Northern Iowa Panthers (12-12, 8-6 MVC) at Southern Illinois Salukis (8-14, 6-8 MVC)
Carbondale, Illinois; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Northern Iowa visits Southern Illinois after Ryley Goebel scored 32 points in Northern Iowa’s 91-79 win against the Indiana State Sycamores.
The Salukis have gone 6-5 in home games. Southern Illinois is 5-10 in games decided by 10 or more points.
The Panthers are 8-6 in MVC play. Northern Iowa ranks second in the MVC shooting 32.5% from 3-point range.
Southern Illinois is shooting 40.4% from the field this season, 1.5 percentage points higher than the 38.9% Northern Iowa allows to opponents. Northern Iowa averages 7.0 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.1 more made shots on average than the 5.9 per game Southern Illinois gives up.
The matchup Thursday is the first meeting this season for the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Tkiyah Nelson is averaging six points, 4.3 assists and 1.5 steals for the Salukis. Indya Green is averaging 16.4 points over the last 10 games.
Jenna Twedt averages 2.5 made 3-pointers per game for the Panthers, scoring 13.5 points while shooting 35.9% from beyond the arc. Goebel is averaging 15.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 2.8 blocks over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Salukis: 6-4, averaging 73.9 points, 35.6 rebounds, 14.3 assists, 8.5 steals and 1.8 blocks per game while shooting 45.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.4 points per game.
Panthers: 4-6, averaging 67.7 points, 32.7 rebounds, 13.1 assists, 7.0 steals and 4.4 blocks per game while shooting 41.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 70.1 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.