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Eastern Illinois Panthers (14-16, 8-9 OVC) at Western Illinois Leathernecks (18-11, 11-5 OVC)
Macomb, Illinois; Thursday, 8:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Eastern Illinois faces the Western Illinois Leathernecks after Tiger Booker scored 33 points in Eastern Illinois’ 84-79 victory against the SIU-Edwardsville Cougars.
The Leathernecks are 8-5 in home games. Western Illinois ranks third in the OVC with 25.4 defensive rebounds per game led by Drew Cisse averaging 6.9.
The Panthers are 8-9 in conference matchups. Eastern Illinois has a 2-2 record in one-possession games.
Western Illinois’ average of 6.0 made 3-pointers per game is 1.1 fewer made shots on average than the 7.1 per game Eastern Illinois allows. Eastern Illinois has shot at a 42.3% rate from the field this season, 1.5 percentage points greater than the 40.8% shooting opponents of Western Illinois have averaged.
TOP PERFORMERS: Ryan Myers is shooting 39.9% and averaging 13.1 points for the Leathernecks. Jesiah West is averaging 11.4 points over the last 10 games for Western Illinois.
Nakyel Shelton is averaging 10.2 points for the Panthers. Dan Luers is averaging 1.5 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for Eastern Illinois.
LAST 10 GAMES: Leathernecks: 6-4, averaging 66.6 points, 37.7 rebounds, 12.1 assists, 5.7 steals and 4.0 blocks per game while shooting 42.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 65.3 points per game.
Panthers: 4-6, averaging 67.5 points, 35.8 rebounds, 11.3 assists, 7.8 steals and 3.9 blocks per game while shooting 40.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 69.7 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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