Illinois vs Purdue Prediction 3/7/25 College Basketball Picks Today

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

Purdue Boilermakers Betting Preview

Purdue got off to a strong start this year with seven wins in eight games (featuring a lone loss to Marquette). The Boilermakers would lose three of four in December though, falling to Penn State, Texas A&M and Auburn. In the next 12 outings Purdue would go 11-1 with a lone loss to Ohio State. Otherwise the wins came courtesy of Toledo, Minnesota, Northwestern, Rutgers, Nebraska, Washington, Oregon, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa and USC during that time. After four straight losses to Michigan, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Indiana, the Boilermakers have since beaten UCLA and Rutgers in consecutive games. That gives Purdue a 21-9 record across their first 30 games of the season.

In the Rutgers matchup on Tuesday, the Boilermakers were up 50-41 by the break. Purdue scored another 50 points in the second half for an even 100-71 victory in the end. Topping the scorers were Braden Smith (five rebounds; nine assists; two steals) and Fletcher Loyer (two rebounds; three assists), each with 23 points. Trey Kaufman-Renn added 16 points with eight boards, three assists and one steal in 26 minutes. Topping the bench contributors was Gicarri Harris with his 11 points, three rebounds and one steal in 17 minutes of action on the floor.

Illinois Fighting Illini Betting Preview

Over on the Illinois side, they got off to a great start this year but they’ve run into some choppy waters since conference play began. The Illini were looking good at 12-3 over their first 15 games though, taking out Eastern Illinois, SIU Edwardsville, Oakland, MD Eastern Shore, Little Rock, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Missouri, Chicago State, Oregon, Washington and Penn State in that time. A 3-5 run came next with wins over Indiana, Northwestern and Ohio State among losses to USC, Michigan State, Maryland, Nebraska and Rutgers. After wins over Minnesota and UCLA the Illini lost to Michigan State, Wisconsin and Duke in succession before victories versus Iowa and Michigan. In total that gives Illinois a 19-11 record in their 30 games so far.

Matched up against Michigan, the Illini held a slim one-point edge by halftime. Illinois went on a second-half tear though, taking a 62-43 run toward a 93-73 blowout road win in the end. Tre White led the way on a double-double with 19 points, 11 boards and two steals. Both Kasparas Jakucionis (six rebounds; four assists) and Kylan Boswell (nine rebounds; four assists) scored 17 points each, while Will Riley chipped in 13 points with four rebounds and five assists in 36 minutes of action on the floor during the victory effort.

Illinois vs Purdue Prediction

I’ll stay with Purdue, but you could make a case the other way as well. The Boilermakers didn’t have too many issues with a middling (but tricky) Rutgers team in their last outing, shooting 56.1 percent from the field with a 40-26 rebounding advantage and 20 points off nine Knights turnovers. Purdue has scored 76 or more points in consecutive games, which follows a couple of down outings on the road versus Michigan State and Indiana (124 combined points).

As for Illinois, they played an inspired second half of basketball in their upset road win over a great Michigan squad. The Illini shot 46.6 percent from the floor overall and had a 43-32 edge on the boards. Illinois also got 15 points off 11 Michigan turnovers along the way. The Illini have won consecutive games with a combined 174 points scored, so this one could end up being a high total. In the end I like Purdue to assert themselves and power it out, but it’ll be a great matchup to watch.