Our next college basketball best bets and prediction takes us to the Big Ten, where the Michigan State Spartans (12-4, 4-1 Big Ten) get set to battle the Illinois Fighting Illini (11-5, 2-3 Big Ten) on Friday night. Tip-off from State Farm Center in Champaign is scheduled for 9:00 pm EST and will be broadcast on FS1.
This is the one, and only regular-season meeting between these two conference opponents after the Illini swept the two-game series a year ago. Taking a look at college basketball standings, Sparty enters this matchup tied for first in the Big Ten with Purdue, as Illinois sits two games back.
Continue reading for our Michigan State vs Illinois best bets.
Michigan State vs. Illinois Information
Michigan State Spartans vs. Illinois Fighting Illini
Date: Friday, 13th January. 9:00 pm ET.
Location of the game: State Farm Center – Champaign, IL.
How to Watch: FS1
Recent Scores
Before we look ahead, let’s look back at the Michigan State Spartans and Illinois Fighting Illini schedule heading in. The Spartans lost their conference opener to Northwestern back on December 4. They haven’t suffered a setback since, reeling off seven wins in a row, including four within the Big Ten. They’re one of the hottest NCAA basketball teams in the country, most recently squeaking by Wisconsin in Madison on Tuesday.
Illinois has also knocked off the Badgers in the last week, prevailing by ten over UW last Saturday. Followed that up with another double-digit win over Nebraska on Tuesday. They started off 0-3 in the conference before those two consecutive victories, making this one of the more interesting NCAA basketball games today.
Michigan State vs. Illinois Analysis
No team should ever get caught looking ahead in the Big Ten. But, as has been noted, when making college basketball picks today, it’s important to dive into Michigan State’s NCAAB schedule as that factor is a real possibility. Following this Friday night affair in Champaign, Sparty will host Purdue in a Monday afternoon matinee on FOX, celebrating Martin Luther King Jr Day.
Odds Breakdown
Michigan State
The NCAAB odds show that the Spartans are 5.5-point underdogs to the home team on Friday night with an over/under of 136.5 points.
Illinois
The Illini are -230 on the Moneyline while MSU is +190. Both teams enter this one 9-7 ATS, and Illinois has covered three of their last four games (all as the favorite). They also include when they were laying 30.5 in their final game of 2022.
Michigan State Spartans
The Boilermakers are currently ranked third in the country and have been as high as No. 1. They’ve got Nebraska at home tonight, so the Michigan State Spartans odds of winning Monday decrease if the Cornhuskers knock off the Boilers on Friday.
Illinois Fighting Illini
The Illini have certainly been put to the test this year. They have faced four ranked teams during their non-conference slate, falling to Virginia and Maryland but knocking off UCLA and Texas. The team would get as high as 16th in the rankings but contrarily, they fell completely out of the Top 25 the second week of December and haven’t found their way back in yet.
Keep going for our Michigan State vs Illinois best bets.
Michigan State vs. Illinois Betting Pick and Prediction
Fortunately, there is nothing notable in this matchup on the college basketball injury report. Both teams should get the others best shot. It’s worth noting that Illinois features one of the best college basketball players in, not only the conference, but the country in Terrence Shannon Jr.
Shannon leads the team in scoring and steals and is second in rebounding. Terrence has scored 18.1 points per game are fourth in the Big Ten. He is already gone over the 20-point mark six times, compiling 49 points over his last two games. This will be the Texas Tech transfer’s first crack at Tom Izzo and company, and we expect a show.
We like the home team to get a convincing win for our Michigan State vs Illinois best bets.
- Illinois -6.5
- Illinois ML
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