Smith and the Western Illinois Leathernecks host conference foe SIU-Edwardsville

Audio By Carbonatix

SIU-Edwardsville Cougars (14-8, 7-4 OVC) at Western Illinois Leathernecks (8-14, 2-9 OVC)

Macomb, Illinois; Saturday, 4:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Ray'Sean Taylor and SIU-Edwardsville take on Sean Smith and Western Illinois in OVC play Saturday.

The Leathernecks are 5-6 on their home court. Western Illinois has a 3-1 record in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Cougars are 7-4 in OVC play. SIU-Edwardsville ranks second in the OVC allowing 66.4 points while holding opponents to 40.2% shooting.

Western Illinois makes 43.2% of its shots from the field this season, which is 3.0 percentage points higher than SIU-Edwardsville has allowed to its opponents (40.2%). SIU-Edwardsville has shot at a 42.9% clip from the field this season, 1.5 percentage points below the 44.4% shooting opponents of Western Illinois have averaged.

TOP PERFORMERS: Smith is averaging 12 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.6 steals for the Leathernecks. Marko Maletic is averaging 15.8 points over the last 10 games.

Taylor is averaging 18.9 points, 3.5 assists and 1.8 steals for the Cougars. Brian Taylor II is averaging 13.7 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Leathernecks: 1-9, averaging 61.5 points, 28.7 rebounds, 8.3 assists, 6.3 steals and 3.2 blocks per game while shooting 41.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 70.6 points per game.

Cougars: 7-3, averaging 70.5 points, 30.1 rebounds, 11.3 assists, 7.3 steals and 3.5 blocks per game while shooting 43.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 66.9 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.