Western Illinois Leathernecks (10-1, 2-0 OVC) at UT Martin Skyhawks (5-6, 1-1 OVC)
Martin, Tennessee; Thursday, 2 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: UT Martin hosts Western Illinois after Sidni Middleton scored 25 points in UT Martin’s 74-62 loss to the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles.
The Skyhawks have gone 3-1 in home games. UT Martin is fifth in the OVC in rebounding averaging 33.4 rebounds. Zy Thompson paces the Skyhawks with 6.3 boards.
The Leathernecks are 2-0 against OVC opponents. Western Illinois averages 10.0 turnovers per game and is 10-1 when committing fewer turnovers than opponents.
UT Martin’s average of 5.8 made 3-pointers per game this season is only 0.5 fewer made shots on average than the 6.3 per game Western Illinois gives up. Western Illinois averages 19.0 more points per game (82.5) than UT Martin gives up (63.5).
The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Kenley McCarn is scoring 15.0 points per game with 4.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists for the Skyhawks. Thompson is averaging 12.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.5 steals over the past 10 games.
Mia Nicastro is averaging 22.5 points and 10.5 rebounds for the Leathernecks. Raegan McCowan is averaging 15.4 points over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Skyhawks: 5-5, averaging 69.8 points, 33.6 rebounds, 15.1 assists, 11.4 steals and 3.9 blocks per game while shooting 43.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.1 points per game.
Leathernecks: 9-1, averaging 79.1 points, 34.9 rebounds, 12.1 assists, 8.3 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 45.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 61.1 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.