Hawkeye Basketball: Iowa at Illinois Game Lines and Predictions

The #7 Iowa Hawkeyes are set to take on the #19 Illinois Fighting Illini in Champaign on Friday night for what will be their first game in over a week. After boasting the nation’s most efficient offense virtually all season, the Hawkeyes fell off a cliff with sharpshooter CJ Fredrick out of the second half against Indiana and now there are doubts about his availability against Illinois.

As such, the Illini come into the matchup as 2-point home favorites with an over/under set at 162 total points. But what does the staff at BHGP think we should expect tonight?

Broadly speaking, we’re sadly on the Illini. Pessimism has been sparse this season thanks to the incredible run Iowa had been on, but after that miserable finish against the Hoosiers, just one staff member is on Iowa to win on the road Friday night.

As for our lone staffer taking the Hawks (it’s worth pointing out, it is our in house ponks guru BoilerHawk) here’s how he sees things playing out:

A close game throughout, it comes down to the last possession. This time it goes differently than Kofi Cockburn’s block of Luka Garza.

While the Iowa staff largely is a bit pessimistic after the loss, the broader community appears to be on Iowa’s side. According to Tallysight.com, nearly 70% of the industry is picking the Hawkeyes to win with an even higher percent taking Iowa with the 2 points.

Perhaps more noteworthy, all the Illinois “insiders” are taking Iowa.

Who are you taking in tonight’s matchup Hawkeye fans?

Be sure to check out Tallysight.com for insights not just on Iowa’s games the rest of the way, but all sports matchups. They have great insider breakdowns from local reporters and writers for everything from college hoops to the NFL and everything in between.