Evansville vs Southern Illinois Prediction College Basketball Picks 1/1/25

The Evansville Purple Aces and the Southern Illinois Salukis meet Wednesday in college basketball action from the Banterra Center. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s an Evansville vs. Southern Illinois prediction.

Evansville Recap

The Evansville Purple Aces come into this game looking to build on a 57-40 win over Missouri State last time out to improve to 4-9 on the year. After this game, Evansville will head home for a matchup with the Indiana State Sycamores.

Purple Aces Snap Five-Game Losing Streak

Gabriel Pozzato leads the Aces in scoring with 15.4 PPG along with 3.8 RPG while Cam Haffner has 12.8 PPG. Tayshawn Comer has 11.3 PPG with 3.5 APG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Evansville up to this point in the year while Tanner Cuff has 8.7 PPG with Cuff logging a team-high 6.5 RPG and 3.1 APG to lead the Aces in rebounding. Joshua Hughes also has 7.8 PPG and 5.1 RPG on the year. As a team, Evansville is averaging 64.9 PPG on 41.3% shooting from the field, 28.5% from three, and 66% from the foul line this season.

Why the Evansville Purple Aces will win

• Southern Illinois has lost each of its last five games against the Missouri Valley Conference.
• Evansville has won four of its last five day games at Banterra Center.

Southern Illinois Recap

The Southern Illinois Salukis come into this game looking to bounce back from their 78-67 loss to Northern Iowa in their last game, falling to 5-8 on the year as a result. After this game, Southern Illinois will head on the road for a date with Illinois State.

Salukis Drop Back-To-Back Games

Ali Dibba leads the Salukis in scoring with 15.4 PPG along with 3.9 RPG while Kennard Davis Jr. has 13.8 PPG with 4.1 RPG and a team-high 2.4 APG to lead the Salukis in the assist department up to this point. Jarrett Hensley also has 11.1 PPG with 6.4 RPG to lead the Salukis on the glass so far this season and to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Southern Illinois. As a team, Southern Illinois is averaging 73.8 PPG on 45.2% shooting from the field, 32.9% from three, and 68.3% from the foul line this season.

Why the Southern Illinois Salukis will win

• Evansville has lost each of its last 17 Wednesday road games against the Missouri Valley Conference.
• Southern Illinois has won 10 of its last 11 games against Evansville.

Total Points Facts

• Nineteen of Southern Illinois’ last 21 day games against Conference opponents at Banterra Center have produced a total of 139 or fewer points.
• Each of Evansville’s last four games against Conference opponents has produced a total of 137 or fewer points.

Evansville vs. Southern Illinois Prediction

I’m with Southern Illinois here. It’s a bit of a big number for a Southern Illinois team that kind of pales in comparison to past Saluki teams with how disappointing SIU has been for the better part of the season so far, but the thing is that Evansville has done little to convince me that they’re serious about consistently getting out of the MVC basement. A lot of it has to do with the fact that a lot of pieces that were instrumental to Evansville’s success last year transferred out of the program at season’s end, but the Aces haven’t properly reloaded to make up for that loss and I don’t think that this is a matchup where all of a sudden that changes and goes away. The Salukis are still the better team here in my eyes and I think they take care of business at home with a win and cover in this one.