Chicago State vs Illinois Prediction College Basketball Picks 12/29/24

The Chicago State Cougars and the Illinois Fighting Illini meet Sunday in college basketball action from State Farm Center. Here’s a Chicago State vs Illinois prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Chicago State vs Illinois pick. We will examine:

The Chicago State Cougars’ recent form and player performance

The Illinois Fighting Illini’s recent form and player performance

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Chicago State Cougars

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Illinois Fighting Illini

Recent betting trends in games played between Chicago State and Illinois

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Chicago State vs Illinois game

Chicago State Cougars Betting Preview

The Cougars have come up empty this year. The losses have been to Loyola, Youngstown State, Texas, San Francisco, Eastern Kentucky, Indiana State, Radford, Drexel, Wisconsin, St. Thomas-MN, Saint Louis, Mercer, Grand Canyon, and CSU Northridge in an 0-14 start.

Last Saturday in the CSU Northridge game, the Cougars were doing well with a 25-22 edge at the break. Chicago State faded from there on a 59-32 run and lost 81-57. Both Matthew Robinson and Saxby Sunderland led the team with 14 points each.

Illinois Fighting Illini Betting Preview

Over on the Illinois side, they beat Eastern Illinois, SIU Edwardsville, Oakland, MD Eastern Shore, Little Rock, and Arkansas in their first seven games. It’s been a 2-2 run since then with losses to Northwestern and Tennessee.

In the Missouri matchup last Sunday, Illinois held a 37-32 edge going into the second half. The Illini were outscored 45-43 the rest of the way but held out for an 80-77 win. Kasparas Jakucionis topped the team with 21 points with four assists in the victory.

Chicago State vs Illinois Prediction

I’ll probably just stay with Illinois, but I’m not touching this one. In all likelihood, the only question here will be the margin of victory, as Chicago State has come up empty in every game so far. The Cougars have also been below 67 points in 11 of their 14 games overall, so there’s little chance of them keeping up with a pretty good Illini team at State Farm Center. On the other side, Chicago State has given up 74 or more points in all but one game as well.

Illinois is coming off a solid outing versus a talented Missouri team but they’ve been pretty tepid on the scoreboard lately with fewer than 67 points in two of their last four (both losses). Scoring won’t be a problem here, and Illinois will roll to a blowout win without much effort. Will it be enough to cover what’s sure to be a bloated line pretty much everywhere? Probably, but I’m staying away all the same.

Andrew Jett's Pick: Illinois Fighting Illini -39