The Michigan Wolverines and the Illinois Fighting Illini meet Tuesday in college basketball action from State Farm Center. Michigan is coming off a loss to Nebraska over the weekend which dropped the Wolverines to 8-16 this year. As for Illinois, they’re 17-6 overall following a loss to Michigan State on Saturday. Let’s get into our Michigan vs. Illinois prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Michigan Wolverines
The Wolverines only managed to win seven of their first 17 outings versus UNC Asheville, Youngstown State, St. John’s, Stanford, Iowa, Eastern Michigan and Ohio State. Michigan is 1-6 since then with losses to Illinois, Purdue, Iowa, Michigan State, Rutgers and Nebraska.
In the Nebraska game on Saturday, the Wolverines were drilled 45-25 in the first half. Michigan kept the pace from there on a 34-34 run in a rough loss 79-59. Tops in scoring was Nimari Burnett with 18 points, five rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes of work during the losing effort.
Illinois Fighting Illini
Over on the Illinois side, they managed a 14-5 run to open the year. The losses in that time were versus Marquette, Tennessee, Purdue, Maryland and Northwestern. Following wins over Indiana, Ohio State and Nebraska, the Illini took a loss to Michigan State in their last outing.
Back on Saturday versus Michigan State, the Illini faced a three-point deficit at the break. Illinois didn’t end up getting any closer than that on a 44-39 second half and lost 88-80. Terrence Shannon was the top team scorer on 28 points with seven rebounds and one assist.
ANDREW’S FREE MICHIGAN VS ILLINOIS PREDICTION
I’ll stay with Illinois I suppose. The Illini were deflated over the weekend in an upset road loss to Michigan State though, so they’ll need a good bounce-back effort in this one. In Saturday’s game Illinois gave up 52.7 percent shooting but otherwise didn’t play terribly—they just couldn’t keep up on the scoreboard. The good news is that the Illini have scored 80 or more in three straight games and Michigan probably doesn’t have the offense to keep pace if that trend holds.
The last time these teams met up back on January 18, Illinois bagged an 88-73 road victory. Michigan shot well from the field in that one (47.6 percent) but also hit just three of their 13 attempts from outside (23.1 percent). If the Illini go cold I could see Michigan keeping pace in this one, but in the end I think Illinois is probably still the better cover play.