Eastern Illinois vs Western Illinois Prediction 1/30/25 College Basketball Picks

The Eastern Illinois Panthers and the Western Illinois Leathernecks meet Thursday in college basketball action from Western Hall. Here’s an Eastern Illinois vs Western Illinois prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Eastern Illinois vs Western Illinois pick. We will examine:

The Eastern Illinois Panthers’ recent form and player performance

The Western Illinois Leathernecks’ recent form and player performance

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Eastern Illinois Panthers

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Western Illinois Leathernecks

Recent betting trends in games played between Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Eastern Illinois vs Western Illinois game

Eastern Illinois Panthers Betting Preview

The Panthers haven’t had much luck at all this year. They’ve got just one instance of consecutive wins so far. Eastern Illinois opened on a 3-8 run over their first 11 games, taking losses to Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, DePaul, Valparaiso, Butler, Eastern Kentucky, and Southeast Missouri State in that time. The Panthers beat Blackburn and Lindenwood as the calendar year switched over, then hit another losing streak. EIU fell versus Western Illinois, SIU Edwardsville, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee Martin, Tennessee State, Morehead State, and Southern Indiana in the next seven outings, then stopped the bleeding with a close win over Little Rock for a 6-15 overall record through the first 21 games of the 2024-25 season.

In the Little Rock game on Monday, the Panthers held a 23-21 deficit going into the second half. Eastern Illinois came back for a 35-31 run the rest of the way and posted a 56-54 victory in the end. Leading the team in scoring was Nakyel Shelton with 15 points, one rebound, one assist, and one steal. Kooper Jacobi added 12 points with three steals and nine rebounds, while Artese Stapleton put up 10 points with five assists and four rebounds in 35 minutes.

Western Illinois Leathernecks Betting Preview

Over on the Western Illinois side, they got off to a reasonable start this year, but they’ve hit the skids since mid-December. The Leathernecks managed to win seven of their first 12 games, taking out San Jose State, Central Arkansas, Monmouth IL, South Alabama, St Ambrose, East-West, and Tennessee Tech in that time. Since then, however, Western Illinois has been on a 1-8 skid. The Leathernecks have a lone win over Eastern Illinois in that span, with losses otherwise versus Lindenwood, SIU Edwardsville, Tennessee Martin, Tennessee State, Morehead State, Southern Indiana, Little Rock, and Southeast Missouri State. The result so far has been an 8-13 overall record through the first 21 outings of the year.

Matched up against Southeast Missouri State on Saturday, the Leathernecks posted a 27-23 deficit in the first half. Western Illinois was blitzed 45-28 the rest of the way and didn’t end up getting closer in a 72-51 defeat. Tops in scoring was Trey Deveaux with 14 points, seven rebounds, and two assists. Sean Smith added 10 points with two assists in 37 minutes, and Rodrick Payne chipped in three points off the bench.

Why the Western Illinois Leathernecks will win

• Eastern Illinois has lost nine of its last 10 night games.
• Western Illinois has won the first half in four of its last five games against Eastern Illinois.

Why the Eastern Illinois Panthers will win

• Western Illinois has lost each of its last six games against the Ohio Valley Conference.
• The road team has won three of the last four games between Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois.

Eastern Illinois vs Western Illinois Prediction

I’ll lean toward Western Illinois I suppose. There’s not a lot to get excited about here, but it should be a fairly competitive matchup, all things considered. The Leathernecks are coming off a rough outing versus SEMO, notching 36 percent shooting with 13 turnovers for 15 RedHawks points. That makes six straight losses for Western Illinois, with fewer than 53 points scored in four of their last five. 

The good news for the Leathernecks, however, is that they took out EIU on the road 75-67 on January 4 the last time these teams met up. Western Illinois shot a nice 51.9 percent from the field in that one but did get pretty sloppy with turnovers (16 for 17 Panthers points) along the way. The Leathernecks need to clean up the ball control in the rematch.