Southern Illinois Salukis (8-18, 6-12 MVC) at Belmont Bruins (17-11, 13-4 MVC)

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

BOTTOM LINE: Southern Illinois plays Belmont after Kayla Cooper scored 20 points in Southern Illinois’ 83-68 loss to the Drake Bulldogs.

The Bruins are 10-4 in home games. Belmont is fifth in the MVC scoring 70.1 points while shooting 39.1% from the field.

The Salukis are 6-12 against conference opponents. Southern Illinois is 6-9 when it wins the turnover battle and averages 14.2 turnovers per game.

Belmont averages 8.0 made 3-pointers per game, 1.8 more made shots than the 6.2 per game Southern Illinois gives up. Southern Illinois has shot at a 40.4% clip from the field this season, 1.8 percentage points above the 38.6% shooting opponents of Belmont have averaged.

The teams square off for the second time this season in MVC play. Belmont won the last matchup 68-56 on Dec. 30. Avery Strickland scored 22 points points to help lead the Bruins to the win.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jailyn Banks is scoring 16.1 points per game with 3.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists for the Bruins. Strickland is averaging 12.7 points and 4.4 rebounds while shooting 45.5% over the last 10 games.

Indya Green is averaging 13 points and 8.6 rebounds for the Salukis. Alayna Kraus is averaging 17.4 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Bruins: 6-4, averaging 69.6 points, 35.1 rebounds, 11.9 assists, 9.6 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 38.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 63.6 points per game.

Salukis: 4-6, averaging 68.4 points, 31.3 rebounds, 14.1 assists, 7.2 steals and 2.1 blocks per game while shooting 43.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.4 points.

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