The Southern Jaguars and the Western Illinois Leathernecks meet Friday in college basketball action from Western Hall. Southern enters this one at 1-2 so far following a loss to Arizona on Monday. As for Western Illinois, they’re sitting at 1-2 as well and coming off a win over St. Ambrose. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Pick Dawgz.
Southern Jaguars
The Jaguars have a couple of blowout losses sandwiched around a noteworthy win so far this year. Southern kicked things off with a 108-75 loss to TCU, giving up 61.4 percent shooting with a 41-28 rebounding deficit. Game two was a victory over UCLA 85-71 however, as the Jaguars scored 40 points in the first half and 45 more in the second.
Back on Monday versus Arizona in game three, the Jaguars fell behind 35-23 by the break. After giving up 62 more points from there Southern had a 97-59 blowout loss. Leading the scoring was Tai’Reon Joseph with 22 points and five assists. Brentay Noel added 10 points with five rebounds.
Western Illinois Leathernecks
Over on the Leathernecks’ side, they kicked off their season with a couple of double-digit losses. Western Illinois fell 78-68 in overtime versus UTSA in their opener, out-rebounding the Roadrunners 56-47 but shooting just 32 percent from the field. Game two was a loss to SMU, as Western Illinois scored just 22 first-half points in a 90-53 result.
The Leathernecks finally got their first win of the year in game three versus St. Ambrose. Western Illinois scored 41 points in the first half and 53 in the second for a 94-59 win. James Dent led the team on 17 points with five rebounds, while Ryan Myers posted 13 points, six rebounds and five assists.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll probably just stick with Southern in this one. Also probably not touching it. The Jaguars have been a mixed bag so far, but they should match up reasonably well in this one. It’ll be a different landscape than Monday’s rough game versus Arizona, in which the Jaguars put up 31.7 percent shooting and got edged out 56-28 on the boards.
As for Western Illinois, they looked pretty good in their last game versus an overmatched St. Ambrose team, shooting 48.5 percent from the field with a whopping 60 rebounds. The Leathernecks won’t be able to score quite so easily here though, so I think Southern powers out the cover/win.
AUTHOR: Andrew Jett
Follow Andrew Jett on Twitter @PickDawgzAndrew