Nebraska vs Illinois 1/10/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Illinois Fighting Illini and the Nebraska Cornhuskers meet in college basketball action from the Pinnacle Bank Arena on Tuesday night.

The Illinois Fighting Illini will look to find some consistency after alternating wins and losses in each of their last nine games after a 79-69 win over Wisconsin last time out. Terrence Shannon Jr. leads the Illini in scoring with 17.6 PPG along with 5.5 RPG while Dain Dainja has 10.1 PPG with 5.7 RPG. Coleman Hawkins has 10 PPG and Matthew Mayer has 10.1 PPG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Illinois this year, with Hawkins logging a team-high 6.3 RPG and 3.5 APG to lead the Illini in rebounding and assists. As a team, Illinois is averaging 76.9 PPG on 46.1% shooting from the field, 33.6% from three and 66.2% from the foul line this season.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers will look to build on their 81-79 overtime win over Minnesota last time out. Derrick Walker has 14.5 PPG and 8.2 RPG through 11 games so far while Sam Griesel has 11.1 PPG with 5.3 RPG and a team-high 4.3 APG to lead the Cornhuskers in the assist department while also capping off the scoring in double figures for Nebraska so far this season. Juwan Gary also has 9.9 PPG with a team-high 6.7 RPG to lead the Cornhuskers on the glass this season. As a team, Nebraska is averaging 68.1 PPG on 44.4% shooting from the field, 29.5% from three and 64.5% from the foul line this season.

Illinois is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games following an ATS win and 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games following a straight up win while the under is 9-0-1 in their last 10 games against a team with a winning record. Nebraska is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games and 11-4 ATS in their last 15 home games against a team with a road winning percentage below .400 while the under is 13-3-1 in their last 17 games overall.

I get the case to be made for either side in this game, however, Illinois hasn’t looked good at all on the road in conference play up to this point and while the win over Wisconsin is nice, it doesn’t fix the issues that the Illini have had their way away from home. Nebraska on the other hand, hasn’t been the most exciting team to watch, but they did do a good job beating up on Iowa at home not that long ago, and they did take Purdue to overtime at home early on in conference play. I’m just not in a spot to be laying points with Illinois on the road. Give me the Cornhuskers and the points here.