2018 CollegeInsiders.com Tournament Second Round Preview: Eastern Michigan Eagles at Sam Houston State Bearkats

Eastern Michigan continues their trek in the CIT tonight as they travel down to Texas to face the Sam Houston State Bearkats. Eastern Michigan is coming off a triumph over the Niagara Purple Eagles in the first round of the CIT.

SHSU was lucky enough to receive a bye and their last game was on March 9th, when they lost to Southeastern Louisiana in the Southland Conference tournament semifinals.

If you look on paper, this looks to be a fairly evenly matched game. Eastern Michigan scores about 72 points per game while holding their opponents to 66.8. Sam Houston scores about 71.1 points per game while their opponents score 68.1. Eastern Michigan makes about 46.7% of their shots and Sam Houston about 42.7%. The Eagles get about 35 rebounds per game versus the Bearkats’ 37.4. Both teams force about the same number of turnovers.

If I were going to make a prediction of this game, I would go with Sam Houston as Eastern Michigan does not play as well away from the friendly confines of the Water Tower. Given that both teams are pretty evenly matched (on paper), I have to go with the intangibles. In any case, it should be a good game.

The winner of the game will advance to face either Liberty University or UTSA on the road in the semi-final round. Matchups will likely be confirmed either later tonight or early tomorrow.

If you are interested in listening to the game, you can catch it on WEMU at 89.1 on your FM dial or at WEMU.org for streaming. If you are interested in watching it, you can catch it exclusively streaming at WatchCIT.com.

Kenneth Bailey