Drake (7-11, 2-5) vs. Illinois St. (8-10, 0-7)
Knapp Center; Des Moines, IA
7:05 PM CST
After winning their opening game of the conference season against SIU, Drake has won just one of their last five. Of those five losses, three have been on the road with their home losses coming against Wichita St. (last Saturday) and Indiana St. Down by five at the break, Wichita St. went on to win by 14. Drake will be looking to play two strong halves of basketball tonight.
Illinois St. begins a stretch where they will play some winnable games. After traveling to Des Moines, they face SIU at home, at Bradley, and at home against Drake. Illinois St. needs to find that go to player to score. They have not scored more than 60 points in a conference game since the second game of Valley season against Missouri St. They managed just 54 in their loss to Evansville on Saturday and no player reached double figures.
Southern Illinois (9-9, 3-4) vs. Evansville (9-8, 3-4)
SIU Arena; Carbondale, IL
7:05 PM CST
As we approach the midway point in the season, teams start to look at their conference records and where they will be seeded heading into the conference tournament in St. Louis. This game could play a roll in who will play a Thursday night game. With a bunch of four teams at 4-3 or 3-4 in the 4th through 7th spots in the standings, the loser here may be on their way to playing Thursday night.
Gene Teague sat out SIU’s 20-point loss at Northern Iowa over the weekend. For SIU to make a move, he needs to be in the line-up. Evansville is coming off a win at Illinois St. While it is a down season for Illinois St., a road win there helps the confidence of Marty Simmons’ team. Can Evansville pick up their second conference road win of the season?