Outputs like 43 at Northwestern, 46 at Indiana and 39 against Ohio State (admittedly one of the stingiest defenses around, but still) seemed to bring back memories of the tail end of the Weber era, when the talent of the individual parts never seemed to amount to a consistently executing whole.Īll that doom and gloom notwithstanding, the Illini bounced back admirably down the stretch, winning five of their last six, the lone blemish being the one game when Michigan rained threes from the sky with impunity. The offense, however, continued to be inconsistent at best, with a penchant for disappearing for long stretches. The Illini defense held up okay in those losses, save against Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan State, against whom they let up 75+. The Illini's margin of defeat was no smaller than seven points in any of those losses. After that, Illinois lost eight of their next nine, effectively taking them out of tournament contention. Well, Illinois then went to Welsh Ryan and lost, 49-43, an ugly slopfest that served as a harbinger. Okay, it was already clear that UW was a very good team by that point-chalk that up to a very bad night and move on, right? As Wisconsin is wont to do at the Kohl Center, the Badgers completely obliterated the Illini, 95-70. Sitting at 13-2, the Illini seemed destined to, at the very least, make the tournament barring a complete collapse.

The Illini continued those good feelings at the start of the conference slate, bagging a thrilling triple overtime victory against Indiana on New Year's Eve, then drubbing Penn State by 20 on Jan. 3 and to a dynamic Oregon squad in Portland on Dec. The two losses came against a mediocre Georgia Tech squad on Dec. Illinois raced to an 11-2 start-sure, there were cupcakes, just like everyone else-with a win against border rival Missouri, 65-64, at the Scottrade Center in St. Things started off not so bad for the Illini and John Groce during his second year in Champaign. A strange as it is to see teams like Purdue, Indiana and Illinois populating the bottom 5 of the conference, such was the state of things this past season. Slowly but surely, I'm making my way up the 2013-14 Big Ten standings, guiding you like Virgil to the Purgatorial land known as Bubbleville. Get picks now.Previously: Purdue, Northwestern, Penn State, Indiana See college basketball picks for every single game, including this one, from SportsLine's advanced computer model. The oddsmakers had a good feel for the line for this one, as the game opened with the Fighting Illini as a 3-point favorite.

The Fighting Illini are a 3.5-point favorite against the Hawkeyes, according to the latest college basketball odds.

Where: State Farm Center - Champaign, Illinois.

Less enviably, Illinois is stumbling into the contest with the 32nd fewest takeaways in college basketball, having accrued only 10.9 on average. Two numbers to keep in mind before tip-off: Iowa comes into the game boasting the third fewest turnovers per game in college basketball at 8.9. Iowa is now 22-8 while the Fighting Illini sit at 21-8. They might be worth taking a chance on against the spread, however, as they are currently on a two-game streak of ATS wins. The Hawkeyes are expected to lose this next one by 3.5. The top scorer for Illinois was guard Da'Monte Williams (14 points). Meanwhile, Illinois didn't have too much breathing room in their matchup with the Penn State Nittany Lions this past Thursday, but they still walked away with a 60-55 win. Iowa's forward Keegan Murray did his thing and had 23 points in addition to seven rebounds and three blocks.

Iowa didn't have too much trouble with the Michigan Wolverines on the road this past Thursday as they won 82-71. Both teams come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous games. Iowa and the Fighting Illini will face off in a Big Ten battle at 7:30 p.m. 2 of 2020, but they'll be looking to end the drought Sunday. The #24 Iowa Hawkeyes haven't won a contest against the #20 Illinois Fighting Illini since Feb.

Current Records: Iowa 22-8 Illinois 21-8 What to Know

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