Illinois vs Iowa 3/6/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Iowa Hawkeyes nd the Illinois Fighting Illini meet in college basketball action from the State Farm Arena on Sunday night.

The Iowa Hawkeyes will look to add to their five-game win streak after an 82-71 win over Michigan last time out. Keegan Murray leads the Hawkeyes in scoring and rebounding with 23.3 PPG and 8.5 RPG while Patrick McCaffery has 10.5 PPG and Jordan Bohannon has 11.2 PPG this season. Kris Murray has 10.2 PPG with 4.5 RPG to round out the group of double-digit scorers for Iowa on the year. Joe Toussaint also has a team-high 3.5 APG for the Hawkeyes this season. As a team, Iowa is averaging 83.6 PPG on 46% shooting from the field, 35.8% from three and 75.7% from the foul line while allowing 70.9 PPG on 43.7% shooting from the field and 33.1% from three this season.

The Illinois Fighting Illini will look to build on back-to-back wins after a 60-55 win over Penn State last time out. Kofi Cockburn leads Illinois in scoring and rebounding, averaging a double-double per game with 21 PPG and 10.5 RPG while Alfonso Plummer has 15.1 PPG and Jacob Grandison has 10.3 PPG with 4 RPG. Trent Frazier has 12.5 PPG with a team-high 4 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 76.3 PPG on 45.7% shooting from the field, 36.7% from three and 70.8% from the foul line while allowing 67.6 PPG on 41.3% shooting from the floor and 32.1% from three this season.

Iowa is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall and 12-4 ATS in their last 16 Sunday games while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 games overall. Illinois is 1-5 ATS in their last 6 home games and 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games following a win while the under is 8-3 in their last 11 games against a team with a winning record.

I get the case that could be made for either side here, as the Hawkeyes are the far more consistent offense and Illinois struggled against Penn State. On the other hand, the Hawkeyes tend to run a sall lineup and as good as Keegan Murray is, a 6’8 player like Murray against a 7’1 big like Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn can be a problem. Instead, I’m going to back the over as I see this being a game where both teams get into, or close to the 80s and this total feels a bit light.