{"id":27221,"date":"2013-01-11T19:11:53","date_gmt":"2013-01-12T00:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=27221"},"modified":"2013-01-11T19:11:53","modified_gmt":"2013-01-12T00:11:53","slug":"college-basketball-predictions-illinois-fighting-illini-vs-wisconsin-badgers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/college-basketball-predictions-illinois-fighting-illini-vs-wisconsin-badgers-27221\/","title":{"rendered":"College Basketball Predictions: Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Wisconsin Badgers"},"content":{"rendered":"

No. 12 Illinois Fighting Illini at Wisconsin Badgers
\nSaturday, 1\/12\/12, 2:15 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 Big Ten Network
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Wisconsin -6.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Wisconsin -6.5
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 128
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 128
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Illinois Fighting Illini are 5-16 ATS in their last 21 Big Ten Conference games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Illinois has alternated wins and losses over its last six games, as it looks to bounce back from a disappointing 84-67 setback to the Minnesota Golden Gophers as two-point home underdogs, while going OVER the posted total of 140.5.\u00a0 The Fighting Illini have lost eight consecutive Big Ten Conference road games, but are hoping to snap that streak under first-year head coach John Groce.\u00a0 \u201cThis league is a monster, it\u2019s a grind,\u201d stated Groce this week.\u00a0 The program has won three times at the Kohl Center in 12 trips, but is 2-5 in seven previous visits as a ranked team.\u00a0 Illinois is 5-16 ATS in its last 21 conference games, something to consider when making your college basketball predictions Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Fighting Illini are led offensively by the play of guard Brandon Paul, who has scored in double figures in each of the last three games against the Badgers, including a game-high 22 points on the road last year.\u00a0 He has scored in double figures in all 17 games this season.\u00a0 If the game is close down the stretch, it\u2019s important to note that this squad is hitting 78.7 percent of its shots from the charity stripe during conference play.<\/p>\n

Wisconsin has won five games in a row and has started 2-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since the 2009-10 season, as it has held its last nine opponents to 60 points or less, including a 47-41 victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers as nine-point road favorites last time out.\u00a0 The Badgers have held the Fighting Illini to an average of 59.0 points on 38.8 percent shooting in their last five meetings in Madison.\u00a0 Wisconsin is 9-3 ATS in its last 12 home games versus a team with a winning road record, which is important to consider when looking over the college basketball odds page.<\/p>\n

The Badgers have three probable starters averaging in double figures, with senior forward Jared Berggren scoring 13.3 points per game, while leading the conference with 32 blocks.\u00a0 Wisconsin has won 10 of the last 14 meetings in this series, including three straight, while the first team to score 60 points is 21-1 over the last 22 meetings.<\/p>\n

Sports bettors will likely play the total in this affair, as the OVER is 4-0 in the last four meetings in this series.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss out on a winning season and let the college basketball handicappers at Maddux Sports line your pockets with cash.\u00a0 Long term packages are available now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No. 12 Illinois Fighting Illini at Wisconsin Badgers Saturday, 1\/12\/12, 2:15 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 Big Ten Network Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Wisconsin -6.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Wisconsin -6.5 Opening Total:\u00a0 128 Current Total:\u00a0 128 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Illinois has alternated wins and losses over its last six games, as it looks to bounce back from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":26018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1444],"tags":[3442,6417,697,7186,7234,6042,437],"class_list":["post-27221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-basketball","category-headlines","tag-big-ten-conference","tag-brandon-paul","tag-illinois-fighting-illini","tag-jared-berggren","tag-john-groce","tag-kohl-center","tag-wisconsin-badgers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27222,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27221\/revisions\/27222"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}