Illinois vs Maryland Prediction 1/21/26 College Basketball Picks Today

The Maryland Terrapins and the Illinois Fighting Illini meet Wednesday in college basketball action from State Farm Center in Champaign. Here’s an Illinois vs Maryland prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Illinois vs Maryland pick.

Maryland Terrapins Betting Preview

Maryland posted a pretty solid 5-1 run to start the season but it’s been a rocky road since then. The Terrapins would go just 2-5 over the next seven with wins over only Wagner and Old Dominion along the way. The next four games were all losses for Maryland, as they dropped to Oregon, Indiana, UCLA and USC in succession. In the first 17 games of the year that would give the Terrapins a rough 7-10 overall record in the books.

On Sunday in their matchup versus Penn State, the Terrapins were in firm control by halftime on a dominant 56-26 lead. Maryland was outscored 47-40 the rest of the way but it hardly mattered in a 96-73 blowout victory at home. Leading the team was David Coit with 43 points, four assists and one rebound, while Elijah Saunders added 16 points with two rebounds and Darius Adams had 14 points with three boards and three assists.

Illinois Fighting Illini Betting Preview

Over on the Illinois side, they managed to go 8-3 over their first 11 games—several coming against tough competition—with losses to Alabama, UConn and Nebraska. Since then it’s been a seven-game win streak over Missouri, Southern, Penn State, Rutgers, Iowa, Northwestern and Minnesota for the Illini, giving the team a 15-3 record so far.

Matched up against Minnesota in a home game over the weekend, the Illini came out of the break sporting a 34-34 tie. The Illini hit a 43-33 run the rest of the way, eventually powering out the victory at State Farm Center 77-67. Tops in scoring was Zvonimir Ivisic with 18 points and nine rebounds. Keaton Wagler added 17 points with five assists and four rebounds while David Mirkovic had 12 points with eight boards.

Why the Illinois Fighting Illini will win

• Illinois has won each of its last 17 games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Maryland has lost each of its last six games against AP-ranked opponents.
• Illinois has won the first half in each of its last 13 night games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Why the Maryland Terrapins will win

• Maryland has won six of its last seven road games against Illinois.
• Maryland has won the first half in five of its last six night games against Illinois.

Illinois vs Maryland Prediction

I’ll lean toward the Illini here, provided they can stay hot offensively. Illinois didn’t shoot the lights out against a middling Minnesota team over the weekend, notching a tepid 40.7 percent from the field with a 24-16 deficit in the paint. The Illini did pretty well from 3-point range (37.1 percent on 13-of-35) however, and hit 84.2 percent (16-of-19) from the line. The 10 turnovers bordered on excessive as well. In any case, Illinois is sitting on a nice seven-game win streak and they’ve scored at least 73 points in each of those victories.

As for Maryland, they finally got a good win over Penn State in a home matchup over the weekend. The Terrapins shot a nice 54.1 percent from the field and 52.9 percent (18-of-34) from outside alongside a 34-18 rebounding advantage and just nine turnovers. Maryland is still 1-4 in their last five games though, and they’ve given up 73 or more points in three of the last four outings.