Courtside Players Club NCAAB 4-5 Units (3/7/25)

NCAAB

1 Pick (4 Units).

8PM EST: Illinois -4 (4 Units).

It's been an up and down season for the fighting Illini but they're 12-4 at Home with 3 of those losses coming to teams ranked inside the top 13. They just went on the road and put up 93 against a strong Michigan defense in a 20-point win. Game prior to that they beat Iowa by 20 at Home. Purdue's lost each of their last 3 road games and the most recent was a 15-point loss at Indiana. Rebounding is going to play a huge factor in this game. Illinois is 8th and Purdue's 113th in rebound rate. More specifically Illinois is 14th in offensive rebounding % and Purdue's 236th in defensive rebounding %. Purdue's defense is bad enough as it is, ranking 229th in opponent FG % and 338th in opponent 2-PT %. With Illinois snagging some extra possessions on the glass the Boilermakers will need to be very efficient on offense. They are the 3rd best shooting team in the Country at 49.6% but that drops to just 45.9% on the road. Illinois is also respectable defensively and limits teams to 38.7% on their Home Floor.