Check out our free Southern Illinois vs Illinois State pick and preview for this NCAA Basketball game in Normal. See who we like to win and cover the spread in this College Basketball matchup.
Southern Illinois vs Illinois State Pick & Preview: Sunday, January 29th Betting Odds
Salukis vs Redbirds Matchup at a Glance
- Sport: NCAAB
- Teams: Southern Illinois Salukis at Illinois State Redbirds
- Where: Normal at Redbird Arena
- Date: Sunday, January 29th
- Betting Odds: Southern Illinois -4.5, SILL -210 | ILLST +168 O/U 124.5
Salukis Preview:
The Southern Illinois Salukis head into today’s game in what will be their 23rd game of the season, posting a record of 17-5. On the road, the Salukis will be playing their 10th game of the season, having gone 6-4. This season, Southern Illinois has been favored to win in 15 games, sitting with a mark of 12-3. For today’s contest, Southern Illinois has a betting line set -4.5 points in their favor.
Marcus Domask comes into today’s game as the Salukis’ leading scorer at 16.91 points per contest. Not only has Domask been key to the team’s scoring efforts, but he is Southern Illinois’ top rebounder at 6.05 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 14.09 points per game. Overall, he has hit 37.2% of his shots and is adding 3.18 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.
Redbirds Preview:
The Illinois State Redbirds head into today’s game in what will be their 23rd game of the season, posting a record of 8-14. So far this season, Illinois State has played 11 games at home, sitting with a record of 5-6. For the season, Illinois State has been the underdog in 12 games, sitting with a mark of 2-10. Currently, the oddsmakers have the lines set with the Redbirds being +4.5 point underdogs.
Illinois State’s leading scorer this season is Darius Burford, who is averaging 11.41 points per contest. So far, Burford has accounted for 16.89% of the team’s scoring. In addition, he is contributing 3.82 rebounds per game and 2.14 assists. Seneca Knight is the second leading scorer for the Redbirds, averaging 10.95 points per game. Between him and Knight, they are accounting for 33.1% of the team’s scoring.
On offense, Illinois State comes into the game looking to control the pace of play, as they are just 286th in possessions per game. Even with their preference to slow the game down, the Redbirds’ are scoring at a rate similar to the NCAA average at 74.2 points per game. So far, 36.91% of their shots have come from beyond the arc, where they have connected at a rate of 36.4%.
Free Spread Prediction: Illinois State Redbirds +4.5
Heading into this matchup between the Southern Illinois Salukis and Illinois State Redbirds we have a strong lean on taking the points with Illinois State at +4.5. Both team’s are going to come into this game looking to get up looks from outside, as they are both average team’s in terms of 3-pointers made per game. Look for Illinois State to benefit from facing another squad looking to turn this into a 3-point shooting contest. When looking at the line, we see tremendous value in taking the Illinois State Redbirds at +4.5. Go ahead and lock this bet in before tip-off.
