#768 ASA PLAY ON 8* Western Illinois -6 over South Dakota, Thursday at 7 PM ET - These 2 teams are tied at 3-3 in the Summit but WIU is the much better team by our metrics. South Dakota has played one of the easiest schedules in the nation (352nd) and they have played the easiest schedule so far in the Summit League (10th). They still have 3 conference losses despite that. They may look like they are on a bit of a roll winning 3 straight but those wins have come vs the 3 worst teams in the conference and all 3 rank below 300th nationally. They Coyotes have been terrible on the road with a 1-5 SU record and their only win away from home came @ North Dakota who is 4-14 on the season and 0-5 in conference play. They haven’t beaten a single team ranked inside the top 200 this season and they are 0-4 SU vs teams ranked higher than 200. WIU has some momentum coming in as the enter this game off 2 road wins including beating a very solid North Dakota State team on the road last Saturday. The Leathernecks are just happy to be playing a home game as they have played 6 road games and just 1 home game since December 18th. That one home game was a 1 point loss to Oral Roberts, the 2nd highest rated team in the conference. They are 6-0 in their other home games this season. Offensively they average 80 PPG and an even better 85 PPG at home. They should have success in this one vs a South Dakota defense that ranks 305th nationally in eFG% defense and 351st in 3-point defense (out of 358). The Coyotes, on the other hand, are only averaging 63 PPG in their road games and will have problems keeping up in this game. Lay it with the home team.