Eastern Illinois Panthers (9-14, 5-7 OVC) at Tennessee State Tigers (14-8, 8-4 OVC)
Nashville, Tennessee; Thursday, 8:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Tennessee State plays Eastern Illinois after Aaron Nkrumah scored 21 points in Tennessee State’s 90-85 loss to the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles.
The Tigers are 6-2 on their home court. Tennessee State is 4-5 against opponents with a winning record.
The Panthers are 5-7 in OVC play. Eastern Illinois ranks ninth in the OVC with 21.4 defensive rebounds per game led by Terry McMorris averaging 4.1.
Tennessee State makes 46.1% of its shots from the field this season, which is 3.0 percentage points higher than Eastern Illinois has allowed to its opponents (43.1%). Eastern Illinois averages 5.7 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.6 fewer made shots on average than the 7.3 per game Tennessee State allows.
The Tigers and Panthers meet Thursday for the first time in conference play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Travis Harper II is shooting 39.4% from beyond the arc with 2.5 made 3-pointers per game for the Tigers, while averaging 17.7 points. Nkrumah is averaging 17.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals over the last 10 games.
Zion Fruster is scoring 14.8 points per game with 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists for the Panthers. Kooper Jacobi is averaging 9.9 points and 5.6 rebounds over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Tigers: 7-3, averaging 82.7 points, 33.5 rebounds, 15.0 assists, 8.6 steals and 4.5 blocks per game while shooting 48.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 77.7 points per game.
Panthers: 5-5, averaging 68.5 points, 29.4 rebounds, 13.0 assists, 9.0 steals and 2.8 blocks per game while shooting 42.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 65.1 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.