Basketball Game Preview: Southwestern Piasa Birds vs. Litchfield Purple Panthers

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Previous Games

02/05/24 - Home	32-24 W
02/06/23 - Away	16-38 L
11/21/22 - Away	32-42 L
12/02/21 - Home	34-23 W
11/27/21 - Away	46-38 W
+ 5 more games

Southwestern has gone 8-2 against Litchfield recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Southwestern Piasa Birds will face off against the Litchfield Purple Panthers at 6:00 p.m. Southwestern has now lost seven straight, leaving the team hunting for their first win since January 27.

Southwestern came up short against Staunton on Monday, falling 44-22. While losing is never fun, the Piasa Birds can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 496th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 112th).

Meanwhile, Litchfield won against North Greene on Saturday with 55 points and they decided to stick to that point total again on Monday. Litchfield strolled past Vandalia with points to spare, taking the game 55-37. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Purple Panthers.

Litchfield pushed their record up to 12-15 with the victory, which was their fifth straight at home. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 52.2 points over those games. As for Southwestern, their loss dropped their record down to 8-20.

Southwestern beat Litchfield 32-24 in their previous matchup back in February of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for Southwestern since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.