The only realistic way that the Illinois Fighting Illini will be welcomed in the Big Dance is if they win the Big Ten tournament. There’s no way that will happen, considering how bad they’ve been playing this season.
That said, Illinois can still make this season less forgettable if they could take down Big Ten leaders and No. 18 Indiana Hoosiers later tonight. Don’t laugh too hard, though. Remember, it wasn’t too long ago when Minnesota beat No. 6 Maryland.
Betting on the Indiana Hoosiers (22-6, 12-3 Big Ten)
Here’s a useful reminder to all future Indiana opponents: do not leave the Hoosiers open beyond the arc. Purdue certainly didn’t get the memo on Saturday, when Indiana beat the Boilermakers, 77-73, for the Hoosiers’ second-straight win.
The Hoosiers went 12-for-28 from three-point area against Purdue, which simply had no answer to Yogi Ferrell and company. Ferrell, who scored 18 points with three triples in that game, must be feeling great at the prospect of facing Illinois again, considering the way he played in the previous meeting with the Fighting Illini.
In the Hoosiers’ easy 103-69 win over Illinois on January 19, Ferrell produced 16 points with five treys and nine assists. Ferrell, however, was barely the only one who went bonkers in the three-point region for Indiana, as the Hoosiers finished the game with a ridiculous 19-for-36 shooting line from deep.
Indiana is averaging 10.0 threes per game this season, good for 12th overall in the nation, so it looks like the Hoosiers are just going to keep on jacking up outside shots.
After all, Illinois doesn’t seem to care or at least has the quickness to close out on outside snipers, as the Fighting Illini are allowing 8.4 threes per game, the most among all Big Ten squads.
Ferrell leads the Hoosiers in scoring with 16.6 points per game. Troy Williams, who racked up 21 points in the earlier matchup with Illinois, is putting up 12.8 points per game thus far this season.
Indiana is 3-1 ATS in its last four games against Illinois.
Betting on the Illinois Fighting Illini (12-15, 4-10 Big Ten)
If it’s any consolation, the Fighting Illini managed to cover the spread as 11-point road underdogs in their 69-60 loss to Wisconsin on Sunday.
Despite adding another loss to their already tattered Big Ten record, the Illini have shown some semblance of improvement of late—at least on defense.
Illinois has one of the worst defenses in the nation, allowing opponents to score 74.9 points per game on 45.9 percent shooting. Both those figures have trended down recently, as the Fighting Illini managed to limit their last three opponents to only 66.0 points on 43.1 field goal shooting percentage. The jury is still out on their defense but that’s a good sign for them heading into tonight’s game against the high-scoring Hoosiers.
Illinois is counting on do-it-all guard Malcolm Hill to bust out another big game. Hill scored 20 points against Wisconsin to go along with seven rebounds and three assists. He also led his team with 20 points in the earlier matchup with Indiana.
