Who’s Playing
SIUE Cougars @ Illinois Fighting Illini
Current Records: SIUE 1-1, Illinois 1-0
How To Watch
What to Know
The Illinois Fighting Illini will face off against the SIUE Cougars at 8:00 p.m. ET on Friday at State Farm Center. The Fighting Illini will be strutting in after a victory while the Cougars will be stumbling in from a loss.
Illinois is looking to give their home crowd another W after opening their season at home on Monday. They steamrolled past Eastern Illinois 112-67. The margin was wide but not a surprise since the spread was 25.5 in the Fighting Illini’s favor.
Will Riley went supernova for Illinois, going 10 for 13 en route to 31 points plus seven rebounds. Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn was another key player, scoring 21 points.
Illinois smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they’ve now pulled down at least 11 offensive rebounds in four consecutive games dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, SIUE suffered their biggest defeat since December 1, 2023 on Wednesday. They wound up on the wrong side of a bruising 80-61 walloping at the hands of Indiana. The Cougars were surely aware of their disadvantage in the point spread, but the foreknowledge did nothing to prevent the result.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Arnas Sakenis, who had eight points plus nine rebounds and two blocks. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in field goal percentage (60%).
Odds
Illinois is a big 26.5-point favorite against SIUE, according to the latest college basketball odds.
The line has drifted a bit towards the Fighting Illini, as the game opened with the Fighting Illini as a 25-point favorite.
The over/under is 156 points.
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