Illinois Fighting Illini vs Duke Blue Devils Prediction, 12/8/2020 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Illinois Fighting Illini vs Duke Blue Devils

Date: Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Location: Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, NC

TV: ESPN

Odds/Point Spread: Illinois (+5)

The Duke Blue Devils (2-1) play the Illinois Fighting Illini (3-1) at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Tuesday. Illinois opens this matchup as 5-point dogs. The O/U opens at 146.

Illinois comes into this matchup with a mark of 3-1 on the campaign. They are turning it over 15.3 times per contest and as a squad they commit 16.5 fouls per contest. As a team, Illinois is snagging 49.3 rebounds per game and has totaled 77 dimes this season, which has them ranked 21st in college basketball in terms of passing. The Fighting Illini are hitting 45.1% on 3-pointers (37 of 82) and 68.2% from the charity stripe. They have an average of 91.3 pts per game (23rd in the nation) while going 53.2% from the field. When they are on defense, the Fighting Illini have forced 10.5 turnovers per contest and they draw 19.3 fouls. They are currently ranked 179th in D-1 in giving up assists to the opposition with 46 relinquished on the campaign. The Fighting Illini defense is giving up a FG percentage of 39.4% (98 of 249) and they concede 22.8 boards per game as a team. They are relinquishing 31.3% from beyond the arc and they are ranked 80th in college basketball in opponents points per game (63.8).

The Illinois Fighting Illini faced off with the Baylor Bears and ended up losing by a score of 82-69 in their last game. Illinois finished having earned a 44.1% FG percentage (26 out of 59) and buried 7 out of their 18 three-point shots. At the charity stripe, the Fighting Illini buried 10 of their 16 tries for a percentage of 62.5%. When talking about hauling in rebounds, they compiled 33 with 9 of them being of the offensive variety. They also doled out 16 assists for the game while earning 3 steals and 4 blocked shots. When talking about defending, Illinois allowed 44.1% from the floor on 26 out of 59. Baylor distributed 14 assists and 7 steals in this contest. Furthurmore, the Bears collected 37 boards (16 offensive, 21 defensive) and got 4 blocks. Baylor went 62.5% when shooting free throws by making 15 of their 24 tries. They also knocked down 7 of their 18 attempts from long range.

Ayo Dosunmu is a guy who was a contributor in this matchup. He left the arena with 18 points on 6 out of 18 shooting. He was on the court for 38 minutes and pulled down 6 rebounds. Dosunmu finished shooting 33.3% from the floor and totaled 5 dimes. Another guy that saw a lot of minutes in this game for the Fighting Illini was Trent Frazier. He pulled down 5 boards and accounted for 3 dimes. He finished shooting 50.0% from the floor in the matchup by hitting 3-of-6 (8 points). When the final whistle was blown, Frazier was on the court for 32 minutes.

Duke has a mark of 2-1 for the year. The Blue Devils commit 19.3 fouls per contest and they connect on 68.8% from the charity stripe. They are assisting teammates 16.3 times per contest (78th in college hoops) and they turn it over 17.3 times per game. Duke has accounted for 226 points so far this season (75.3 per game) and they grab 42.7 rebounds per contest. When it comes to offensive execution, the Blue Devils are shooting 45.6% from the floor, which ranks them 180th in the country. The Blue Devils on the defensive end are ranked 111th in college hoops in points per game surrendered with 66.7. They are forcing their opponents into 14.3 turnovers on a nightly basis and allow teams to shoot 39.2% from the floor (85th in the country). The Duke defense allows 28.1% on shots from behind the 3-point line (18 of 64) and opponents are converting on 62.1% of their foul shots. They relinquish 9.7 assists and 34.7 rebounds on a nightly basis, ranking them 46th and 121st in college hoops.

In their last game, the Duke Blue Devils got the victory with a final of 76-54 when they faced the Bellarmine Knights. The Blue Devils pulled down 27 defensive boards and 9 offensive rebounds for a total of 36 in the game. They turned away 8 shots while getting 12 steals for the game. The Knights were called for 12 personal fouls in the game which got the Blue Devils to the charity stripe for 8 attempts. They were able to convert 5 of those for a percentage of 62.5%. In terms of shots from 3-point land, Duke made 13 of 26 attempts (50.0%). At the conclusion of this game, the Blue Devils went 29 for 56 from the floor which had them shooting 51.8%. The Blue Devils permitted the Knights to bury 23 of 53 tries from the floor which left them shooting 43.4% in the matchup. They finished the game shooting 33.3% from distance by going 3 out of 9 and finished the contest at 5 of 12 from the charity stripe (41.7%). In regard to how they cleaned up the glass, Duke allowed Bellarmine to snag 25 in total (6 on the offensive side).

Matthew Hurt ended up having an impact for the Blue Devils in the matchup. He converted 9 of 12 for this contest giving him a field goal percentage of 75.0%, which gave him 24 points. Hurt snagged 6 boards in his 32 minutes played and had 2 dimes for the matchup. One more player who was a determining factor for Duke was Jordan Goldwire. He scored 7 points in 32 minutes on the hardwood via 2 out of 4 from the floor in this matchup. Goldwire walked away from this one going 50.0% from the field as well as contributing 6 assists and 5 total rebounds.

Who will win tonight's college basketball game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Illinois (+5)

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