Tennessee State Tigers (9-5, 3-1 OVC) at Western Illinois Leathernecks (4-11, 0-4 OVC)
Macomb, Illinois; Thursday, 8:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Tennessee State visits Western Illinois after Aaron Nkrumah scored 22 points in Tennessee State’s 84-79 victory over the Little Rock Trojans.
The Leathernecks have gone 3-3 at home. Western Illinois is 3-7 in games decided by 10 points or more.
The Tigers are 3-1 against OVC opponents. Tennessee State is 2-0 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.
Western Illinois averages 66.5 points per game, 9.8 fewer points than the 76.3 Tennessee State gives up. Tennessee State has shot at a 44.6% rate from the field this season, 1.1 percentage points fewer than the 45.7% shooting opponents of Western Illinois have averaged.
The Leathernecks and Tigers meet Thursday for the first time in OVC play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Lucas Lorenzen is averaging 15.2 points for the Leathernecks. Isaiah Griffin is averaging 10.8 points over the past 10 games.
Travis Harper II is scoring 17.1 points per game and averaging 4.5 rebounds for the Tigers. Nkrumah is averaging 15.8 points and 3.8 rebounds over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Leathernecks: 3-7, averaging 67.3 points, 32.3 rebounds, 9.7 assists, 5.9 steals and 2.1 blocks per game while shooting 40.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 75.4 points per game.
Tigers: 7-3, averaging 75.1 points, 32.7 rebounds, 12.1 assists, 11.0 steals and 2.4 blocks per game while shooting 43.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 76.0 points.
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.