Illinois vs Minnesota Prediction 1/17/26 College Basketball Picks Today

The Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Illinois Fighting Illini meet Saturday in college basketball action from State Farm Arena. Here’s an Illinois vs Minnesota prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Illinois vs Minnesota pick.

Minnesota Golden Gophers Betting Preview

The Gophers opened up their season with a .500 run over their first eight games. Minnesota recorded losses to Missouri, San Francisco, Stanford and Santa Clara in that time. The Gophers would win six of the next seven games versus Indiana, Texas Southern, Campbell, Fairleigh Dickinson, Northwestern and Iowa, however. After a pair of losses to USC and Wisconsin, the Golden Gophers now have a 10-7 overall run across their first 17 games.

In the Wisconsin game on Tuesday the Gophers entered the second half with a 35-28 edge. Minnesota was outscored 50-40 the rest of the way however, resulting in a tough loss at home 78-75. Tops in scoring was Jaylen Crocker-Johnson with 20 points and eight rebounds. Isaac Asuma added 17 points with nine boards and five assists while Langston Reynolds doubled up on 12 points with 10 assists.

Illinois Fighting Illini Betting Preview

Over on the Illinois side, they got off to a 6-1 start this season. Those wins came versus Jackson State, Florida Gulf Coast, Texas Tech, Colgate, Long Island University and Texas-Rio Grande Valley. A 2-2 run came next with losses to UConn and Nebraska, then wins over Missouri, Southern, Penn State, Rutgers and Iowa in the next five. Across the first 16 games of the season that would leave the Illini with a 13-3 overall record in the books.

Matched up against Northwestern on Wednesday the Illini were up by a fairly modest 38-33 margin by the break. Illinois hit a 41-35 run the rest of the way for an eventual 79-68 road win. Leading the team in the victory was Keaton Wagler with 22 points, five rebounds and three assists. Tomislav Ivisic had 21 points and seven rebounds with one assist in 26 minutes as well, while Kylan Boswell added 13 points, six assists and four rebounds for Illinois.

Why the Illinois Fighting Illini will win

• Illinois has won each of its last 16 games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Minnesota has lost each of its last five games at State Farm Center.
• Illinois has won the first half in each of its last 10 games against Minnesota.

Why the Minnesota Golden Gophers will win

• Minnesota has won four of its last five day games.
• Illinois has lost three of its last four day games as a top-15 AP-ranked team.

Illinois vs Minnesota Prediction

I might take a stab on Minnesota here, but you could make a case either way. I’ll probably stay away in reality. In any case, the Gophers played well against a good Wisconsin team this week but faded late in a home defeat. Minnesota ended up shooting a nice 51.8 percent from the field with just five turnovers and a 40-20 edge on points in the paint. That said, the Gophers also shot a tepid 27.8 percent (5-of-18) from 3-point range and 66.7 percent (16-of-24) from the line. Minnesota has consecutive losses in the bank now, but they’ve both come by a combined four points and one was an overtime finish.

As for Illinois, they took out a middling Northwestern team this week thanks to 47.6 percent shooting, a 32-26 rebounding edge, a 34-18 advantage on points in the paint and just seven turnovers—not to mention the perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line. The Illini are cruising on a six-game win streak right now but they’ve also got matchups on the road against three ranked teams coming in the next three weeks (Purdue, Nebraska and Michigan State). It’ll be interesting to see what Illinois can do in the near future. If the Illini can emerge from that gauntlet (relatively) unscathed, they’ll garner some much-deserved national attention and hype.