The Illinois Fighting Illini have a forecast 77% chance to win against The Arizona Wildcats with a spread of -6.0/6.0 and an over/under of 141.5. The Illinois Fighting Illini are 0 – 0 against The Arizona Wildcats in the 2021-22 Season.
— Saturday, December 11th Arizona Wildcats @ Illinois Fighting Illini
The No. 11 Arizona Wildcats (8-0) passed their first test of the season when they beat then No. 4 Michigan in Las Vegas before Thanksgiving. Now they get another one as they head on the road to face a previously ranked Illinois (7-2) team who is looking for a statement win. Tip-off at the State Farm Center in Champaign is set for 6:00 p.m. ET Saturday, and the game will air on FOX.
Arizona leads the all-time series 9-6, but they have never won in three meetings in Champaign. The Wildcats won the most-recent matchup in 2019, and the teams haven’t met in Champaign since 1987, with their last three meetings in Illinois coming in the Chicago area. One of those was an epic Illini comeback to secure a Final Four berth in 2005, while Arizona won in San Antonio in the 2001 Elite Eight.
Wildcats Put Streak On Line
Travel to the Midwest was an adventure for Arizona on Friday as high winds and rare December tornados in central Illinois forced the team to fly past Champaign and land in Indianapolis. With no flights back, they improvised and took groups of Ubers the two hours across the border to the Illinois campus.
Arizona has won all eight games this season, seven of them by double digits and six by at least 25 points. They have topped 100 twice while also scoring 97, 94, and 90. Defensively they have only allowed more than 65 points once, an 82-78 win over Wichita State in overtime.
Benedict Mathurin leads Arizona with 17 points per game and 6.6 rebounds per contest. He has made 34 percent of his 3-pointers on the season and shoots 79 percent from the free-throw line. Mathurin is one of four Wildcats in double figures on the season, with Azuolas Tubelis at 15.8 ppg.
A big matchup will come inside as Arizona averages 44.6 rebounds per game and shoot 50 percent from the field as a team. Center Christian Koloko is 7-foot-1 and averages 14.4 ppg to go with 6.9 rpg and 3.3 blocks per game. He will go head-to-head with Illinois center Kofi Cockburn all game long.
Illinois Searching for Consistency
The Illini have yet to put their entire team on the floor at the same time for any real stretch of action. Cockburn was suspended the first three games of the season, one a road loss to Marquette. Then point guard Andre Curbelo suffered an injury that has cost him five games while super senior Trent Frazier and Jacob. Grandison also missed games with injury and illness.
Illinois is 7-0 when they score more than 70 points this season and 0-2 when they don’t. Cockburn has been fantastic when he’s been on the floor, averaging 22.8 ppg, 11.8 rpg, and shooting 65 percent from the field.
Utah transfer Alfonso Plummer has picked up the slack in replacing Curbelo and Frazier as the go-to perimeter scorer. He is averaging 15.8 ppg and shooting 43.1 percent from 3-point range with 23 makes in his last five games.
With Curbelo likely out again on Saturday, Plummer will need help from Frazier, Grandison, and Damonte Williams. Frazier averages 9.4 ppg and is a streaky shooter, while Grandison is making nearly 50 percent from deep this season. Williams doesn’t score much, but he’s the key defender, ball-handler, and blue-collar guy getting rebounds and assists.
Betting Analysis
- Arizona Wildcats +1 (-110)
- Illinois Fighting Illini -1 (-110)
- Total Points: 152.5 over -105 under -115
The Illini have been playing better lately with a 35-point win over Rutgers and a four-point win at Iowa to start the Big Ten slate. They were rather uninspiring in a neutral court loss to Cincinnati last month and will need 40 minutes of energy to compete with Arizona. The Wildcats can score, and they do so in bunches, but their defense hasn’t been tested like it will be on Saturday, and this one should see a lot of points.
Betting Pick: Over 152.5 (-110)
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