The Illinois Fighting Illini and the Missouri Tigers meet Monday in college basketball action from Enterprise Center. Here’s a Illinois vs Missouri Prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Illinois vs Missouri pick.
Illinois Fighting Illini Betting Preview
Illinois opened up their year with wins over Jackson State, Florida Gulf Coast, Texas Tech and Colgate. After a loss to Alabama, the Illini took wins over Long Island U and Texas Rio Grande Valley ahead of another loss to UConn. Since then it’s been wins over Tennessee and Ohio State then a loss to Nebraska. That gives Illinois an 8-3 overall run across 11 games so far this year.
In the matchup with Nebraska back on December 13, the Illini entered the second half with a 37-37 tie. Illinois was outscored 46-43 the rest of the way and took a loss 83-80 in the end. Tops in scoring was Kylan Boswell with 20 points, three rebounds and three assists. Andrej Stojakovic doubled up on 19 points and 10 boards, as did Keaton Wagler with 19 points and 10 assists.
Missouri Tigers Betting Preview
Over on the Missouri side, they won their first eight games this year. Those wins came versus Howard, Southeast Missouri State, VMI, Minnesota, Prairie View A&M, South Dakota, South Carolina State and Cleveland State. The Tigers would then lose to Notre Dame and Kansas before taking wins over Alabama State and Bethune Cookman in the next pair. Overall Missouri is 10-2 through their first 12 outings of the year.
Matched up against Bethune-Cookman last Sunday, the Tigers were up 39-25 going into the locker room. Missouri hit a 43-35 run the rest of the way and took the win in the end 82-60. Jacob Crews was the team’s top scorer with 20 points and five rebounds in 31 minutes of action. Mark Mitchell added 19 points with seven rebounds and three assists while Anthony Robinson had 15 points with seven assists.
Why the Illinois Fighting Illini will win
- Illinois has won each of its last 11 games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
- Missouri has lost each of its last six games against non-Conference opponents at neutral venues.
- Illinois has won the first half in each of its last 11 games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
Why the Missouri Tigers will win
- Missouri has won 15 of its last 17 night games against non-Conference opponents.
- Illinois has lost three of its last four games played at neutral venues.
- Missouri has won the first half in each of its last six night games.
Illinois vs Missouri Prediction
I’ll take a stab on Missouri here, but you could call it either way. The Tigers didn’t have much issue with a struggling Bethune-Cookman team in their last outing, hitting a nice 57.6 percent from the field with a 30-19 rebounding edge and a 50-18 advantage on points in the paint. Missouri did cough up 15 turnovers though, and could have been better from the line (7-of-11 for 63.6 percent). That gives the Tigers a combined 167 points in the last two games, and they’ve scored 82 or more points in all 10 of their wins so far.
As for Illinois, they took a tough loss to Nebraska in a home game during their last outing. The Illini shot 48.3 percent from the field in that one with 30 rebounds and 18 team assists, but also gave up 51.6 percent shooting to the Cornhuskers on the other side. Illinois has 75 or more points in three straight games (a 2-1 run) against some tough competition so they shouldn’t have too much trouble putting up a decent total here either.