Bettors will hope to hit paydirt on Thursday when the Iowa Hawkeyes try to run the Fighting Illini off the court at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in college hoops action.

This is a conference playoff game in the Big Ten Tournament. The game is being played at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, which makes it technically a neutral site match.

Supporters of the Fighting Illini have watched them go 17-14 and 10-19 ATS on the year, while the Hawkeyes are at 16-15 and 14-12 ATS. In totals betting, the Hawkeyes are 14-11-1, while the Fighting Illini have a 17-12 mark.



View Illinois vs Iowa Odds and Stats.

Betting Line:
Sportsbooks had set the Hawkeyes as 2-point underdogs on the Sportsbook line for this contest.

Power Rankings / Prediction:
This game matches up the No. 202 (Hawkeyes) and the No. 166 (Fighting Illini) teams in the league, according to our current NCAAB power rank. A 70-69 result in favor of the Fighting Illini has been projected by the scores prediction engine.



How They Match Up:
The game also pits Iowa's No. 75-ranked offense, averaging 72.1 PPG, against a Fighting Illini defense that ranks No. 96 at 64.2 PPG. The Hawkeyes field goal percentage has averaged 45.3% so far, more than the Fighting Illini marksmen have achieved on the year, 44.1% per game.

Defensively, Illinois features the nation's No. 210-rated defense on the road, allowing 71.1 points per game. Iowa, meanwhile, comes in at No. 83 nationally in scoring at home.

In their last action, Illinois was a 70-56 loser on the road against Wisconsin. They failed to cover the 9.5-point spread as underdogs. Brandon Paul scored 22 points in a futile effort to lead the Fighting Illini to a win (they lost 70-56 to Wisconsin at Kohl Center on Sunday).

Last time out for Iowa, they were a 70-66 loser as they battled Northwestern at home. They failed to cover in the match as a 2.5-point favorite. Iowa got 17 points from Matt Gatens but lost anyway, 70-66, to Northwestern on Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.


Illinois Fighting Illini Trends:
When playing on Thursday are 9-1
After playing Wisconsin are 4-6
After a loss are 2-8

Iowa Hawkeyes Trends:
When playing on Thursday are 4-6
After playing Northwestern are 1-9
After a loss are 6-4

A few Fighting Illini at Hawkeyes trends to consider:
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Iowa's last 6 games
Iowa is 0-5 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Illinois
Iowa is 0-5 SU in its last 5 games when playing Illinois