Illinois vs Nebraska Prediction 12/13/25 College Basketball Picks Today

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

Nebraska Cornhuskers Betting Preview

The Cornhuskers cruised through the beginning of the season on a nice run. Nebraska took out West Georgia in the opener, then beat Florida International, Maryland Eastern Shore and Oklahoma in the next three. That was followed by wins over New Mexico, Kansas State, Winthrop, South Carolina Upstate and Creighton over the next five games. In total that gave the Cornhuskers an undefeated run through their first nine games.

In the Wednesday game versus Wisconsin, Nebraska was up 47-31 by the end of the first half. The Cornhuskers hit a 43-29 run the rest of the way during a 90-60 blowout win. Leading the team was Rienk Mast with a double-double on 17 points and 10 boards. Braden Frager added 15 points with six rebounds and three assists while both Berke Buyuktuncel (five rebounds) and Pryce Sandfort (four rebounds; three assists) notched 14 points apiece.

Illinois Fighting Illini Betting Preview

Over on the Illini side, they won their first four outings versus Jackson State, Florida Gulf Coast, Texas Tech and Colgate. The next five games were a shaky 3-2 stretch against some tough teams, as Illinois took losses to Alabama and UConn in that time. Otherwise it was three wins over Long Island University, Texas-Rio Grande Valley and Tennessee. over their first nine outings Illinois tallied a 7-2 overall run this year.

Matched up against Ohio State on Tuesday, the Illini held a six-point edge going into the second half. Illinois kept the pace from there on a 40-38 run and took the win 88-80. Keaton Wagler put up 23 points with five assists to lead the team and David Mirkovic had 22 points and nine boards. Andrej Stojakovic had 17 points with four rebounds in the win as well.

Nebraska Cornhuskers @ Illinois Fighting Illini Betting Trends: December 13, 2025

Why the Illinois Fighting Illini will win

• Illinois has won each of its last 11 games at State Farm Center when playing with a rest advantage.
• Nebraska has lost each of its last six games at State Farm Center.
• Illinois has won the first half in each of its last six games at State Farm Center.

Why the Nebraska Cornhuskers will win

• Nebraska has won each of its last 14 games.
• Illinois has lost four of its last five day games against AP-ranked opponents.
• Nebraska has won the first half in five of its last six games.

Illinois vs Nebraska Prediction

I’ll lean toward Nebraska but you could call this one either way. The Cornhuskers rolled right past a decent Wisconsin team in their last outing, shooting a nice 54.1 percent from the field with 13-of-15 (86.7 percent) from the line and 20 team assists. Nebraska had a 35-28 edge on the boards and a 44-24 advantage on points in the paint along the way, holding the Badgers to just 34.4 percent shooting. That gives the Huskers a nice 69 or more points in every game this year, and 71 or more in each of the last seven outings.

As for Illinois, they put up a nice win over a pretty solid Ohio State team at Value City Arena in their last outing. The Illini shot 44.4 percent from the field in that one with a 33-24 edge on the boards and a stellar 29-of-32 (90.6 percent) performance at the line. Illinois did get outmuscled on points in the paint 34-24 though, and gave up 45.9 percent shooting on defense. Still, the Illini have a couple of nice victories since their loss to UConn, and they’ve got two home games (and technically one neutral-site game at Enterprise Center in St. Louis versus Missouri) on the slate for the rest of the calendar year.