The Missouri State Bears will look to sweep the regular season against the Southern Illinois Salukis on the road, after winning 81-76 in the first meeting between the two teams. Can the Bears get the job done for our college basketball picks?
Missouri State Bears vs. Southern Illinois Salukis
Wednesday, February 02, 2022 – 09:00 PM EST at Banterra Center
The Missouri State Bears will take on the Southern Illinois Salukis in an exciting Missouri Valley Conference game. Missouri State has won five of its last six games and already beat Southern Illinois, at home, 81-76.
The Bears have one of the best offenses in the nation. Missouri State is shooting a 55.1% effective field goal percentage while only turning the ball over 15.2% of the time.
The Bears have shot 37.4% from deep and 54.5% from inside the arc on the year. Missouri State is also money from the foul line, hitting 79.1% of shots.
Meanwhile, Southern Illinois is solid on the defensive glass and should hold Missouri State from getting many offensive rebounds. Still, inside, Southern Illinois is allowing teams to shoot 50.4%. Missouri State should have a ton of success inside.
Most teams are taking a long time to find open shots against Southern Illinois, using 18.5 seconds per possession. But Missouri State didn't have that problem going up against them earlier, scoring over 80 points in that one.
The Salukis won't force a whole lot of turnovers so while Missouri State will lack offensive rebounds, the Bears will at least have a lot of shot attempts and those shot attempts are usually quality looks.
On the other hand, Southern Illinois doesn't grab many offensive rebounds either, only grabbing 24.7%. The Salukis are shooting 35% from deep and 50% from inside, but only 68% from the foul line.
Missouri State also won't force many turnovers, but they've been more effective defensively inside, holding opponents to 47.2% from twos.
The Salukis will want to shoot a high rate of threes and have hit 35% on the season. But just like Missouri State, on the misses, they won't be able to get any turnovers.
At the end of the day, Missouri State's offense is just too much for Southern Illinois to handle. Missouri State is just that much better offensively.
The Salukis want to play slow tempo and take their time but Missouri State will want to rush them and play fast.
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Prediction
In the first meeting, Southern Illinois shot 48% from three and still lost, because they only shot 32% from inside the arc.
Meanwhile, Missouri State dominated inside, scoring 61% from inside and shot 35% from three, which was enough to get the win. Of course, Missouri State also dominated the glass and earned 11 more rebounds in that game.
Don't expect Southern Illinois to shoot nearly 50% from three, but the analytics do prove that Missouri State is much better inside. The Bears will emphasize that tonight.
So, for your best bets, take Missouri State -130 on the ML at one of our top-rated sportsbooks.
NCAAB Pick: Missouri State (-130) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
