Eastern Illinois Panthers vs SIU Edwardsville Cougars Prediction, 12/21/2020 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Eastern Illinois Panthers vs SIU Edwardsville Cougars

Date: Monday, December 21, 2020

Location: First Community Arena in Edwardsville, IL

TV: ESPN+

Odds/Point Spread: Eastern Illinois (-3)

First Community Arena is the venue where and the SIU Edwardsville Cougars (3-4) will play the Eastern Illinois Panthers (3-4) on Monday. The odds on this matchup have Eastern Illinois as 3-point favorites. The over/under opens at 143.

Eastern Illinois will play this game with a mark of 3-4 so far this year. They have an average of 72.6 pts per contest (183rd in college hoops) while shooting 42.5% from the floor. The Panthers are connecting on 37.4% on three-point shots (49 of 131) and 65.9% from the charity stripe. As a team, Eastern Illinois is snagging 34.9 boards per contest and has 83 assists this season, which ranks 153rd in Division 1 in terms of passing the rock. They are turning it over 11.1 times per contest and as a team are committing 17.7 fouls on a nightly basis. On defense, the Panthers have forced 12.9 turnovers every game while drawing 16.7 fouls. They are currently ranked 269th in the nation in allowing assists to their opponents with 97 relinquished on the campaign. The Panthers defense is giving up a FG percentage of 45.0% (177 of 393) and they surrender 35.9 boards per contest as a basketball team. They give up 41.3% on 3-pointers and they rank 253rd in D-1 in points per game allowed (74.4).

The Eastern Illinois Panthers stepped onto the hardwood against the Western Illinois Leathernecks and walked away with a win by a score of 92-88 in their last game. Eastern Illinois ended the contest having earned a 49.3% FG percentage (33 of 67) and made 9 of their 21 three-point attempts. When they shot from the charity stripe, the Panthers made 17 of their 29 shots for a rate of 58.6%. In reference to grabbing rebounds, they collected a total of 33 with 9 of them being of the offensive variety. They also doled out 17 dimes for the matchup as well as having 9 steals and 10 blocks. When talking about defense, Eastern Illinois allowed their opponent to shoot 49.3% from the floor on 33 of 67. Western Illinois earned 8 dimes and 5 steals for the game. On top of that, the Leathernecks collected 42 rebounds (14 offensive, 28 defensive) and added 10 blocks. Western Illinois ended up going 83.3% when shooting free throws by knocking down 20 of 24 tries. They buried 10 of their 27 attempts from long range.

Josiah Wallace is one guy who was a major factor in this game. He scored 22 points on 7 of 14 shooting. He was on the hardwood for 37 mins played and also totaled 4 boards. Wallace ended up shooting 50.0% from the floor and earned 4 assists. One more player that saw the court a lot in this contest for the Panthers was Marvin Johnson. He collected 11 boards and tallied 6 assists. He ended up going 28.6% from the floor for the matchup by going 4-of-14 (11 points). Overall, Johnson played 29 minutes.

SIU Edwardsville has a win-loss record of 3-4 on the season. As an offense, the Cougars are hitting on 46.6% from the field, which is 123rd in the country. SIU Edwardsville has 476 points this season (68.0 per contest) and they average 32.9 rebounds per game. Their rate of dishing out assists is at 13.7 times per contest (169th in D-1) and they are losing possession via turnover 17.1 times per contest. The Cougars are committing 19.0 fouls per game and they shoot 66.1% from the charity stripe. The Cougars defensively are ranked 179th in college hoops in PPG given up with 70.1. The SIU Edwardsville defense surrenders 31.7% on shots from behind the 3-point line (52 of 164) and opponents are making 70.6% of their foul shots. They have surrendered 13.6 dimes and 36.0 rebounds per contest, which ranks 217th and 195th in Division 1. They are forcing their opponents into 16.0 TO's per game and have allowed teams to shoot 41.1% from the floor (138th in college hoops).

When they last stepped on the court, the SIU Edwardsville Cougars went home victorious with a score of 69-65 against the Morehead State Eagles. The Cougars earned 22 defensive boards and 5 offensive rebounds totaling 27 in the matchup. They turned away 7 tries while earning 10 steals for the matchup. The Eagles were called for 16 personal fouls for this contest which got the Cougars to the free throw line for a total of 12 attempts. They were able to bury 9 of those for a clip of 75.0%. In regard to shooting from downtown, SIU Edwardsville knocked down 8 of their 16 tries (50.0%). When the final whistle blew, the Cougars walked away from this one shooting 26 out of 52 from the floor which had them at 50.0%. The Cougars permitted the Eagles to convert 24 out of 67 attempts from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 35.8% for this game. They finished 24.1% from beyond the perimeter by going 7 of 29 and finished the game at 10 of 13 at the free throw line (76.9%). In regard to attacking the glass, SIU Edwardsville allowed Morehead State to pull down 39 overall (18 offensive).

Sidney Wilson ended up having an impact for the Cougars for the contest. He converted 7 out of 14 for the contest for a field goal rate of 50.0%, which gave him 18 points. Wilson grabbed 9 boards in his 35 mins and added 5 assists for this contest. Another guy who saw a lot of minutes for SIU Edwardsville was Shamar Wright. He ended up with 6 points in 31 minutes played by going 2 out of 7 shooting in the game. Wright wrapped this one up going 28.6% from the floor in addition to contributing 2 dimes and 3 rebounds.

Who will win tonight's college basketball game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Eastern Illinois (-3)

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