Western Illinois faces Tennessee State following McCowan’s 27-point showing

Western Illinois Leathernecks (12-9, 6-6 OVC) at Tennessee State Tigers (6-16, 2-10 OVC)

Nashville, Tennessee; Thursday, 12 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Western Illinois faces Tennessee State after Raegan McCowan scored 27 points in Western Illinois’ 94-82 victory against the SIU-Edwardsville Cougars.

The Tigers have gone 4-5 at home. Tennessee State is 2-10 against opponents over .500.

The Leathernecks have gone 6-6 against OVC opponents. Western Illinois ranks third in the OVC shooting 34.1% from 3-point range.

Tennessee State scores 63.9 points per game, 1.5 fewer points than the 65.4 Western Illinois allows. Western Illinois averages 6.3 made 3-pointers per game this season, 0.4 more makes per game than Tennessee State gives up.

The matchup Thursday is the first meeting this season between the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Somah Kamara is scoring 14.5 points per game with 3.1 rebounds and 1.0 assist for the Tigers. Aaniya Webb is averaging 10.6 points and 1.7 steals over the past 10 games.

McCowan is scoring 21.7 points per game with 7.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists for the Leathernecks. Mia Nicastro is averaging 13.9 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 41.0% over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Tigers: 2-8, averaging 64.7 points, 29.8 rebounds, 8.7 assists, 10.4 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 39.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 70.2 points per game.

Leathernecks: 6-4, averaging 74.3 points, 29.3 rebounds, 12.6 assists, 5.1 steals and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 43.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 65.8 points.

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