Western Illinois at Iowa 12/29/21 - College Basketball Picks & Predictions

The Western Illinois Leathernecks will be on the road Wednesday night for a non conference matchup against the Iowa Hawkeyes. Western Illinois has started the season with a bang coming into Wednesday night 10-3 overall despite a six point loss to Omaha last game out. Defensively Western Illinois struggled against Omaha as The Mavericks converted on 49.1% of their shots and scored 84 points leading to the victory. 

The Western Illinois offense struggled against Omaha despite scoring 78 points the Leathernecks made only 32.4% of their shots and 18.9% from beyond the arc leading to the loss. Trenton Massner was the scoring leader for Western Illinois with 26 points on 8 of 18 shooting in 40 minutes of action. Will Cirus added 20 points in 40 minutes, while Colton sandage added 16 points on five of 11 shooting. 

The Iowa Hawkeyes come into Tuesday playing well riding a two game win streak following a 30 point win against SE Louisiana in their last game before the Christmas holiday. The Iowa defense shut down SE Louisiana holding the Lions to 36.7% from the floor and forced 15 turnovers to give the Hawkeyes the victory. 

Offensively Iowa dominated SE Louisiana converting on 32 of 68 shots from the floor and 11 of 33 from beyond the arc to score 93 points in the game. Keegan Murray led the way for Iowa with 20 points and 10 rebounds in 24 minutes on the floor. Patrick McCaffrey added a second best 16 points on 5 of 10 shooting and Jordan Bohannon chipped in 13 points in 22 minutes. Payton Sandfort Took advantage of 18 minutes of action scoring 10 points off the bench.