Big Ten Tournament: Illinois Fighting Illini vs Iowa Hawkeyes prediction and college basketball game preview.
Illinois vs Iowa Broadcast
Date: Saturday, March 13
Game Time: 3:30 ET
Venue: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
Network: CBS
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Illinois (21-6) vs Iowa (21-7) Game Preview
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Why Illinois Will Win
And now the main main is back.
Illinois was fantastic when Ayo Dosunmu was out, but not he’s back and rolling, scoring 23 in the 90-58 win over Rutgers. He’s not a one-man band, though.
The Illini are crushing it on the boards – outrebounding the Scarlet Knights 44-19 – with the toughness inside and the shooting from all areas to keep up with anything the Iowa offense can do.
The Hawkeyes would love to get up and down the floor and make this a shootout, but the Illini are strong at guarding the three and move the ball around well enough offensive to come up with a whole lot of easy points, even though the Iowa D has improved.
Why Iowa Will Win
The Hawkeyes can hit the boards, too.
Illinois might be fourth in the nation and leads the Big Ten in rebounding margin, but Iowa leads in rebounds per game. Everyone is aggressive and everyone tries hard, but Iowa showed Wisconsin what want-to is like with the extra board and loose ball play to get through the 62-57 win.
It’s one of the few teams that can match the scrappiness of the Illini.
This is a different team now than the one that lost 80-75 back in late January. The D is far better, the team is playing more controlled, and the result is an 8-1 run since everything tightened up.
What’s Going To Happen
Illinois is playing at a whole other level.
Iowa might have the power in Luke Garza and the three point bombers from everywhere, but Illinois has the presence on the inside and the shooting – hitting 50% or better from the field in three of the last four games – to do more than keep up.
The two teams will play a relatively even game, but once side has Dosunmu.
Illinois vs Iowa Prediction, Line
Illinois 78, Iowa 71
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Line: COMING, o/u: COMING
ATS Confidence out of 5: COMING
Must See Rating: 5
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