Illinois State vs Belmont 12/4/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Belmont Bruins and the Illinois State Redbirds meet in college basketball action from the Redbird Arena on Sunday afternoon.

The Belmont Bruins will try to build on their current four-game win streak after a 76-64 win over Valparaiso last time out. Ben Sheppard leads the Bruins in scoring and assists with 19.4 PPG and 4.4 APG along with 4.8 RPG while Drew Friberg and Cade Tyson each have 14.3 PPG to make up the trio of double-digit scorers for Belmont up to this point in the season. As a team, Belmont is averaging 75.8 PPG on 47.3% shooting from the field, 39.8% from three and 69.3% from the foul line this season.

The Illinois State Redbirds will hope to snap a five-game losing skid after their 70-67 OT loss to Murray State last time out. Kendall Lewis leads the Redbirds in scoring and rebounding, with 12.8 PPG and 8.2 RPG while Darius Burford has 10.5 PPG with a team-high 2.5 APG as the only other double-digit scorer for Illinois State up to this point in the year. As a team, Illinois State is averaging 62 PPG on 40.4% shooting from the field, 31.9% from three and 81.2% from the foul line this season.

Belmont is 3-0-1 ATS in their last 4 games overall and 1-6-1 ATS in their last 8 road games while the over is 10-1 in their last 11 road games against a team with a losing home record. Illinois State is 1-7 ATS in their last 8 games overall and 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games against a team with a winning record while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games overall.

I get the reasoning for backing Illinois State as a home dog as this line looks kind of messed up and Illinois State hasn’t been losing to bad teams. However, even though it’s a less imposing squad, this is still a decent Belmont team that’s better than this line would indicate. I don’t love laying points on the road in these tricky spots, but Belmont’s too good to pass up on here. Give me the Bruins in this one.