Northwestern at Illinois

This will be the first game since for the Illini since two Illinois players were involved in a car accident, sidelining them both with concussions. That is an emotional event for college-age kids and it may be difficult to focus with a lackluster opponent in Northwestern coming in. It will also disrupt a short rotation and make it shorter, as Illinois will be using seven players that have contributed. They havehave lost an 8-ppg scorer and their best free-throw shooter. Northwestern lost to Illinois at home by 15. The bottom-line for this team, if they hit a reasonable amount of 3's they stay in the game and if not, they are in trouble. They hit a season low 3-for-18 vs. Illinois in that 15 point loss while Illinois was hitting 41%. It wasn't a question of getting open looks for Northwestern, as they shot 58.3% from inside the arc! They solved the Illinois defense, but just had a horrible shooting night. If they hit just a reasonable percentage of those 18 three-pointers, the game goes to the wire. Illinois has won Big 10 games by 10, 7, 8, 4, and 11 points at home, and has no business laying this many, especially in a game destined for the 50s. Northwestern does not turn the ball over as they have committed eight turnovers or less in five of their last nine games and have covered four of last five as a double digit dog. Versus common opponents this season, Northwestern is 5-4 ATS while Illinois is just 2-6 ATS. This is just too many points in a game low-scorign game, with the distractions facing this Illinois team. Illinois has gone UNDER in six straight games which is the main reason we see this total set so low. This won't be a barn-burner but we do see it going over this extremely low total.