Maryland vs Illinois 1/21/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Illinois Fighting Illini and the Maryland Terrapins meet in college basketball action from the XFINITY Center on Friday night.

The Illinois Fighting Illini will look to rebound from a 96-88 double OT loss to Purdue in their last game. Kofi Cockburn leads Illinois in scoring and rebounding, averaging a double-double per game with 21.1 PPG and 11.8 RPG while Alfonso Plummer has 16.5 PPG and Jacob Grandison has 11.4 PPG with 3.9 RPG. Trent Frazier has 13.4 PPG with a team-high 3.6 APG to lead the Illini in assists and to make up the group of double-digit scorers for Illinois up to this point in the year. As a team, Illinois is averaging 80.2 PPG on 46.6% shooting from the field, 38.1% from three and 72.9% from the foul line while allowing 66.1 PPG on 39.7% shooting from the floor and 32.7% from three this season.

The Maryland Terrapins will try to rebound after losing five of their last six games following an 83-64 loss at Michigan last time out. Eric Ayala leads the Terps in scoring with 16.3 PPG along with 4.7 RPG while Fatts Russell has 12.4 PPG with 3.8 RPG and a team-high 4 APG to lead the Terrapins in the assist department. Donta Scott has 12.3 PPG with a team-high 6.7 RPG to lead the Terrapins on the glass and to round out the group of double-digit scorers for Maryland so far this season. Hakim Hart also has 9.7 PPG as well this season. As a team, Maryland is averaging 70.5 PPG on 42.7% shooting from the field, 31.4% from three and 73.9% from the foul line while allowing 69.8 PPG on 42% shooting from the field and 33.3% from three this season.

Ohio State is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 Friday games and 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games overall while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 road games. Maryland is 7-19 ATS in their last 26 home games and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games overall while the over is 4-0-1 in their last 5 games following a loss.

I get why you’d look at Maryland here, being a home dog, but while winning on the road in the Big Ten can be challenging, the reality is that Maryland continues to be overrated by oddsmakers more often than not and now we’re starting to see them notice. Illinois is the far better team here and while last year’s Maryland team might’ve hung around, this year’s squad took a step down in size and I just think that comes back to haunt them against a guy like Kofi Cockburn. Give me the Illini laying the points here.