Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles vs Western Illinois Leathernecks Prediction, 2/19/2026 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles vs Western Illinois Leathernecks

Date: Thursday, February 19, 2026

Location: Western Hall in Macomb, IL

TV: ESPN+

The Western Illinois Leathernecks (5-22) will try to defeat the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles (5-21) at Western Hall on Thursday.

The Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles stepped onto the hardwood against Tennessee Tech and went home with a loss by a final score of 82-74 in their last game. Concerning personal fouls, the Screaming Eagles finished with 20 and Tennessee Tech recorded 20 personal fouls. They also made 5 out of their 15 attempts from 3-point range. Tennessee Tech ended up going 78.9% at the free throw line by knocking down 15 of 19 attempts. In addition, Tennessee Tech pulled down 32 boards (8 offensive, 24 defensive), but wasn't able to record a block. Tennessee Tech earned 7 assists and had 2 steals in this matchup. With respect to defending, Southern Indiana allowed 54.4% from the field on 31 out of 57 shooting. They also recorded 8 dimes in this contest in addition to forcing the opposition into 9 turnovers and having 6 steals. When discussing grabbing boards, they collected 26 with 10 of them being of the offensive variety. At the charity stripe, the Screaming Eagles knocked down 20 of their 27 shots for a percentage of 74.1%. Southern Indiana finished the game with a 41.1% field goal percentage (23 of 56) and buried 8 out of their 18 3-pointers.

Ismail Habib is a guy who was a contributor for the contest. He finished the game at 45.5% from the floor and distributed 4 assists. He saw the court for 33 mins played and pulled down 5 rebounds. He finished with 17 points on 5 out of 11 shooting.

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Southern Indiana will play this contest with a record of 5-21 so far this season. They turn the ball over 12.4 times per contest and as a squad they are committing 17.5 fouls on a nightly basis. As a unit, Southern Indiana is pulling down 37.6 boards per game and has 264 dimes so far this year, which ranks 360th in D-1 in terms of passing the ball. The Screaming Eagles are connecting on 31.1% on three-point shots (205 of 660) and 64.3% from the charity stripe. They currently have an average of 68.5 points per game (331st in D-1) while hitting 38.4% from the field.

When they are on the defensive end, the Screaming Eagles are forcing 11.7 turnovers per game while drawing 17.8 fouls. They rank 6th in college hoops in allowing assists with 265 conceded this year. The Screaming Eagles defensively are giving up a shooting percentage of 43.8% (684 of 1,561) and they relinquish 40.9 boards per game as a team. They give up 32.2% on shots from downtown while they are 188th in D-1 in PPG allowed (73.8).

When they last stepped on the court, the Western Illinois Leathernecks took a loss by a score of 77-58 when they faced Little Rock. When talking about rebounds, Western Illinois permitted Little Rock to pull down 45 overall (12 offensive). They went 42.1% from beyond the perimeter via 8 out of 19 and ended up going 7 of 13 at the free throw line (53.8%). The Leathernecks allowed Little Rock to convert 31 out of 69 attempts from the floor which gave them a percentage of 44.9% in the game. When the final whistle was blown, the Leathernecks finished 22 for 58 from the floor which had them sitting at 37.9%. In relation to shooting from downtown, Western Illinois converted 6 of 24 attempts (25.0%). They were able to knock down 8 of the free throw tries for a percentage of 44.4%. Little Rock earned 18 personal fouls for this contest which got the Leathernecks to the charity stripe for 18 shots. They also coughed up the ball 9 times, while getting 3 steals in the matchup. The Leathernecks recorded 27 defensive rebounds and 5 offensive boards for a total of 32 in this game.

Lucas Lorenzen pitched in for the Leathernecks in the game. He knocked down 7 out of 11 for the matchup for a field goal percentage of 63.6%, and had 3 rebounds. He scored 19 points in his 32 minutes of playing time and had 1 assist in the game.

Western Illinois has a win-loss record of 5-22 on the campaign. When it comes to executing on offense, the Leathernecks are hitting on 40.1% from the field, which ranks them 357th in the country. Western Illinois has scored 1,766 points so far this year (65.4 per contest) and they pull in 32.9 rebounds per contest. They are earning an assist 8.1 times per contest (365th in Division 1) and they are losing possession via turnover 11.7 times per contest. The Leathernecks are responsible for committing 16.3 personal fouls every game and they shoot 67.6% from the free throw line.

The Leathernecks defensively are ranked 253rd in D-1 in points given up per game with 76.5. They are forcing their opponents into 10.6 TO's every game and allow teams to shoot 47.1% from the field (327th in college hoops). The Western Illinois defense concedes 36.2% from downtown (212 of 585) and their opponents are knocking down 71.0% of their free throw attempts. They allow 13.9 assists and 35.9 total rebounds per game, which is ranked 227th and 272nd in the nation.

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Western Illinois

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