Illinois vs Maryland 1/6/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Maryland Terrapins and the Illinois Fighting Illini meet in college basketball action from the State Farm Arena on Thursday night.

The Maryland Terrapins will look to rebound from an 80-75 loss to Iowa in their last matchup. Eric Ayala leads the Terps in scoring with 15.2 PPG along with 4.8 RPG while Fatts Russell has 12.6 PPG with 4 RPG and a team-high 3.6 APG to lead the Terrapins in the assist department. Donta Scott has 11.3 PPG with 7.1 RPG and Qudus Wahab has 10.1 PPG with a team-high 7.4 RPG to lead the Terrapins on the glass and to round out the group of double-digit scorers for Maryland so far this season. As a team, Maryland is averaging 70.7 PPG on 42.8% shooting from the field, 30.7% from three and 75.1% from the foul line while allowing 66.9 PPG on 40.5% shooting from the field and 34% from three this season.

The Illinois Fighting Illini will look to build on their 76-53 win over Minnesota last time out. Kofi Cockburn leads Illinois in scoring and rebounding, averaging a double-double per game with 22.5 PPG and 11.9 RPG while Alfonso Plummer has 16.8 PPG and Jacob Grandison has 12.7 PPG with 4.3 RPG. Trent Frazier has 11.1 PPG with 3.1 APG to make up the group of double-digit scorers for Illinois up to this point in the year while Da’Monte Williams has a team-high 3.5 APG as well to lead Illinois in assists as well this season. As a team, Illinois is averaging 80.8 PPG on 47.5% shooting from the field, 39.9% from three and 72.7% from the foul line while allowing 64.6 PPG on 38.7% shooting from the floor and 31.6% from three this season.

Maryland is 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games following an ATS win while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 road games. Illinois is 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games overall and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games following a win while the over is 8-1 in their last 9 games overall.

I get the case to be made for the Terrapins and the points, but I haven’t thought differently that the Terrapins are one of the more overrated and overappreciated teams in the country by oddsmakers and Illinois really opened some eyes against Minnesota. I think a lack of size from Maryland hurts them here, so I’ll side with Illinois laying the points here.