Illinois State vs. Northern Iowa

This is the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament in St. Louis and Northern Iowa has won the past nine meetings while covering the spread in five of them. The Panthers have had a disappointing year, but they have two solid performers in Bowen Born, who averages 17.2 points, and Tytan Anderson (12.6 ppg). Northern Iowa still has the talent edge in this matchup and Illinois State had lost six straight before beating hapless Evansville on Sunday when the Redbirds shot 53 percent, which is about 10 percentage points higher than their average. The Redbirds are 17-35-1 ATS their past 53 games against opponents with losing records. Take Northern Iowa as our first Max Play.