Drexel at Illinois NCAA Tournament First Round odds, picks and prediction
An opening-round NCAA Tournament matchup will see the 16th-seeded Drexel Dragons (12-7) take the court as 22.5-point underdogs against the No. 1 seed Illinois Fighting Illini (23-6) on Friday at Indiana Farmers Coliseum. The contest begins at 1:15 PM ET on TBS. Here's what you need to know when filling out your brackets for this 1-16 matchup.
In their last game, the Fighting Illini picked up a 91-88 win over Ohio State but did not cover the 6.5-point spread they were favored by. The teams hit the over on the 148 point total set by oddsmakers. Andre Curbelo scored a team-high 16 points in the victory on Sunday.
Mate Okros led the way for the Dragons with a team-high 14 points last time out as they picked up a 63-56 win over Elon and covered the 3.5-point spread as favorites. The teams combined to go under the 130.5 point total set for the matchup.
Drexel at Illinois: Betting odds, spread and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access Paste BN Sports' betting odds for a full list.
Lines last updated at 12:00 PM ET on March 19, 2021.
- Money line: Drexel +1400 (bet $100 to win $1400) | Illinois -3000 (bet $3000 to win $100)
- Against the spread/ATS: Drexel +22.5 (-110) | Illinois -22.5 (-110)
- Over/Under: 144.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)
Illinois: Three things to know
- Ayo Dosunmu leads the Fighting Illini in scoring (20.7 points per game) and assisting (5.3 assists per game). Trent Frazier is the top three-point shooter for the team, knocking down 1.9 per game.
- The Fighting Illini put up 14.6 more points per game (81.4) than the Dragons give up (66.8).
- Illinois is 22-5 overall and 18-0 against the spread when scoring more than 66.8 points.
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Drexel: Three things to know
- Camren Wynter leads the Dragons in points and assists. He contributes 16.8 points per game while tacking on 5.3 assists. Okros averages 1.9 made threes per game to lead the team.
- The Dragons put up an average of 71.5 points per game, only 2.3 more points than the 69.2 the Fighting Illini allow.
- Drexel has compiled a 9-2 overall record and a 10-0 ATS record in games where it scores more than 69.2 points.
Drexel at Illinois: Odds, betting lines, predictions and picks
Prediction
Illinois 81, Drexel 63
Money line
The Illinois Fighting Illini are favored to win this game according to both BetMGM's money line and the model.
Against the spread (ATS)
The model favors the Fighting Illini by 18.2 points, a much smaller margin than the 22.5-point spread set by MGM. Take the Dragons to cover.
Over/Under (O/U)
The MGM total for this game, 144.5 points, and the model's projected total, 144.5 points, are only 0.0 points apart.
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