Belmont vs Illinois State Pick – Basketball Predictions & Odds 2/4/23

The Illinois State Redbirds and the Belmont Bruins meet Saturday in college basketball action from Curb Event Center. Illinois State is currently 10-14 overall. The Redbirds beat UIC in their last matchup. As for Belmont, they’re 16-8 on the year and fresh off a close loss to Murray State. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Illinois State Redbirds 

Illinois State managed a 6-10 run through their first 10 games, beating only Eastern Illinois, Northwestern State, Belmont, Eastern Michigan, SIUE and Chicago State. The Redbirds are 4-4 since then and coming off a win over UIC. 

In the UIC game on Wednesday, Illinois State had a 33-22 lead at halftime. The Redbirds had to go to overtime after a 32-21 deficit in the second but they ended up winning 68-62. Darius Burford was the leading team scorer on 18 points. 

Belmont Bruins 

Over on the Belmont side, they managed a 10-6 run through their first 16 games. The Bruins have been on a 6-2 stretch in their last eight, beating Missouri State, Valparaiso, Northern Iowa, Murray State, Bradley and Evansville in that time. 

On Wednesday versus Murray State, Belmont fell behind 49-43 at halftime. The Bruins posted a 39-34 run in the second half but still lost 83-82. Ben Sheppard led the team with 35 points, and Cade Tyson put up 18 points with five rebounds. 

ANDREW’S FREE PICK 

I’ll probably stick with Belmont here. The Bruins are coming off a frustrating loss to Murray State and they’ve now lost consecutive games for the fist time since mid-November. Belmont has some extra motivation in this matchup considering they lost 87-77 the last time these teams met up back on December 4 at Redbird Arena. As for Illinois State, they’ve been scoring pretty well lately with 68 or more points in three straight outings. I like the Redbirds to keep it up here in a high-scoring game.