
Illinois vs Maryland Prediction 1/23/25 College Basketball Picks Today
Maryland (14-5) vs. Illinois (13-5)
January 23, 2025 9:00 pm EDT
The Line: Illinois -7.5; Over/Under: 157.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Maryland Terrapins and the Illinois Fighting Illini meet Thursday in college basketball action from State Farm Center. 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
The Terrapins are doing quite well this season—all things considered—despite a .500 run over their last half-dozen outings. They’ve still only lost consecutive games once so far. Maryland opened the year on an 11-2 run with losses to Marquette and Purdue. Otherwise, it was wins over Manhattan, Mount St. Mary’s, Florida A&M, Canisius, Villanova, Bucknell, Alcorn State, and Ohio State. After three straight wins over St. Francis PA, Syracuse, and Maryland Eastern Shore, the Terrapins lost to Washington and Oregon in consecutive outings. Since then it’s been a 3-1 run though, as Maryland has only fallen to Northwestern in that quartet. Otherwise, the wins were over UCLA, Minnesota, and Nebraska, giving the Terrapins a respectable 14-5 overall record through the first 19 games of the season.
In the Nebraska matchup on Sunday, the Terrapins entered the second half with a 37-35 edge. The Terrapins kept it rolling from there on a 32-31 stretch and ended up winning 69-66 in the end. Tops in scoring was Ja’Kobi Gillespie with 22 points, five assists and four steals. Rodney Rice added 15 points with two rebounds and two assists, while Selton Miguel put up 13 points, three assists, and one rebound in 30 minutes of work on the floor.
Illinois Fighting Illini Betting Preview
Over on the Illinois side, they’ve had quite a strong season so far in a difficult conference themselves—despite a couple of 1-2 stretches it’s been pretty smooth sailing this year. Illinois went 7-3 in their first 10 games with losses to Alabama, Northwestern, and Tennessee. The Illini otherwise beat Eastern Illinois, SIU Edwardsville, Oakland, MD Eastern Shore, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Wisconsin in that time. Following a winning streak over Missouri, Chicago State, Oregon, Washington, and Penn State, Illinois hit another one of those 1-2 stretches with a lone win over Indiana. The losses bookending it were versus USC and Michigan State, resulting in a 13-5 record in Illinois’ first 18 games this year.
Matched up against the Spartans in a road game Sunday, Illinois was all tied up 36-36 going into the second half. The Illini were outscored 44-42 the rest of the way, however, resulting in a tough loss of 80-78. Will Riley was the leading team scorer, coming off the bench to contribute 19 points with six boards and two assists in 26 minutes of action. Tomislav Ivisic added 13 points with four rebounds and five assists, while Kylan Boswell had 13 points with four assists, nine rebounds, and five turnovers. Morez Johnson chipped in 11 points and six boards as well.
Why the Illinois Fighting Illini will win
- Illinois has won each of its last 20 night games at State Farm Center against non-AP-ranked opponents.
- Maryland has lost each of its last five road night games against the Big Ten Conference.
- Illinois has won the first half in each of its last 15 games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
Why the Maryland Terrapins will win
- Maryland has won five of its last six games at State Farm Center.
- Maryland has won the first half in each of its last four games against AP-ranked opponents.
Illinois vs Maryland Prediction
I’m going to take a stab at Maryland. This should be a fun matchup overall though, and you could certainly argue it the other way. The Terrapins put away a scrappy Nebraska team thanks to 44.8 percent shooting in their last outing, but there were some statistical blemishes involved. Maryland was out-rebounded 36-32, missed five of 12 free throws (58.3 percent), and had 12 turnovers for 14 Cornhuskers points. Still, Maryland continued a solid stretch of scoring; they’ve hit a nice 69 or more points in every game so far this year.
As for Illinois, they fell to a very good Michigan State team in their last matchup, thanks mostly to 10 turnovers, 20.8 percent (5-of-24) from 3-point range and 63 percent (17-of-27) from the line. That makes 69 or more points surrendered in three straight games for Illinois, who is normally a good enough offensive team to keep opponents at bay despite high totals. If Maryland has a hot shooting night in this one, I think the Terrapins keep pace.