Arizona Wildcats vs Illinois Fighting Illini Prediction, 12/11/2021 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Arizona Wildcats vs Illinois Fighting Illini

Date: Saturday, December 11, 2021

Location: State Farm Center in Champaign, IL

TV: FOX

The Arizona Wildcats (8-0) are traveling to State Farm Center on Saturday where they will attempt to defeat the Illinois Fighting Illini (7-2).

The Arizona Wildcats stepped onto the hardwood against Wyoming and took home the win by a score of 94-65 in their last contest. Arizona finished with a 52.8% FG percentage (38 out of 72) and converted 11 of 28 three-point attempts. From the free throw line, the Wildcats converted 7 of 8 attempts for a rate of 87.5%. Pertaining to grabbing rebounds, they compiled 37 with 12 of them being offensive. They also recorded 23 assists in the game as well as creating 14 turnovers and earning 9 steals. With respect to the defense, Arizona allowed 39.7% from the field on 23 out of 58 shooting. Wyoming doled out 9 assists and had 7 steals for the game. Furthermore, Wyoming collected 26 rebounds (5 offensive, 21 defensive), but wasn't able to put a block in the stat sheet. Wyoming finished the game at 73.3% from the charity stripe by making 11 of 15 tries. They also buried 8 out of their 25 attempts from distance. Concerning fouls, the Wildcats left the arena with 15 and Wyoming had 11 fouls.

Bennedict Mathurin is a player who came through in the matchup. He totaled 24 points on 10 out of 16 shooting. He played 35 mins played and also totaled 10 boards. He ended up going 62.5% from the field and also distributed 5 assists.

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Arizona will enter this game with a win-loss record of 8-0 this season. They are averaging 91.6 pts per game (1st in the nation) while shooting 49.6% from the floor. The Wildcats are hitting 33.8% on shots from 3-point land (70 of 207) and 72.0% from the free throw line. As a team, Arizona is snagging 44.6 boards per game and has accounted for 184 dimes so far this year, which is 4th in the nation in terms of passing. They are turning it over 12.4 times per game and as a group are committing 17.0 fouls every game.

Defensively, the Wildcats are forcing 16.8 turnovers per contest and they draw 20.1 fouls. They surrender 27.7% on shots from beyond the arc while they are 35th in D-1 in PPG allowed (59.5). The Wildcats defense is allowing a shooting percentage of 34.7% (172 of 496) and they concede 32.9 boards per contest as a unit. They are ranked 31st in D-1 in giving up assists to the opposition with 81 relinquished on the year.

The last time they took the hardwood, the Illinois Fighting Illini took home the win by a final score of 87-83 when they faced Iowa. Concerning how they attacked the glass, Illinois allowed Iowa to collect 19 in all (9 on the offensive side). They finished 34.8% from 3-point land by shooting 8 of 23 and walked away from this one shooting 13 out of 19 at the free throw line (68.4%). The Fighting Illini permitted Iowa to make 31 of their 69 attempts from the field which had them sitting at 44.9% for this contest. Overall, the Fighting Illini finished the game shooting 26 for 59 from the floor which gave them a rate of 44.1%. Regarding shooting from downtown, Illinois converted 11 of their 25 tries (44.0%). They were able to make 24 of them for a rate of 85.7%. Iowa was called for 20 fouls in the game which got the Fighting Illini to the charity stripe for a total of 28 shots. They also coughed up the ball 14 times, while recording 4 steals in the matchup. The Fighting Illini were able to pull down 31 defensive boards and 16 offensive boards totaling 47 for the contest.

Jacob Grandison ended up being a factor for the Fighting Illini for the matchup. He scored 21 points in his 30 minutes on the court and added 2 dimes for this contest. He knocked down 6 of 14 in the matchup for a field goal percentage of 42.9%, and totaled 3 rebounds.

Illinois has a win-loss mark of 7-2 this year. On the offensive side of the court, the Fighting Illini are shooting 45.7% from the floor, which is ranked 119th in the nation. Illinois has scored 701 points so far this year (77.9 per contest) and they pull in 43.6 rebounds per game. They are assisting teammates 16.4 times per contest (38th in the nation) and they are giving up possession 15.9 times per game. The Fighting Illini commit 16.9 fouls every game and they hit 72.0% from the charity stripe.

The Illinois defense gives up 32.4% on shots from distance (56 of 173) and their opponents are connecting on 72.0% of their shots from the charity stripe. They allow 9.9 assists and 29.3 boards every game, which is ranked 40th and 21st in D-1. The Fighting Illini on the defensive end are ranked 130th in college basketball in PPG surrendered with 65.9. They are able to force 11.3 TO's per game and allow teams to shoot 39.7% from the field (78th in college basketball).

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

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Arizona

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