Basketball Game Preview: Litchfield Purple Panthers vs. Carlinville Cavaliers

The Litchfield Purple Panthers will head out to take on the Carlinville Cavaliers at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last games, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this match.

On Friday, Litchfield lost to Staunton at home by a 50-36 margin. While losing is never fun, the Purple Panthers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 394th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 134th).

Meanwhile, Carlinville came up short against Southwestern on Friday and fell 56-49. The defeat continues a trend for the Cavaliers in their matchups with the Piasa Birds: they've now lost three in a row.

This is the second loss in a row for Litchfield and nudges their season record down to 12-17. Those losses can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 52.0 points over those games. As for Carlinville, their loss dropped their record down to 13-16.

Things could have been worse for Litchfield, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 64-48 loss to Carlinville in their previous meeting back in December of 2024. Can Litchfield avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.