Ohio State vs. Illinois Prediction and Odds (Bet Illini to Win With Ease)

Illinois is still jockeying for position atop the Big Ten and will need to hold serve at home against a quality opponent in Ohio State who is looking to rack up a big conference victory on Thursday night.

The Buckeyes escaped with a win in overtime on Monday night against Indiana and will be on a quick turnaround in a difficult road environment. Can they hang around?

Here are the odds from WynnBET Sportsbook:

Ohio State vs. Illinois Odds, Spread and Total

Spread:

• Ohio State: +6 (-110)
• Illinois: -6 (-110)

Moneyline:

• Ohio State: +200
• Illinois: -250

Total: 139.5 (Over -110/Under -110)

Ohio State vs. Illinois Prediction and Pick

The Buckeyes may have ample bodies to throw at Illinois big man Kofi Cockburn, but I'm not counting on the team's leaky defense to hold up against an elite Fighting Illini offense. It's not just Cockburn on the block that gives opposing defense fits, it's the perimeter that features two deadeye shooters in Trent Frazier and Alfonso Plummer.

On the other end, E.J. Liddell is in line for a big game against an Illini defense that doesn't match up well with him, but the Buckeyes are reliant on the 3-point shot and Liddell in the mid-range. Illinois has Cockburn down low to shut down the Ohio State interior attack, and also do a great job funneling shooters off the perimeter, yielding a bottom-10 3-point rate in the country. The home team should be able to get better looks against OSU's defense that is trending towards falling outside the top 100 in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency metric.

This game will have plenty of points between two elite defenses, but I like the Illini to pull away with the more complete offense. I personally will be keying in on Illinois in a moneyline parlay with DePaul.

LEAN: Illinois -6, ML in parlays

All of Reed's college basketball plays can be tracked here, his best bets column for college basketball is 67-64-3 for -0.44 units.