Western Illinois vs Eastern Illinois Prediction College Basketball Picks 1/4/25

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

The Western Illinois Leathernecks’ recent form and player performance

The Eastern Illinois Panthers’ recent form and player performance

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Western Illinois Leathernecks

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Eastern Illinois Panthers

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

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

Western Illinois Leathernecks Betting Preview

The Leathernecks came out of the gate this year with a spotty 2-3 run. The wins in that time were over San Jose State and Central Arkansas. Otherwise, it was losses to Pepperdine, Green Bay, and Northern Iowa at that time. Western Illinois would go on a 4-1 run across the next five games with a lone loss to Incarnate Word. Otherwise, it was wins over Monmouth IL, South Alabama, St. Ambrose, and East-West University. Since then, however, it’s been a 1-3 run. The Leathernecks have a lone win over Tennessee Tech surrounded by losses to South Dakota, Lindenwood, and SIU Edwardsville in that quartet for a 7-7 overall record so far.

In the SIU Edwardsville matchup on Thursday, the Leathernecks came out of halftime with a 42-30 deficit. Western Illinois kept the pace from there on a 36-35 advantage in the second but still fell by double-digits 77-66. Leading the team in scoring during the loss was Marko Maletic with 28 points, one rebound, and one assist. Ryan Myers added 17 points with four assists and two steals, while Sean Smith put up 13 points, eight assists, and four steals.

Eastern Illinois Panthers Betting Preview

Over on the Eastern Illinois side, they stumbled to a rough start (amid some tough matchups) with a 1-5 run through their first half-dozen games. The Panthers beat Earlham College in that time, otherwise falling to Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, DePaul, and Valparaiso. A 2-3 run ensued over the next five featuring wins over Northern Illinois and Calumet College amid losses to Butler, Eastern Kentucky, and Southeast Missouri State. Since then Eastern Illinois has recorded consecutive wins over Blackburn and Lindenwood, however.

In the Lindenwood game back on Thursday, the Panthers came out of halftime looking at a 35-27 edge. Eastern Illinois was outscored 37-29 in the second half however, and needed 14 points in overtime to eke out a 78-74 victory. Leading the team in scoring was Zion Fruster with 29 options, five rebounds, and two steals. Artese Stapleton added 16 points with six rebounds, while Kooper Jacobi doubled up on 12 points and 10 boards. Tops in scoring off the bench (for all the bench points, in fact) was Obadiah Curtis with 11 points and two rebounds.

Why the Eastern Illinois Panthers will win

• Eastern Illinois has won each of its last eight games at First Mid Court at Groniger Arena.
• Western Illinois has lost five of its last six road games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Western Illinois has lost the first half in each of its last four day games.

Why the Western Illinois Leathernecks will win

• Eastern Illinois has lost six of its last seven day games against the Ohio Valley Conference at First Mid Court at Groniger Arena.
• Western Illinois has won each of its last three day games against Eastern Illinois.
• Eastern Illinois has lost the first half in three of its last four games against Conference opponents.

Western Illinois vs Eastern Illinois Prediction

I’ll probably go with Western Illinois here, but I’m not touching it. We should have a pretty good matchup in store, though. You could call it either way. In any case, Western Illinois was pretty flat against SIU Edwardsville on Thursday, especially on defense. The Leathernecks gave up a whopping 60 percent shooting from the field and 61.5 percent (8-of-15) from outside but didn’t play terribly otherwise. The bad news is that Western Illinois has been below 67 points in three of the last four games—with all three of those being losses.

As for Eastern Illinois, they notched a nice OT win over a 6-8 Lindenwood team in their last outing—but it was a sloppy, sloppy game. The Panthers committed 21 of the 41 total turnovers, resulting in 21 Lions points. EIU has 72 or more points in three straight games now though, so the Leathernecks need to get it going on offense Saturday.