Tennessee Tech hosts Deveaux and Western Illinois

By Canadian Press on February 26, 2025.

Western Illinois Leathernecks (11-19, 5-14 OVC) at Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (15-14, 10-8 OVC)

Cookeville, Tennessee; Thursday, 8:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Western Illinois visits Tennessee Tech after Trey Deveaux scored 23 points in Western Illinois’ 86-81 overtime victory over the Lindenwood Lions.

The Golden Eagles have gone 9-3 at home. Tennessee Tech is fourth in the OVC with 24.4 defensive rebounds per game led by Daniel Egbuniwe averaging 5.0.

The Leathernecks are 5-14 against OVC opponents. Western Illinois averages 10.9 turnovers per game and is 5-5 when winning the turnover battle.

Tennessee Tech averages 9.5 made 3-pointers per game, 2.5 more made shots than the 7.0 per game Western Illinois allows. Western Illinois averages 68.3 points per game, 5.6 fewer points than the 73.9 Tennessee Tech allows to opponents.

TOP PERFORMERS: Egbuniwe is averaging 10.3 points and 6.6 rebounds for the Golden Eagles. Matthew Sells is averaging 2.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

Sean Smith is averaging 10.5 points, 3.5 assists and 1.6 steals for the Leathernecks. Deveaux is averaging 16.4 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Golden Eagles: 6-4, averaging 72.5 points, 32.9 rebounds, 14.4 assists, 6.3 steals and 2.0 blocks per game while shooting 43.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 73.4 points per game.

Leathernecks: 3-7, averaging 68.6 points, 30.6 rebounds, 10.4 assists, 5.0 steals and 4.0 blocks per game while shooting 44.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 75.2 points.

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

The Associated Press