{"id":32698,"date":"2014-01-22T22:00:05","date_gmt":"2014-01-23T03:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=32698"},"modified":"2014-01-22T21:53:16","modified_gmt":"2014-01-23T02:53:16","slug":"college-basketball-predictions-illinois-fighting-illini-vs-ohio-state-buckeyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/college-basketball-predictions-illinois-fighting-illini-vs-ohio-state-buckeyes-32698\/","title":{"rendered":"College Basketball Predictions: Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Ohio State Buckeyes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Ohio State Buckeyes
\nThursday, 1\/23\/14, 7:00 PM EST
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Ohio State -10.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Ohio State -10
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 N\/A
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 N\/A
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Ohio State Buckeyes have lost four games in a row<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Illinois is 0-4 SUATS over its last four games, as it looks to bounce back from a 78-62 setback to the Michigan State Spartans as four-point home underdogs last Saturday, while going OVER the betting total of 131.5.\u00a0 The Fighting Illini are 5-10 SU overall against ranked opponents under head coach John Groce, including a 1-3 mark during the 2013-14 campaign, which is important to consider when making your college basketball predictions Thursday night.\u00a0 Illinois is 1-3 SUATS as road underdogs of 9.5 to 12 points the last two-plus seasons, with the OVER going 3-1 in that situation.<\/p>\n

The Fighting Illini have three probable starters averaging in double figures, with junior guard Rayvonte Rice leading the way at 17.4 points a contest.\u00a0 Illinois has dropped five consecutive Big Ten Conference road games dating back to last season, which can\u2019t be ignored when looking over the college basketball odds page.\u00a0 The program is also a dismal 2-10 SU all-time when playing at Value City Arena\u2014earning wins in 2004 and 2009.<\/p>\n

Ohio State has also dropped its last four games, including a 68-62 defeat to the Nebraska Cornhuskers as eight-point road favorites Monday, while going UNDER the betting total for a second consecutive contest.\u00a0 The Buckeyes are 55-21 SU following a loss under head coach Thad Matta, but have dropped all three games in that situation this season.\u00a0 It\u2019s important to point out that the squad is 9-2 SU against Illinois as a ranked team under Matta, including a perfect 5-0 mark at home.\u00a0 Ohio State is 3-0 SU and 2-1 ATS as home favorites of 9.5 to 12 points the last two-plus seasons.<\/p>\n

The Buckeyes are trying to avoid their first five-game slide since losing 17 in a row from 1997-98, as they\u2019ve allowed an average of 71.8 points over the course of their losing streak.\u00a0 Ohio State will need a big game from senior point guard Aaron Craft to cover this type of number, as he enters with 109 career wins.<\/p>\n

Sports bettors will likely back the Buckeyes due to the home team being 5-0 ATS in the last five 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":"

Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Ohio State Buckeyes Thursday, 1\/23\/14, 7:00 PM EST Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Ohio State -10.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Ohio State -10 Opening Total:\u00a0 N\/A Current Total:\u00a0 N\/A Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Illinois is 0-4 SUATS over its last four games, as it looks to bounce back from a 78-62 setback to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":25983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1444],"tags":[7134,697,7234,463,4004,5742],"class_list":["post-32698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-basketball","category-headlines","tag-aaron-craft","tag-illinois-fighting-illini","tag-john-groce","tag-ohio-state-buckeyes","tag-thad-matta","tag-value-city-arena"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32698","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=32698"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32700,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32698\/revisions\/32700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}