Illinois Fighting Illini vs Kentucky Wildcats Prediction, 3/23/2025 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Illinois Fighting Illini vs Kentucky Wildcats

Date: Sunday, March 23, 2025

Location: Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, WI

TV: CBS

Odds/Point Spread: Illinois (-1)

The Illinois Fighting Illini (22-12) are en route to Fiserv Forum on Sunday where they will compete against the Kentucky Wildcats (23-11) in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament. Illinois opens this game as 1-point favorites. The over/under has been set at 170.

The Illinois Fighting Illini stepped onto the hardwood against Xavier and walked away with a win by a score of 86-73 in their last contest. Illinois ended the game having earned a 48.3% FG percentage (28 of 58) and converted 12 of their 30 3-point attempts. At the charity stripe, the Fighting Illini made 18 of 18 attempts for a rate of 100.0%. In the matter of grabbing boards, they compiled 42 with 8 of them being offensive. They also dished out 14 assists for this contest while forcing 5 turnovers and earning 2 steals. When it comes to the defense, Illinois allowed the other team to shoot 40.3% from the floor on 25 out of 62 shooting. Xavier earned 9 assists and had 11 steals for the game. On top of that, Xavier grabbed 23 rebounds (3 offensive, 20 defensive), but wrapped up the game with no rejections. Xavier finished the game at 73.7% at the free throw line by burying 14 of 19 tries. They buried 9 out of their 23 attempts from beyond the arc. When discussing fouls, the Fighting Illini finished with 13 while Xavier recorded 17 fouls.

Will Riley is a player who was a major factor in this contest. He left the arena with 22 points on 8 of 12 shooting. He played for 33 minutes played and also grabbed 4 rebounds. He walked away from this one shooting 66.7% from the floor but wasn't able to get a dime.

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Illinois steps onto the court with a win-loss mark of 22-12 for the year. They average 83.9 points per outing (9th in Division 1) while hitting 45.1% from the floor. The Fighting Illini are connecting on 31.4% on shots from downtown (321 of 1022) and 76.5% from the charity stripe. As a team, Illinois is collecting 42.6 rebounds per contest and has 508 assists on the season, which ranks 74th in college hoops in terms of passing the rock. They cough up possession 11.6 times per game and as a group they are committing 16.1 personal fouls per contest.

When they are on defense, the Fighting Illini are forcing 9.1 turnovers on a nightly basis while drawing 18.3 fouls. They concede 33.5% on three-point shots while they are 259th in college hoops in points per game allowed (74.6). The Fighting Illini defense is giving up a FG percentage of 42.2% (940 of 2,230) and they concede 33.5 rebounds per game as a squad. They are currently ranked 179th in college in allowing assists to their opponents with 428 surrendered this season.

In their last game, the Kentucky Wildcats took home the win by a final score of 76-57 when they played Troy. The Wildcats pulled down 31 defensive boards and 5 offensive boards totaling 36 in this game. They also turned it over 10 times, while getting 5 steals in this contest. Troy committed 12 fouls for the matchup which got the Wildcats to the charity stripe for a total of 16 attempts. They were able to convert 10 of those for a rate of 62.5%. In reference to shots from 3-point land, Kentucky converted 10 of 26 attempts (38.5%). When the final whistle blew, the Wildcats went 28 out of 59 from the floor which gave them a percentage of 47.5%. The Wildcats allowed Troy to make 22 of their 63 attempts from the field which had them shooting 34.9% in the game. They finished 25.0% from distance via 8 of 32 and ended up shooting 5 out of 9 at the free throw line (55.6%). In relation to how they cleaned up the glass, Kentucky permitted Troy to grab 37 overall (10 on the offensive side).

Otega Oweh ended up having an impact for the Wildcats for the matchup. He tallied 20 points in his 33 minutes on the court and had 6 dimes in the matchup. He knocked down 8 of 13 in this contest giving him a field goal percentage of 61.5%, and earned 8 rebounds.

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Kentucky has a win-loss record of 23-11 so far this year. The Wildcats are responsible for committing 17.2 fouls every game and they connect on 73.6% from the charity stripe. They are assisting teammates 17.0 times per game (17th in college hoops) and they are losing possession via turnover 11.0 times per game. Kentucky has scored 2,891 points for the campaign (85.0 per contest) and they grab 38.5 rebounds per game. On the offensive side of the ball, the Wildcats are connecting on 48.2% from the floor, which ranks them 27th in college.

The Wildcats are ranked 315th in D-1 in points given up per game with 77.3. They are able to force 10.2 turnovers per game and allow teams to shoot 43.5% from the floor (167th in college). The Kentucky defense surrenders 30.6% on 3-point shots (288 of 940) and opponents are converting on 71.8% of their free throw shots. They have conceded 12.8 assists and 35.1 boards on a nightly basis, which has them ranked 153rd and 229th in college.

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

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Illinois (-1)

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