The Cougars are back at the Vadalabene Center tomorrow night for an OVC (sort of) battle with Eastern Kentucky.
The two schools met Nov. 17 in Richmond, where EKU came away with an 81-65 win. In that game, SIUE turned the ball over 18 times and had problems despite shooting 44 percent from the field. EKU out-rebounded the Cougars 38-30, and had a big 20 point night from Spencer Perrin. EKU is 9-9 on the season, and 4-4 in OVC play. Away from home, the Colonels are 3-4, with wins over SEMO, Eastern Illinois and Georgia Southern.
Overall, I look at the Colonels as a pretty average team. They distribute scoring well, with three players averaging at least 10 points a game and another checking in with just over nine. They are an average shooting team, an average three-point shooting team and a bad free throw shooting team. They don't have a dominant force on the glass, as Perrin leads the squad in rebounding with 4.9 a game. They are not the worst team, and they have had some pretty impressive efforts so far in the year. They lost to no. 20 Minnesota by just 13 on the road, and beat non-Divison I Kentucky Christian (take it for what it is worth) 91-27!! Holy crap!
On the other hand, they only got by Jacksonville State, who checks in at 344 in the latest "Real time RPI" numbers 64-61 at home. The only team worse than the Gamecocks in terms of RPI would be Houston Baptist. In case you were wondering, SIUE moved up to 312 in the latest RPI.
On the road against EKU, SIUE trailed 36-33 at the break, but struggled in the second half, getting outscored 45-32.
SIUE had the same thing happen to them against IPFW last time out, which leads us to our stat of the day.
The Cougars have been out-scored in the second half 10 times in their 11 road games by an average of 16 points. The only game the Cougars out-scored their opponents on the road was Nov. 24 against UMKC, a game they lost 82-64.
At home, SIUE is a different team, where they are 3-2. The Cougars defeated DIII MacMurray, Kennesaw State and South Dakota at home, while losing to Kenneth Faried and Morehead State in a game with a few positives, and an overtime game against Middle Tennessee State.
The last three at the VC have went to overtime, and SIUE is 2-1 in those games.
The win against Kennesaw State marked SIUE's first true D-I win at home, while EKU could potentially be the first OVC victim at the VC.
Just laying it out there. The Cougars are dead on the road. Thankfully, we just have Northwestern and South Dakota to think about away from home. This game will be a challenge for the Cougars, but EKU is a vulnerable team. They are sporadic, and don't want to start looking ahead to Saturday's game against Morehead State on ESPNU. If they do, it could spell trouble and a win for SIUE. I am looking for Nik Bundalo (9.7 ppg, 5.8 rpg) and Michael Messer (8.8 ppg) to come up big for the Cougars, and you can't forget about Cory Wickware, who has averaged in double-figures all but four times this season. It's funny how a team as bad as SIUE can hurt you in so many different ways.
As far as a prediction, I don't want to make one, but think SIUE has a very good chance at getting a win tomorrow. They just have to execute and not allow any big EKU runs. If the Cougars stick around long enough, or even jump out to an early lead, something they haven't done all year long, it could be a surprising finish. Live chat begins from the VC about 30 minutes prior to tip-off.
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