Wisconsin and Illinois meet for the right to be called Big Ten Tournament champions, and we offer our best Wisconsin vs. Illinois prediction based on the best college basketball odds for Sunday.
Wisconsin lost its two regular season games against Purdue by a combined 14 points but earned its right to play in the Big Ten Tournament final by knocking off the Boilermakers by one point in overtime on Saturday.
While Purdue never had a lead bigger than six points in that game, Illinois stormed back from a 15-point second-half deficit in its semifinal game against Nebraska and held a 15-point lead before winning by 11. The Fighting Illini look for their first Big Ten Tournament championship since winning it in 2021.
The winner will improve its March Madness odds and Final Four odds ahead of Selection Sunday.
Here is our best Wisconsin vs. Illinois prediction and our college basketball picks (odds via our best March Madness betting sites; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale).
Wisconsin vs. Illinois prediction
Best odds: -120 via bet365
Illinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr. stole the show with a 40-point performance Saturday, which was not only a Big Ten Tournament record, but made him the first player with 40-plus points in a power-conference tournament game since 2013, per ESPN's Jeff Borzello.
However, fellow guard Marcus Domask quietly added 16 points on an efficient 5-for-11 shooting, and we expect Illini head coach Brad Underwood to utilize Domask in many post-up and isolation sets to take advantage of Wisconsin's undersized guards.
This is a four-star play, as Domask scored a game-high 31 points in the only regular-season meeting between these teams. While he has sc ored 16-plus points in four of his last six games, that Wisconsin game was his second-best offensively rated game in that span, per KenPom.
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Wisconsin vs. Illinois best odds
| DraftKings | FanDuel | BetMGM | Caesars | bet365 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Domask Over 15.5 points | N/A | N/A | Domask Over 15.5 points | Domask Over 15.5 points |
| -125 | N/A | N/A | -133 | -120 |
As of Sunday morning, only three of our best sports betting sites offer player props for this matchup, and bet365 has the best odds for Domask backers. At bet365, a $10 wager at -120 odds would pay out $18.33 as opposed to $17.52 with the same wager at Caesars.
Fellow Illinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr. has the highest projected point total of any player in the game at 21.5. He averages a team-high 22.6 points per game this season, but the -130 juice for his Over at bet365 suggests the better value lies with Domask to exceed his projected total (he averages 15.7 points per game).
Wisconsin vs. Illinois odds
Wisconsin vs. Illinois odds analysis
Both Caesars and BetRivers raised their point spreads a half-point from their opening number of Illinois -3 to -3.5. DraftKings and FanDuel saw their lines go as low as 2.5 before returning to their openin g lines of -3 and -3.5, respectively. Early wagers are 2/1 in support of the Fighting Illini (67/33), who are 17-13-3 ATS this season.
There is a 1-point range among the best sports betting apps with regards to the total, as Caesars and FanDuel are on the low end at 148.5, while BetMGM is the highest at 149.5.
We have a classic case of reverse line movement in this matchup, as most of our best sportsbooks are down from opening totals of 150.5 or 151.5 despite 57% of the early wagers supporting the Over.
Wisconsin vs. Illinois game info
- When: Sunday, March 17
- Tip-off: 3:30 p.m. ET
- Where: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minn.
- How to watch: CBS
Wisconsin-Illinois prediction made Sunday at 6:36 a.m. ET.
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