Check out our free Southern Illinois vs Drake pick and preview for this NCAA Basketball game in Des Moines. See who we like to win and cover the spread in this College Basketball matchup.

Southern Illinois vs Drake Pick & Preview: Saturday, February 11th Betting Odds

Salukis vs Bulldogs Matchup at a Glance

  • Sport: NCAAB
  • Teams: Southern Illinois Salukis at Drake Bulldogs
  • Where: Des Moines at The Knapp Center
  • Date: Saturday, February 11th
  • Betting Odds: Southern Illinois +6.5, SILL +234 | DRAKE -295 O/U 129.5

Salukis Preview:

Southern Illinois heads into this matchup having played 26 games and have an overall record sitting at 19-7. On the road, the Salukis will be playing their 12th game of the season, having gone 6-6. So far, the Salukis have been the underdog 7 times, going 4-3 straight up. Heading into today’s contest, they are the +6.5 underdogs on the spread.

Marcus Domask comes into today’s game as the Salukis’ leading scorer at 17.12 points per contest. Not only has Domask been key to the team’s scoring efforts, but he is Southern Illinois’ top rebounder at 5.85 boards per contest. Behind Domask, the team has benefited from the strong play of Lance Jones, who is second on the team in scoring at 14.15 points per game. Overall, he has hit 37.1% of his shots and is adding 3.12 boards per game.

Offensive production has been hard to come by for Southern Illinois this season, as they are currently ranked 402nd in college basketball at 64.0 points per game. A major reason for low scoring totals is the fact that they have played at a below average pace, and have struggled to knock down outside shots. As a team, the Salukis’ 3-point shooting percentage sits at just 35.4%, placing them 158th in the NCAA.

Bulldogs Preview:

Through 26 games, the Drake Bulldogs have an overall record of 20-6. So far this season, Drake has played 13 games at home, sitting with a record of 12-1. At the time of this article, the oddsmakers have the Bulldogs as the -6.5 point favorites. The Bulldogs have been favored 21 times, going 17-4 straight up.

Drake will be counting on another strong performance from the team’s leading scorer Tucker DeVries who is averaging 19.64 points per game for the Bulldogs. DeVries is also important to the team’s ability to score on the perimeter. So far, he leads the team in 3-point shots made. Also key to the Bulldogs’ offensive game plan is the play of Roman Penn who has hit 47.1% of his field goal attempts on his way to averaging 11.72 points per game.

On offense, Drake is scoring a rate similar to the NCAA average at 73.5 points per game. This figure has come despite struggling to knock down shots from outside. Through 26 games, they have only hit 33.8% of their 3-point field goal attempts. For the season, 34.66% of their shots have come from beyond the arc.

Free Spread Prediction: Drake Bulldogs -6.5

Heading into this matchup, our NCAA betting model has identified this game as a profitable opportunity and recommends taking the Drake Bulldogs to pick up the win and cover the spread as -6.5 point betting favorites. Although Drake as a team is just 124th in overall shooting percentage, we see their offense putting together a strong performance against the Salukis’ defense. At -6.5 we see there being plenty of value in grabbing the Bulldogs to come out on top and cover.