The No. 22 Northwestern Wildcats (20-7, 11-5 Big Ten) and Illinois Fighting Illini (18-9, 9-7) resume their rivalry Thursday in Champaign. Tip-off at the State Farm Center is at 9 p.m. ET (Big Ten Network). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook’s lines around the Northwestern vs. Illinois odds, and make our expert college basketball picks, predictions and bets.
Northwestern has won 5 straight games and 8 of its last 9. The Wildcats defeated Illinois 73-60 as 3.5-point home underdogs on Jan. 4 (finishing as a plus-8 in turnovers that game) and are looking for their 1st 2-game season sweep of the Illini since 1965-66.
After back-to-back road losses at Penn State and Indiana, the Fighting Illini returned home to beat Minnesota 78-69 on Monday, but did not cover as 13.5-point favorites. Illinois is 13-2 on its home floor. UI had won 8 in a row against NU until the Jan. 4 loss.
Rankings courtesy the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.
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Northwestern at Illinois odds
Provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated Wednesday at 11:51 p.m. ET.
- Moneyline: Off the board
- Against the spread (ATS): Northwestern +5.5 (-115) | Illinois -5.5 (-105)
- Over/Under (O/U): 136.5 (O: -105 | U: -115 )
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Northwestern at Illinois picks and predictions
Prediction
Illinois 72, Northwestern 65
Moneyline
Not available.
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Against the spread
The Fighting Illini are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games against winning teams.
UI is susceptible to turnovers leading to some edge for the visitors, but give the Illini an edge in cranking out the better looks around the rim and crashing the boards to create extra chances.
This contest marks NU’s first on the road after 3 straight home games.
BACK THE ILLINI -5.5 (-105).
Over/Under
There are plenty of scoring spiral factors at work here: NU points off turnovers. UI 2nd-chance points and free throws. Both sides shoot a lot of 3s; either could run into a few in short order.
BACK THE OVER 136.5 (-105).
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