Southern Illinois Salukis vs Drake Bulldogs Prediction, Picks and Game Preview - 03/04/2022

Game Time: 9:30 pm ET, Friday, March 4, 2022

Venue:  Enterprise Center, St. Louis, MO

Where to Watch:  ESPN+

DraftKings:  Point Spread:  SIU +3.5, Drake -3.5; Over/Under:  127 points

Bet365:  Point Spread:  SIU +3.5, Drake -3.5; Over/Under:  127.5 points

BetMGM:  Point Spread:  SIU +3.5, Drake -3.5; Over/Under:  127.5 points

 

Southern Illinois Salukis:  16-14 (6th place, MVC)

Drake Bulldogs:  22-9 (4th place, MVC)

 

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Southern Illinois Salukis:  4-1 last 5

Drake Bulldogs:  5-0 last 5

 

 

 

SIU is coming into this game with a 16-14 record overall and they are 1-2 in their neutral site games this season where they will be in this game. This will be their first game of the MVC Tournament and they are 9-9 against conference opponents this season. They have won 4 of their last 5 games but are coming into this one off of a loss in their last game which snapped a 4 game winning streak that they were on. Their 4 wins in that span were against the Evansville Purple Aces, the Bradley Braves, the Indiana State Sycamores, and the Illinois State Redbirds while their loss came against the Drake Bulldogs in their last game. Marcus Domask led the team in points in that game with 21 while Ben Coupet Jr. was next on the team with 14 points. Lance Jones led the team in assists in that game with 5 while Coupet Jr. led the team in rebounds with 6. They are 44.7% from the field, 36.2% from 3-point range, and 69% from the free throw line with their shooting this season. Their offense is averaging 64.4 PPG and their defense is allowing their opponents to average 61.2 PPG against them. SIU has an ATS record of 18-11 this season and their O/U record is 11-18.

 

 

Drake is coming into this game with a 22-9 record overall and they are 0-4 in their neutral site games this season where they will be in this game. This will be their first game of the MVC Tournament and they are 13-5 against conference opponents this season. Their last loss was against the Bradley Braves but they have gone on a 5 game winning streak since then with wins coming against the Evansville Purple Aces, the Loyola Ramblers, the Indiana State Sycamores, the Valparaiso Crusaders, and the Southern Illinois Salukis in their last game. Tremell Murphy led the team in points in that game with 14 while Roman Penn was next on the team with 12 points. Penn, Tucker DeVries, and DJ Wilkins all led the team in assists in that game with 3 each while Garrett Sturtz led the team in rebounds with 10. They are 45.9% from the field, 34.7% from 3-point range, and 75.1% from the free throw line with their shots this season. Their offense is averaging 74.1 PPG and their defense is allowing their opponents to average 66.3 PPG against them. Drake has an ATS record of 9-19 this season and their O/U record is 13-14-1.

 

Southern Illinois has been playing very well coming into this game winning 4 straight games but they are coming off of a loss in their last game to this very same Drake team but they only lost by 2 points and they were on the road. SIU has not been very good on the road this season with a 4-8 record and they are also 1-2 in neutral site games where they will be here. They are going up against a Drake side that has been much better against conference opponents this season and they have also been 8-2 on the road. They are 0-4 in neutral site games though and they have won their last 5 straight games but their last 2 have been within single digits. SIU just played Drake and lost by 2 points so they can clearly keep up in this game and they should play much better here as well as Drake will not be at home this time. Drake is 2-0 against SIU this season winning at home and on the road but both games were within 2 points. Tournament play is very different from the regular season and anything can really happen here. SIU has already been snubbed by Drake twice and both times the game was within a basket. SIU will come to play here and they will be hungry to finally get that win against Drake. This will be another very close game but this time SIU will edge out Drake.

 

Southern Illinois Drake Prediction:  Our NCAAB Pick for Friday, March 4, 2022 (9:30 pm ET start time) is SIU 75 Drake 74.

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Southern Illinois Salukis: 16-10 ATS in all games. 24-18 ATS after a game where they covered the spread. 47-23 UNDER in all neutral court games.

Drake Bulldogs: 9-19 ATS in all games. 5-15 ATS after playing a game as favorite. 23-17 UNDER after 5 or more consecutive wins.

 

 

Southern Illinois Salukis:  B. Harvey (G) Out indefinitely - Upper Body injury.

Drake Bulldogs:  None.

 

 

“Our whole thing is we want to keep getting better. We don’t want to have a setback, but regardless of what happens, we have to play the right way. We have to play our best, obviously, against an NCAA Tournament team.” - Bryan Mullins ahead of their game against Drake.

 

 

“I thought we came out and played well in the first half. We let Southern Illinois and Marcus Domask get going to allow SIU to claw back into the game. We got a little stagnant in the second half. We made just enough plays late in the game at both ends of the floor to get an important win.” - Darian DeVries on his team’s win against SIU.

 

 

 

B. Coupet 

M. Domask 

L. Jones 

J. Muila 

S. Verplancken

 

T. DeVries 

T. Murphy

R. Penn  

G. Sturtz

 D. Wilkins

 

 

PPG: M. Domask (15)

APG: M. Domask (3.9)

Reb/G: M. Domask (5.1)

 

PPG: T. DeVries (13.6)

APG: R. Penn (3.8)

Reb/G: G. Sturtz (7.5)

 

Coaches:

Southern Illinois Salukis: Bryan Mullins (3rd season)

Drake Bulldogs: Darian DeVries (4th season)