.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.2 points per game.
Cougars: 6-4, averaging 72.6 points, 35.9 rebounds, 14.8 assists, 6.8 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 43.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.1 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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