Illinois State (12-9) vs Belmont (15-6)
January 29, 2025 at 09:00 PM EST
The Line: Betting Odds: Illinois State -2.5 — Over/Under: 153.5
The Belmont Bruins and the Illinois State Redbirds meet Wednesday in college basketball action from CEFCU Arena. Here’s a Belmont vs Illinois State prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Belmont vs Illinois State pick. We will examine:
The Belmont Bruins’ recent form and player performance
The Illinois State Redbirds’ recent form and player performance
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Belmont Bruins
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Illinois State Redbirds
Recent betting trends in games played between Belmont and Illinois State
A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Belmont vs Illinois State game
Belmont Bruins Betting Preview
Belmont has one instance of consecutive losses so far this year, but other than that they’ve been quite clean in the win column overall. The Bruins opened up on a nice 9-2 stretch with losses to only Furman and Loyola Marymount. The wins otherwise were versus Maryville College TN, Lipscomb, Air Force, Oral Roberts, Tulane, Gardner-Webb, Illinois State, Middle Tennessee, and Richmond in that time. A three-game losing streak came versus UC Irvine, Drake, and Northern Iowa, then a 6-1 stretch. The lone loss in that time was versus Bradley. Otherwise, it was wins over UIC, Southern Illinois, Indiana State, Valparaiso, Evansville, and Murray State for a 15-6 overall record through the first 21 games of the year.
In the Murray State matchup on Saturday, the Bruins held a 55-37 edge by the time halftime arrived. Belmont kept the pace from there on a 40-40 run and powered out the victory 95-77 in the end. Leading the team in scoring with 20 points and eight rebounds in just 18 minutes off the bench was Drew Scharnowski. Tops among starters was Carter Whitt with 17 points, six assists, four rebounds, and three steals. Sam Orme chipped in 13 bench points as well.
Illinois State Redbirds Betting Preview
Over on the Illinois State side, they were able to maintain form for most of the early part of the season, however, things have been pretty sketchy over the last six outings. The Redbirds opened on a 10-5 overall run, falling to Tennessee Martin, McNeese, George Washington, Belmont, and UIC. The wins otherwise were versus North Dakota State, Ohio, Trinity Christian IL, UAB, Pacific, Saint Louis, Northern Illinois, Cornell, Murray State, and Southern Illinois. Since then it’s been a 2-4 run with wins over Missouri State and Indiana State among losses to Evansville, Northern Iowa, Drake, and Bradley for a 12-9 overall record so far.
Matched up versus Bradley on Saturday, the Redbirds took a two-point deficit into the second half. Illinois State hit a 33-31 deficit the rest of the way in a 61-57 loss. Leading the team in scoring was Johnny Kinziger with 16 points, five assists, and three rebounds in 35 minutes. The only other team player in double-figures was Ty Pence with 12 bench points and four boards.
Why the Illinois State Redbirds will win
- The home team has won six of Illinois State’s last seven games.
- Belmont has lost four of its last five road night games against Conference opponents.
- Belmont has lost the first half in four of its last five road night games against Conference opponents.
Why the Belmont Bruins will win
- Belmont has won six of its last seven games against the Missouri Valley Conference.
- Illinois State has lost three of its last four night games against the Missouri Valley Conference.
- Illinois State has lost the first half in three of its last four games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
Belmont vs Illinois State Prediction
I’ll probably just stay with Belmont here. The Bruins didn’t have a ton of issues on the road versus a middling Murray State team in their last outing, hitting 50.8 percent from the field with 35 rebounds, 10 steals, and just eight turnovers. The 17 points off 16 Racers turnovers didn’t hurt either. It was a nice bounce-back after a rough home loss to Bradley, and Belmont has now scored 70 or more points in eight straight games.
These teams last saw each other back on December 4 in a 99-97 home win for the Bruins. Belmont had a bad second half in that one and gave up 53.8 percent shooting from the field. The Bruins won’t be able to rely on mistakes this time (19 Redbirds turnovers in the last game), so they’ll need to be sharp the whole way in the rematch.