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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
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Leathernecks -6; over/under is 134.5
BOTTOM LINE: Eastern Illinois plays the Western Illinois Leathernecks after Tiger Booker scored 33 points in Eastern Illinois’ 84-79 victory over the SIU-Edwardsville Cougars.
The Leathernecks are 8-5 in home games. Western Illinois ranks second in the OVC at limiting opponent scoring, giving up 65.3 points while holding opponents to 40.8% shooting.
The Panthers are 8-9 in conference games. Eastern Illinois is 6-12 against opponents over .500.
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 averaging 13.1 points for the Leathernecks. JJ Kalakon is averaging 1.5 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for Western Illinois.
Booker is shooting 43.5% and averaging 16.2 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.