Illinois Fighting Illini vs Northwestern Wildcats Prediction, 1/29/2022 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Illinois Fighting Illini vs Northwestern Wildcats

Date: Saturday, January 29, 2022

Location: Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, IL

TV: BTN

Welsh-Ryan Arena is the location where the Northwestern Wildcats (9-9) will take on the Illinois Fighting Illini (14-5) on Saturday.

The Illinois Fighting Illini took the court against Michigan State and took home the win by a score of 56-55 in their last game. Illinois ended having earned a 41.5% FG percentage (22 of 53) and made 9 out of their 29 three-point attempts. When they shot from the charity stripe, the Fighting Illini converted 3 of 7 shots for a percentage of 42.9%. Pertaining to rebounding, they compiled a total of 25 with 4 of them being on the offensive end. They also dished out 14 assists in the game as well as forcing the opposition into 10 turnovers and earning 2 steals. When talking about defense, Illinois allowed the other team to shoot 34.5% from the floor on 19 of 55 shooting. Michigan State recorded 9 assists and had 5 steals in the game. Furthermore, Michigan State snagged 38 rebounds (11 offensive, 27 defensive), but didn't notch a block. Michigan State went 82.4% when shooting free throws by converting 14 of 17 shots. They also made 3 out of their 14 attempts from 3-point land. When discussing personal fouls, the Fighting Illini ended up finishing with 17 while Michigan State recorded 15 personal fouls.

Alfonso Plummer is one guy who was a major factor in this contest. He notched 11 points on 4 of 11 shooting. He played 36 minutes and also snagged 3 rebounds. He finished shooting 36.4% from the floor and earned 4 dimes.

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Illinois enters this matchup with a win-loss record of 14-5 this season. They cough up possession 13.3 times per game and as a basketball team are committing 16.4 fouls per game. As a team, Illinois is collecting 41.3 boards per contest and has racked up 299 dimes on the season, which has them ranked 51st in Division 1 in terms of passing the rock. The Fighting Illini are connecting on 37.2% on 3-point shots (185 of 497) and 72.5% from the charity stripe. They are averaging 78.1 points per outing (43rd in the nation) while hitting 46.0% from the field.

When they are on defense, the Fighting Illini have forced 11.0 turnovers per game while drawing 17.6 fouls. They are giving up 32.3% on shots from downtown and they rank 107th in college hoops in points per game allowed (66.3). The Fighting Illini defensively are giving up a FG percentage of 40.1% (460 of 1,147) and they concede 31.5 rebounds per game as a squad. They currently rank 29th in the country in giving up assists to their opponents with 181 relinquished for the year.

When they last played, the Northwestern Wildcats took a defeat with a final score of 72-70 when they played Michigan. The Wildcats pulled down 19 defensive boards and 3 offensive rebounds totaling 22 in the game. They also coughed it up 9 times, while earning 3 steals for this game. Michigan committed 24 personal fouls for the contest which took the Wildcats to the charity stripe for a total of 26 attempts. They were able to bury 16 of the free throw attempts for a percentage of 61.5%. In relation to 3-point shots, Northwestern converted 8 of their 17 tries (47.1%). In all, the Wildcats went 23 out of 47 from the field which gave them a percentage of 48.9%. The Wildcats permitted Michigan to make 23 of their 41 attempts from the floor which had them shooting 56.1% in this contest. They finished 66.7% from behind the 3-point line by going 8 out of 12 and finished the contest at 18 out of 26 from the free throw line (69.2%). In regard to rebounding, Northwestern permitted Michigan to collect 24 in total (1 on the offensive glass).

Boo Buie ended up having an impact for the Wildcats for this contest. He recorded 13 points in his 29 minutes on the hardwood and added 3 dimes for this contest. He made 5 out of 8 for the contest giving him a rate of 62.5%, and had 3 rebounds.

Northwestern has a record of 9-9 so far this year. On the offensive side of the ball, the Wildcats are connecting on 44.3% from the floor, which ranks them 180th in college basketball. Northwestern has accounted for 1,371 points so far this season (76.2 per game) and they pull in 36.6 rebounds per contest. Their rate of earning assists is at 17.3 times per contest (13th in the nation) and they are turning it over 9.1 times per contest. The Wildcats commit 18.3 fouls per game and they hit 72.7% from the charity stripe.

The Wildcats on defense are ranked 181st in D-1 in PPG given up with 68.9. They have forced 13.7 TO's every game and have let teams shoot 41.5% from the field (112th in the country). The Northwestern defense surrenders 36.7% on shots from beyond the arc (152 of 414) and opponents are connecting on 73.2% of their foul shots. They have surrendered 13.9 assists and 35.2 total boards per game, which is ranked 276th and 202nd in the country.

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

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Northwestern

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