Iowa vs Illinois: Expert College Basketball Predictions For February 25, 2025
Iowa and Illinois clash in a Big Ten matchup on Tuesday night in college basketball. Get college basketball picks for today around Iowa vs Illinois battling in a conference showdown in Champaign, IL!
Here’s a breakdown of predictions and picks for this Big Ten matchup tipping off at 9:00PM ET on February 25, 2025!
Iowa vs Illinois Game Details
Date: Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Time: 9:00 PM ET / 6:00 PM PT
Broadcast: FS1
Location: State Farm Center in Champaign, IL
Spread: Illinois -9.5 | Total: 171.5
Iowa vs Illinois Betting Preview
How does Illinois head coach Brad Underwood want his team to respond to this current shooting slump? “Keep shooting.” The Illini suffered their worst loss in program history on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, losing 110-67 against Duke.
Illinois has been streaky on offense all season, but this current slump started five weeks ago in a loss to Michigan State.
Since then, the Illini have shot 25.7-percent from three-point range. Underwood’s “keep shooting” advice is about all he can offer at the moment because the drought is inexplicable otherwise. Kylan Boswell shot 37.9-percent at Arizona last year.
He’s shooting 22.2-percent with Illinois this year. Tre White shot 29.9-percent at Louisville last year. He’s shooting 24.4-percent with Illinois this year.
Ben Humrichous shot 42.1-percent at Evansville last year. He’s shooting 33.5-percent with Illinois this year. Jake Davis shot 40.6-percent at Mercer last year. He’s shooting 34.5-percent with Illinois this year.
The whole team has been plagued by poor shooting, but you can’t ask for a better opponent than Iowa to help you get out of the slump.
The Hawkeyes’ defense is last in the Big Ten in efficiency, effective field goal shooting allowed, defensive rebounding rate and three-point shooting allowed.
We backed Iowa on Saturday against Washington, and we made note of how important that game was for the Hawkeyes.
The bottom four teams in the Big Ten will no longer make the conference tournament. That win over the Huskies allowed Iowa to stay above the cut line. We’re not sure what Fran McCaffery’s situation will be after this season, but there’s a good chance that was Coach McCaffery’s last win in Iowa City.
Iowa needed a 12-point comeback to secure that win over the Huskies, and the Hawkeyes have Northwestern (also at the bottom of the Big Ten looking to stay in the tournament) on deck on Friday.
Iowa vs Illinois Predictions
In the grand scheme of things, that game with the ‘Cats probably means a lot more than Tuesday’s trip to Champaign.
This shapes up to be a let-down spot for the Hawkeyes, and we’re looking to back Illinois and the over. Since the start of the 2020-21 season, Illinois is 6-1 straight-up and against the spread in this matchup.
During that seven-game span, the Illini have scored an average of 81.4 points per game against Iowa. Even with all of Illinois’ recent shooting woes, the over is still 4-1 in the Illini’s last five games.
Iowa vs Illinois Prediction: Illinois -9.5 / Over 171.5
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