The No. 4 seed Illinois Fighting Illini (23-9) are 4.5-point underdogs in their second round NCAA Tournament matchup against the No. 5 seed Houston Cougars (30-6) on Sunday at 12:10 PM. The winner advances to the Sweet 16 in the South Regional Region bracket.
Houston has a 25-12-0 record against the spread so far this season compared to Illinois, who is 13-18-0 ATS. The Cougars are 17-21-0 and the Fighting Illini are 17-14-0 in terms of hitting the over. The teams score an average of 149 points per game, 15.5 more points than this matchup’s total. Over the last 10 contests, Houston has a 9-1-0 record against the spread while going 9-1 overall. Illinois has gone 3-7-0 against the spread and 7-3 overall in its last 10 matches.
Here’s what you need to get ready for Sunday’s college basketball action.
Houston at Illinois odds, spread and lines
Odds provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list.
- Spread: Houston -4.5
- Total: 133.5
- Moneyline: Houston -197, Illinois +165
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Houston at Illinois odds, spread, & more
Moneyline
- The Cougars have compiled a 32-4 record in games they were listed as the moneyline favorite (winning 88.9% of those games).
- Houston has gone 31-3 when it has played as a moneyline favorite with odds of -197 or shorter (91.2%).
- The Cougars have an implied moneyline win probability of 66.3% in this game.
- The Fighting Illini have won two of the four games they’ve played as underdogs this season.
- Illinois has played as an underdog of +165 or more once this season and lost that game.
- The implied probability of a win by the Fighting Illini based on the moneyline is 37.7%.
Against the spread
- The Cougars score 73.9 points per game, 6.7 more points than the 67.2 the Fighting Illini give up.
- When Houston totals more than 67.2 points, it is 17-7 against the spread and 22-2 overall.
- Illinois has a 10-9 record against the spread and an 18-3 record overall when allowing fewer than 73.9 points.
- The Fighting Illini’s 75.1 points per game are 17.5 more points than the 57.6 the Cougars give up.
- When it scores more than 57.6 points, Illinois is 13-14 against the spread and 21-7 overall.
- Houston’s record is 18-11 against the spread and 26-4 overall when it gives up fewer than 75.1 points.
- The Cougars have out-scored their opponents by a total of 588 points this season (16.3 points per game on average), and the Fighting Illini have put up 253 more points than their opponents on the year (7.9 per game).
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Over/Under
- The average implied total for the Cougars this season is 73.4 points, 4.4 more points than their implied total of 69 points in Sunday’s game.
- So far this season, Houston has put up more than 69 points in a game 31 times.
- The 75.4-point average implied total on the season for the Fighting Illini is equal to the team’s implied total in this matchup.
- So far this season, Illinois has put up more than 65 points 25 times.
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How to watch Houston vs. Illinois
- Game Day: Sunday, March 20, 2022
- Game Time: 12:10 PM ET
- Live Stream: Hulu
Find out how to watch March Madness live on Hulu!
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