NCAA Men’s Basketball Battle of Illinois: Illinois-Chicago At Northern Illinois

Illinois-Chicago AT Northern Illinois
December 14th, 2010 at 8:00 PM EST
Opening Point Spread: Northern Illinois -2
Current Point Spread: Northern Illinois -2
Opening Total: No total defined.
Moneyline: Northern Illinois -125 / Illinois Chicago +105

Northern Illinois are 2 point favorites in this in-state battle

Both teams come into tonight’s game with losing records. The favored Huskies of Northern Illinois are 2-4 this year and have lost their past two games, to DePaul (by 2) and to Boise State (by 29). They will seek to rebound against the Flames of Illinois-Chicago, though Illinois-Chicago has won five of the past six matchups between the two teams. However, Illinois State has lost their last three games one to Illinois State (by 10), Akron (by 2), and Valapraiso (by 2). Their last win was on November 28th against Toledo, a one point victory. Because of all the close losses, despite a 2-4 record their point differential is a respectable -2.6. Northern Illinois’s is -3.8

Last matchup between the teams, Illnois Chicago won by a score of 69 to 49 on their homecourt. College basketball odds have Illinois Chicago is 1-5-1 ATS this year and Northern Illinois is 2-2 ATS.

Illinois-Chicago is led by 6’0″ senior point guard Robo Kreps and 6’8″ senior forward Paul Carter. The inside-out tandem accounts for 32.2 of Illinois-Chicago’s 62 points per game, and both players log heavy minutes. In addition to being second on the team in scoring, Carter also leads the Flames in rebounding with 8.3 rebounds per game. He shoots a poor percentage from the field (39%) though, and last game agains the Fighting Illini he went 6 of 17 from the floor, and 2 of 7 from behind the arc. Despite only shooting 22.5% from behind the arc, he has already attempted 40 threes through 10 games. Robo Kreps has had more success both from the field and behind the arc, and Kreps has hit 18 threes so far of 47 attempts (38%). He ignites a lot of fast breaks, playing passing lanes well (1.5 steals per game). The Flames will seek to run as much as possible.

Northern Illinois is for all practical purposes a one man team. 6’5″ senior guard Xavier Silas averages 26.3 points per game and has already had three 34 point games so far of the 6 matchups that Northern Illinois has played. He averages over 3 times as much as their second leading scorer (Nate Rucker’s 8.3 points per game), and accounts for over one third of the Huskies points per game. He has been lights out from three point range, shooting 16 of 31 (51.6%). Northern Illinois will go to him as much as possible obviously, as Illinois Chicago, like most teams, has no one to matchup well with him.