Thursday’s college basketball odds favor 20th ranked Illinois as they host Northwestern in a game that can be seen on ESPN 2.
Illinois has dominated Northwestern recently at home and they are solid favorites in college basketball betting to continue their winning streak.
Illinois has won the last nine home games against Northwestern. If they continue to get strong play from Demetri McCamey they will probably make it ten in a row. McCamey was co-Big Ten player of the week last week as he had 20 points and 10 assists in an 87-77 win over Iowa last Wednesday and he scored 21 points and had seven assists in Sunday’s win over Wisconsin. It appears that McCamey is taking his game to the next level this season. Last year he averaged 15.2 points per game against conference opponents. This year he is doing much more.
Series Facts
Last season the Wildcats and the Illini split their two games with each team winning at home. Illinois has owned Northwestern at Champaign as Northwestern has not won there since 1999. Northwestern is 9-3 overall but they are 0-2 in the Big 10. They lost against Purdue and Michigan State and they are probably going to lose this one as well. Northwestern had lost 11 straight to Illinois before last year’s 73-68 win at home.
Wildcats Can’t Shoot
Northwestern couldn’t shoot well last time out as they missed time and time again in a loss to Michigan State. Leading scorer John Shurna was 1 of 11 from the field. He was averaging 22.2 points per game but did nothing against the Spartans and finished with just 11 points. Last year he averaged 23 points in two games against Illinois.
Thursday Numbers
The Wildcats are 5-1 against the college basketball odds in their last 6 Thursday games. The Wildcats are 2-5-1 ATS in their last 8 road games. The Wildcats are 1-4-1 ATS in their last 6 vs. the Big Ten. The Illini are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 vs. the Big Ten. The Illini are 3-13 ATS in their last 16 Thursday games. Since this game is on ESPN 2 you might want to be the total. The Over is 28-11 in the Wildcats last 39 vs. the Big Ten. The Over is 20-8 in the Wildcats last 28 road games. The Over is 18-8 in Illinois’ last 26 home games.