NCAA Tournament First Round: (1) Illinois (23-6) vs (16) Drexel (12-7) prediction and college basketball game preview.
Illinois vs Drexel Broadcast
Date: Friday, March 19
Game Time: 1:15 pm ET
Venue: Indiana Farmers Coliseum, Indianapolis, IN
Network: TBS
[jwplayer mxujxi71]
– All of the CFN Fearless Predictions
Illinois vs Drexel Game Preview
For latest lines and to bet on college basketball, go to BetMGM
Why Drexel Will Win
The Dragons went on a four-game run to close things out – they haven’t played a home game since mid-January, with the back-to-back dates against William & Mary the only home dates since December 17th – as they overcame their sixth-place regular season finish to take your 2021 Colonial Athletic Association Tournament.
They’re terrific from the field, outstanding on the free throw line, and they’re strong enough from three to at least be really, really annoying.
There’s not a lot of size, but it’s an active team that lead the CAA in rebounding margin. It was the outside shooting, though, that got the job done, going lights out from three hitting 50% or more in four of their last six games and over 60% in two of those.
– 2021 NCAA Tournament Schedule, Predictions
Why Illinois Will Win
There’s absolutely no answer whatsoever for Kofi Cockburn on the inside.
Illinois moves well and gets points from a variety of spots, but with the silky-smooth Ayon Dosunmu doing what he does on the move, everything will be there for the 7-0 Cockburn to dominate on the inside of the Dragon D.
The Big Ten Conference champs were third in the nation in rebounds, they seemingly live on the free throw line, and they’ll have no problems on the outside against a defense that doesn’t do a thing to generate steals or force big mistakes for easy transition points.
What’s Going To Happen
Drexel did hold its own against Pitt in an 83-74 loss to open up the season in late November, but it’s about to get run over by a freight train.
This is a laser-focused Illini team with the talent and versatility to win it all. It’ll take a few minutes to get going, but one big spurt – and a whole lot of dominance from Cockburn – puts this away fast.
– College Basketball Experts Picks For Illinois vs Drexel
Illinois vs Drexel Prediction, Line
Illinois 82, Drexel 55
Bet on college basketball with BetMGM
Line: Illinois -22.5, o/u: 144.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2
Must See Rating: 2
5: Getting the NCAA Tournament back
1: One Shining Moment
– Oops & Helmets: 25 Worst Football & Basketball Schools 2020-2021
[protected-iframe id=”361699434b6d70baf15f631ed2408ac1-97672683-92922408″ info=”https://www.googletagservices.com/tag/js/gpt.js” ]