Halftime Report
Cornell and Illinois State have shown up to the game, but their offenses sure haven’t. After one quarter, neither team has the match in the bag, but Cornell leads 45-43 over Illinois State.
Cornell entered the contest having won three straight and they’re just one half away from another. Will they make it four, or will Illinois State step up and spoil it? We’ll know soon.
Who’s Playing
Illinois State Redbirds @ Cornell Big Red
Current Records: Illinois State 7-4, Cornell 7-3
How To Watch
What to Know
Illinois State has enjoyed a three-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will venture away from home to challenge the Cornell Big Red at 12:00 p.m. ET on Sunday at Newman Arena. The Redbirds are strutting in with some offensive muscle as they’ve averaged 80.1 points per game this season.
If Illinois State beats Cornell with 81 points on Sunday, it’s going to be the squad’s new lucky number: they’ve won their past two contests with that exact score. Everything went Illinois State’s way against N. Illinois on Wednesday as Illinois State made off with an 81-60 win.
Illinois State got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Dalton Banks out in front who went 8 for 10 en route to 17 points plus eight rebounds and three steals. The dominant performance also gave Banks a new career-high in field goal percentage (80%). Another player making a difference was Johnny Kinziger, who had 12 points in addition to seven rebounds and six assists.
Illinois State was working as a unit and finished the game with 19 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as N. Illinois only posted ten.
Meanwhile, Cornell waltzed into their matchup two weeks ago with two straight wins… but they left with three. They came out on top against the Golden Bears by a score of 88-80.
AK Okereke was the offensive standout of the game as he went 10 for 18 en route to 24 points plus six rebounds and three steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Nazir Williams, who went 7 for 12 en route to 18 points plus two steals.
Illinois State pushed their record up to 7-4 with the win, which was their fifth straight at home. As for Cornell, they are on a roll lately: they’ve won four of their last five matches, which provided a nice bump to their 7-3 record this season.
Sunday’s contest is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: Illinois State just can’t miss this season, having made 49.6% of their field goals per game. However, it’s not like Cornell struggles in that department as they’ve drained 49.4% of their field goals this season. Given these competing strengths, it’ll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Illinois State is hoping to beat the odds on Sunday, as the experts think they’re headed for a loss. They might be worth a quick bet since they’ve covered the spread the last four times they’ve played.
Odds
Cornell is a solid 6.5-point favorite against Illinois State, according to the latest college basketball odds.
The oddsmakers had a good feel for the line for this one, as the game opened with the Big Red as a 5.5-point favorite.
The over/under is 158.5 points.
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