Illini welcome Gophers to Champaign

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

02/26/2009 - Champaign, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Still in the hunt for the Big Ten title, the 20th-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini, welcome the Minnesota Golden Gophers to Champaign this evening, for a key conference clash at Assembly Hall.

Bruce Weber's Illini are 10-5 in league play and sit two games behind league- leading Michigan State with three games to play, including one on Sunday against the Spartans. The Illini have kept things close by winning four of their last five games, including last weekend's thrilling 70-68 nail-biter at Ohio State.

Tubby Smith's Gophers have been solid for the most part this season and their 20-7 overall mark is certainly indicative of that. Minnesota however, is just treading water in the Big Ten with an 8-7 mark and has lost four of its last six games, overall. Still, the team was able to halt a brief two-game losing streak, with last Sunday's 72-45 pasting of Northwestern.

Illinois owns a 68-16 advantage in this series at home and has won 10 straight against Minnesota in Assembly Hall, with the Gophers' last road win in this series coming back in 1996. Minnesota should have some confidence coming in though, having brought an end to an ugly 20-game skid against Illinois with a 59-36 decision in Minneapolis back on January 29th.

The Golden Gophers were superior in just about every facet of the game against Northwestern on Sunday, shooting over 50 percent from the floor, while limiting the Wildcats to a mere 14 total field goals. Minnesota also outrebounded NU 40-21 and outscored the Wildcats 21-11 at the free-throw line. Lawrence Westbrook led the offensive charge with 17 points. He has been the driving force at the offensive end all season long for Minnesota, averaging 12.5 ppg. Scoring depth is hard to come by in Minneapolis this season, with the next highest scorer coming in at just 8.8 ppg. Still, Minnesota is not known for its offensive prowess (68.5 ppg), but rather, its defensive tenacity, holding foes to an anemic 62.0 ppg, on under 40 percent shooting overall (.397).

Illinois is very similar in the fact that it is the defensive pressure which sets things up for the Illini at the offensive end. The top defensive team in the Big Ten this year, Illinois is allowing a meager 56.2 ppg, holding opponents under 40 percent shooting overall (.395), including under 30 percent from behind the arc (.290). Four of the five starters are averaging double digits for Illinois, but none can be called explosive. Demetri McCamey paces the team at 11.9 ppg and is followed closely by Mike Davis (11.0 ppg, 7.8 rpg), Mike Tisdale (10.9 ppg) and Trent Meacham (10.3 ppg). Chester Frazier rounds out the starting five and while not much of a scorer (5.4 ppg), he does lead the way in assists (5.4 apg) and steals (37). The Illini took a five- point lead at the half and never allowed the hometown Buckeyes to recapture the lead, as Bruce Weber picked up his 150th win at Illinois. The Illini shot 58 percent from the floor in the game and placed three players in double figures, led by Davis' 22 points. Meacham added 17 points to the cause, while McCamey finished with 15 points and a game-high seven assists.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.