College Basketball Picks

Rutgers vs Illinois Prediction 2/5/25 College Basketball Picks Today

Illinois (15-7) vs. Rutgers (11-11)
February 5, 2025 8:30 pm EDT
The Line: Rutgers +8; Over/Under: 154
(Get latest betting odds)

The Illinois Fighting Illini and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights meet Wednesday in college basketball action from the Jersey Mike’s Arena. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Rutgers vs Illinois Prediction.

Illinois Recap

The Illinois Fighting Illini come into this game looking to build on an 87-79 win over Ohio State last time out to improve to 15-7 on the year. Following this game, Illinois will take on Minnesota, UCLA, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Duke.


Fighting Illini Looking For Consistency

Kasparas Jakucionis leads the Illini in scoring and assists with 15.6 PPG and 5.5 APG along with 5.7 RPG while Tomislav Ivisic has 12.9 PPG with a team-high 8.6 RPG to lead the Illini in rebounding up to this point in the year. Will Riley has 11 PPG with 3.6 RPG and Kylan Boswell has 12.1 PPG with 5.2 RPG and 3.5 APG to cap off the scoring in double figures for Illinois so far this season. Tre White also has 9.7 PPG with 5.5 RPG and Ben Humrichous has 8.3 PPG as well on the year. Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn also has 8 PPG as well this season. As a team, Illinois is averaging 85.3 PPG on 44.4% shooting from the field, 31.1% from three, and 75.2% from the foul line this season.

Why the Illinois Fighting Illini will win

  • Illinois has won each of its last 10 games when playing with a rest disadvantage.
  • Rutgers has lost 10 of its last 11 games against AP-ranked opponents.

Rutgers Recap

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights come into this game looking to bounce back from a 66-63 loss to the Michigan Wolverines last time out to fall to 11-11 this season. After this game, Rutgers will head on the road to take on Maryland.

Scarlet Knights Lose 3 Of Last 4

Ace Bailey leads the Scarlet Knights in scoring and rebounding with 20.2 PPG and 7.8 RPG while Dylan Harper has 18.6 PPG with 4.8 RPG and a team-high 4.1 APG to lead the Scarlet Knights in assists as the only other double-digit scorer for Rutgers up to this point in the year. Jeremiah Williams also has 6.5 PPG and Lathan Sommerville has 7.2 PPG with 4.2 RPG. Jordan Derkack also added 7.3 PPG, 3.6 RPG, and 2.1 APG as well on the year. As a team, Rutgers is averaging 76 PPG on 44.4% shooting from the field, 33.2% from three, and 69.3% from the foul line this season.

Why the Rutgers Scarlet Knights will win

  • Rutgers has won 25 of its last 27 games at Jersey Mike’s Arena when playing with a rest advantage.
  • Illinois has lost three of its last four games at Jersey Mike’s Arena.

Total Points Facts

  • Each of Rutgers’ last 13 night games against AP-ranked opponents at Jersey Mike’s Arena have produced a total of 145 or fewer points.
  • Each of Illinois’ last five games against non-AP-ranked opponents at Jersey Mike’s Arena have produced a total of 137 or fewer points.

Rutgers vs Illinois Prediction

I’m leaning towards Rutgers and the points here. Rutgers can be a tough team at the Jersey Mike’s Arena, and Illinois has shown signs of vulnerability in some of their recent games. I also think that the Illini were slightly lucky to pull away from Ohio State the way that they did as Ohio State was leading with less than 8 minutes to go before Illinois flipped the switch. I think that Rutgers may end up being a two-man show with Harper and Bailey, but this Rutgers team has been able to keep themselves in a lot of games that maybe you wouldn’t expect them to be able to keep close. I’ll take a shot on Rutgers with the points in this one.

Chris Ruffolo's Free Pick: Rutgers +8

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Chris Ruffolo

Chris joined the Sports Chat Place team in August 2016 and has a proven system that combines multiple analytical and situational statistics and trends to give out thousands of winning picks over the last three years with winning records across all of the top leagues, Follow Chris Ruffolo on Twitter @ruffthepickdawg

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