Illinois vs Missouri Odds, Picks and Predictions: Fighting Illini Strap Up Tigers

The Illinois Fighting Illini and Missouri Tigers meet Thursday at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, as these rivals renew acquaintances right before the holidays.

The Illini have had a difficult time lately, dropping their first two Big Ten games at Maryland and at home to Penn State, but those losses sandwich an impressive neutral-floor win in overtime against a fellow ranked team, Texas.

Mizzou suffered its first loss of the season on December 10, falling at home to Kansas by a 95-67 score. It bounced back with a narrow 68-66 win on a neutral floor against UCF, but the jury is still out on whether it's a contender or a beneficiary of a soft non-conference schedule.

Will the Illini grab a second consecutive win, and regain some confidence, or will the Tigers be able to knock them off the rails again? We’ll discuss in our college basketball betting picks and predictions for Illinois vs. Missouri on Thursday, December 22.

Illinois vs Missouri best odds

Illinois vs Missouri picks and predictions

The Illini have rolled up 78.1 points per game this season, but they’re not a terribly good 3-point shooting team. Illinois has hit just 34.4% from behind the 3-point line, which is rather middling. And the Illini have been horrific from the free-throw line, hitting at just a 64.5% clip and leaving a lot of points on the floor.

Defensively, that’s where Illinois butters its bread — allowing just 62.1 ppg to rank No. 45 in the nation — and it has clamped down with a 38.4% defensive field-goal percentage. It is also fairly efficient in perimeter defense, holding the opposition to 31.6% from downtown.

All of that is well and good, and the Illini will finally give us an idea if Missouri is a contender or a pretender.

The Tigers have played just one ranked team so far this season, and they were spanked 95-67 at home by Kansas on December 10. Outside of that, the win over UCF, or perhaps the overtime victory at Wichita State on November 29 is their best showing. The rest of the schedule is very weak, and there are a lot of questions about whether they are for real.

Mizzou has five players hitting for 10.0 or more ppg this season, so scoring has been balanced, but it has really yet to be put to the test against a slew of contenders. We’ll learn a lot against Illinois, and then much more when SEC conference play starts.

The thinking here is that the Illini get it done, and covering by three buckets shouldn’t be a huge problem for them.

My best bet: Illinois -6 (-110 at PointsBet)

Illinois vs Missouri spread analysis

This will be the third neutral-floor game for Illinois this season, so the Illini are certainly battle tested. They have victories against UCLA in Las Vegas at T-Mobile Arena, and against Texas at Madison Square Garden in New York City, so they certainly won’t be fazed by the bright lights of Enterprise Center.

Missouri has managed a 5-2 against the spread mark in the past seven games against teams with a winning overall record, but that’s a little inflated due to a weak schedule. Some of the teams it has played have good records but aren’t exactly a murderer’s row.

Illinois is just 2-7 ATS in the past nine games against winning teams, so that’s a bit of a concern. But the Illini have risen to the occasion this season when the lights are brightest, and they dominated the Tigers last season in this venue. Expect another win, perhaps by double digits.

Illinois vs Missouri Over/Under analysis

The total trends are quite contrasting. For Illinois, it’s all about the Under, and for Mizzou, it’s the opposite.

The Illini have cashed the Under in four of the past five games overall while going 4-0 in the past four games following a straight up win. The Under is also 6-2 in the past eight for Illinois after a non-cover the previous time out.

If you’re looking to feel better about the Over, it has cashed in two of the three games for Illinois on a neutral floor this season — all against top competition — so there’s that.

For Mizzou, it’s all Over all the time. The Over is 4-1 in its past five games overall while going 6-1 in the past seven neutral site games. The Over is also 4-0 in its past four after a SU win, and 21-8 in the past 29 after a cover.

The lean here is to the Over, but it isn’t strong. Playing the line is still the best bet.

Illinois vs Missouri betting trend to know

The Fighting Illini are 8-1 ATS in their past nine games following a SU victory of 20 points or more. Find more College basketball betting trends for Illinois vs. Missouri.

Illinois vs Missouri game info

Pages related to this topic