Leatherneck Nation

WGEM Prediction:  Western Illinois 72, Southeast Missouri State 65
 

From ESPN Sports Center:

Block of the year ?? Western Illinois player snatches ball away at the rim.  #4 Jesiah West comes up with an incredible rejection for Western Illinois, pinning the ball on the glass with two hands before taking it away during Thursday night's game at Lindenwood.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Massey says a 54% chance of a win, with a predicted score of 71-69 for Western: https://masseyratings.com/game.php?gid=939098099
WIU hosted SEMO on 1/4 and won 68-61. The Redhawks are 7-15 overall (3-15 against DI teams) and 2-7 in the OVC.

Two of the 3 neural networks like the Necks in this game.  The Tensorflow net does pretty well on the margin of victory but seems to always favor a lower score, regardless of who is playing.  I might need to adjust some training parameters for it.
 
{
    Game: 6200179,
    team1: {
      id: 'Western Ill.',
      prediction: { B: 70.17, S: 66.81, T: 50.19 }
    },
    team2: {
      id: 'Southeast Mo. St.',
      prediction: { B: 61.41, S: 72.07, T: 40.87 }
    }
  }
B=BRAIN; S=SYNAPTIC; T=TENSORFLOW

Pretty darn good half of basketball.  But you know they have at least one run coming our way in the 2nd half.  Keep the pedal to the metal.

This team is impressive for a first year coach. Playing very disciplined defense and forcing the opponents to make their shots with how well they rebound on both ends

If we can't get 1500 to 1700 in the Hall on Thursday nite to welcome back these men and women, I am going to have to take the bull by the horns and contact the agent for Red Panda.  
 

Western wins 76-55

Quinlan Bennett and JJ Kalakon led the Western scoring with 15 points each.

Drew Cisse had 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Western out-rebounded SEMO 38-20

Western was 13 of 15 on free throws.

Attendance at SEMO = 1,060


Current OVC Standings:
Morehead State  9-1
Western  8-2
Tennessee-Martin  7-3
Tennessee State  6-4
SIU-Edwardsville  6-4
Little Rock  6-4
Eastern Illinois  4-6
Southern Indiana  3-7
Lindenwood  2-8
Tennessee Tech  2-8
Southeast Missouri State  2-8