Southern Illinois visits Belmont following Cheesman's 25-point game

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Southern Illinois Salukis (4-21, 2-14 MVC) at Belmont Bruins (16-11, 11-5 MVC)

Nashville, Tennessee; Thursday, 7:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Belmont hosts Southern Illinois after Kendal Cheesman scored 25 points in Belmont's 83-78 loss to the Murray State Racers.

The Bruins are 8-3 on their home court. Belmont has a 0-3 record in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Salukis are 2-14 in MVC play. Southern Illinois leads the MVC with 10.9 offensive rebounds per game led by Gift Uchenna averaging 5.2.

Belmont scores 70.4 points per game, 5.0 fewer points than the 75.4 Southern Illinois gives up. Southern Illinois' 34.7% shooting percentage from the field this season is 5.0 percentage points lower than Belmont has given up to its opponents (39.7%).

The Bruins and Salukis face off Thursday for the first time in MVC play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Cheesman is scoring 12.9 points per game and averaging 8.2 rebounds for the Bruins. Tuti Jones is averaging 2.1 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

Uchenna is shooting 42.1% and averaging 14.6 points for the Salukis. Kayla Cooper is averaging 10.7 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Bruins: 6-4, averaging 76.6 points, 32.0 rebounds, 16.9 assists, 7.3 steals and 2.7 blocks per game while shooting 46.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.8 points per game.

Salukis: 1-9, averaging 55.1 points, 31.1 rebounds, 9.9 assists, 6.0 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 33.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 79.3 points.

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