Illinois Fighting Illini vs Penn State Nittany Lions Prediction, 12/23/2020 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Illinois Fighting Illini vs Penn State Nittany Lions

Date: Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Location: Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, PA

TV: BTN

Odds/Point Spread: Illinois (-2)

Bryce Jordan Center is the venue where and the Penn State Nittany Lions (3-2) will play the Illinois Fighting Illini (5-3) on Wednesday. The line on this game has Illinois as 2-point favorites. The over/under has been set at 152.5.

Illinois will play this contest with a mark of 5-3 so far this season. They have an average of 88.3 points per contest (19th in D-1) while connecting on 53.7% from the field. The Fighting Illini are hitting 45.0% on 3-point shots (63 of 140) and 68.3% from the charity stripe. As a team, Illinois is pulling down 43.4 boards per game and has earned 141 assists this season, which has them ranked 22nd in college hoops in terms of passing. They are turning it over 14.9 times per game and as a group they commit 20.5 personal fouls per game. On the defensive end, the Fighting Illini are able to force 11.3 turnovers per game and they draw 19.9 fouls. They currently rank 220th in D-1 in allowing assists to their opponents with 91 surrendered this season. The Fighting Illini are giving up a FG percentage of 39.6% (198 of 500) and they concede 28.6 rebounds per contest as a team. They give up 29.2% on three-point shots and they are ranked 176th in college basketball in PPG allowed (70.0).

The Illinois Fighting Illini took the court against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and took a loss by a final of 91-88 in their last game. Illinois finished the game with a 54.0% FG percentage (34 out of 63) and made 9 out of their 15 3-pointers. From the charity stripe, the Fighting Illini buried 11 of 15 attempts for a percentage of 73.3%. When it comes to grabbing boards, they compiled 32 with 8 of them being of the offensive sort. They also doled out 20 assists in this game in addition to earning 4 steals and 2 blocked shots. When it comes to the defense, Illinois allowed 54.0% from the floor on 34 out of 63. Rutgers distributed 12 dimes and 8 steals in the game. Furthurmore, the Scarlet Knights collected 33 rebounds (13 offensive, 20 defensive) and earned 2 blocks. Rutgers ended up going 69.4% from the free throw line by making 25 of their 36 shots. They converted 8 of 20 attempts from downtown.

Trent Frazier is one player who was pivotal for the game. He accounted for 19 points on 6 out of 10 shooting. He played 39 minutes and collected 2 rebounds. Frazier finished the contest at 60.0% from the field and earned 5 assists. An additional guy that came through in this matchup for the Fighting Illini was Ayo Dosunmu. He pulled down 11 rebounds and accounted for 6 assists. He finished the game shooting 50.0% from the field for this game by going 10-of-20 (22 points). At the conclusion of this game, Dosunmu played for 38 minutes.

Penn State has a mark of 3-2 on the season. On the offensive side of the court, the Nittany Lions are shooting 42.1% from the field, which is ranked 266th in the nation. Penn State has 383 points on the campaign (76.6 per game) and they collect 36.4 boards per contest. They are getting an assist 14.4 times per contest (124th in college basketball) and they lose possession via turnover 10.8 times per contest. The Nittany Lions are committing 20.0 personal fouls per contest and they hit 73.3% from the charity stripe. The Nittany Lions on the defensive end are ranked 175th in college basketball in points allowed per contest with 69.8. The Penn State defense allows 31.7% on three-point shots (32 of 101) and their opposition knocks down 67.5% of their shots from the free throw line. They allow 12.2 dimes and 36.0 total rebounds per game, which has them ranked 141st and 204th in college basketball. They are able to force 16.6 turnovers per game and have allowed teams to shoot 44.6% from the floor (247th in college basketball).

The last time they took the hardwood, the Penn State Nittany Lions went home defeated by a final of 62-58 when they faced the Michigan Wolverines. The Nittany Lions were able to pull down 20 defensive rebounds and 10 offensive boards for a total of 30 in this matchup. They also blocked 2 attempts while recording 7 steals in this game. The Wolverines committed 16 fouls in the matchup which got the Nittany Lions to the free throw line for a total of 15 tries. They were able to knock down 11 of the free throw tries for a rate of 73.3%. In terms of three-point attempts, Penn State made 7 of their 19 tries (36.8%). When this game wrapped up, the Nittany Lions finished 20 for 65 from the floor which had them at 30.8%. The Nittany Lions permitted the Wolverines to make 20 of their 45 attempts from the field which gave them a rate of 44.4% for this contest. They finished shooting 35.7% from three-point range by going 5 of 14 and walked away from this one shooting 17 of 20 from the free throw line (85.0%). In the matter of how they rebounded, Penn State allowed Michigan to collect 35 in total (4 on the offensive glass).

Izaiah Brockington ended up being important for the Nittany Lions for the game. He knocked down 5 out of 14 for the matchup for a field goal rate of 35.7%, which earned him 14 points. Brockington pulled down 6 rebounds in his 31 minutes played and had 2 assists for this contest. Another guy who saw a lot of action for Penn State was Myreon Jones. He totaled 10 points in his 25 minutes on the hardwood via 3 of 11 shooting for the contest. Jones walked away from this one going 27.3% from the floor in addition to collecting 2 assists and 2 boards.

Who will win tonight's college basketball game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Illinois (-2)

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