Surging Illinois Perfect in Big Ten
Struggling Michigan Looks to Derail No. 25 Illini
Illinois has won the last three meetings against Michigan and will look to make it four in a row over the visiting Wolverines while playing in a sold-out State Farm Arena.
Illinois is second only to Purdue in the Big Ten in scoring margin, and since a loss to Arizona, the Fighting Illini have won five straight games by an average of 25.6 points. That is something for those who bet online to consider

The 25th-ranked Fighting Illini are 7-1 at home while Michigan is just 1-3 on the road.
Michigan (+800) had the best odds to win March Madness among Big Ten teams coming into the season and the Wolverines were second behind only Purdue in the odds to win the Big Ten title. It is fair to say Michigan has a lot of work to do to live up to the hype.
- Game: Michigan (7-6) at Illinois (10-1)
- Location: State Farm Center, Champaign, Illinois
- Day/Time: Friday, 9 p.m. ET
- Television: TBS.com
Michigan Wolverines at Illinois Fighting Illini
Challenging Return to Court for Visitors
This was supposed to be one of the most challenging stretches of the season for the Michigan Wolverines with games against Michigan State, Purdue and Illinois, who are all ranked in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll.
It certainly has been challenging but not in the way the Wolverines had planned. A COVID-19 outbreak left Michigan without enough available players, so the contests against No. 10 Michigan State and No. 3 Purdue were postponed.
Things were looking up in the health department.
“A couple of players have returned to practice, which was good to see,” Michigan coach Juwan Howard told the media on Thursday. “Also had some guys come out of quarantine.”
Michigan’s lone game in January was a disappointing 75-67 loss at Rutgers. It has been a season of disappointing results as Michigan, which entered the season ranked sixth in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, is just 7-6 overall and 1-2 in Big Ten play.
Michigan was ranked as high as fourth before losing to Seton Hall and has failed to cover against the college basketball odds eight times in the first 13 games.
It wasn’t supposed to play out like this for Michigan considering that the Wolverines came two points short of reaching the Final Four a season ago. The loss of five of the Wolverines’ top seven scorers was supposed to be softened by the addition of highly touted freshmen Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate.
While the two freshmen are averaging 9.5 and 8.7 points, respectively, returning starters Hunter Dickinson and Eli Brooks are combining for 29 points per game, Michigan has already suffered more losses through 13 games than it did in 28 games during the 2020-21 campaign.
Cockburn Getting Plenty of Help for Illinois
It hasn’t always been easy, but Illinois has won its first five Big Ten games of the season for the first time since 2005, when the Fighting Illini opened with 15 straight conference wins. The nine-game Big Ten winning streak is the longest since winning a program-record 25 straight from Jan. 31, 2004-March 3, 2005.
There are a lot of reasons for the success that the Fighting Illini are currently enjoying. However, one key aspect of the season is that Illinois had to start the year without national player of the year candidate Kofi Cockburn as the NCAA was checking his eligibility after he tested the NBA Draft waters.
Cockburn has returned with a vengeance after missing three games as the 7-foot junior is averaging 22 points and 12.5 rebounds. He is second among NCAA Division I men’s players with six games of at least 20 points and 10 rebounds. He has 10 double-doubles in 12 games, including eight in a row.
However, it is far from being a one-player team. Ten different Fighting Illini players have started at least one game and three other players average more than 10 points per game.
Alfonso Plummer, one of four Illinois players to appear in all 15 games, overcame a slow start to post seven 20-point games. Trent Frazier and Jacob Grandison contribute 12.8 and 12.1 points per game. Plummer, Frazier and Grandison have 45, 33 and 31 three-pointers, respectively, to give the Fighting Illini perimeter threats that opens up more space for Cockburn to dominate inside.
Illinois has not only won four of its last five home games but covered against the Las Vegas odds in each of the four wins.
Illinois Continue to Dial Long Distance
Illinois is second in the Big Ten with 147 three-pointers while Michigan has made a conference-ow 87 three-pointers. Illinois had a stretch of six consecutive games with double-digit three-pointers made but has averaged just seven treys over the last three games.
The Fighting Illini lead the Big Ten in rebounds, offensive rebounds and rebounding margin.
Something to consider for those who bet online: Nine of the last 11 games for Illinois have gone over the total while five of the last Michigan games have gone over the total. This game seems to be trending that way.
Michigan is 13-6-1 against the spread in its last 20 games against Illinois. The 10-point spread would be an eye-opening number before the season started, but with how much Michigan has struggled and with the last two games postponed, that number is understandable.
The last time a Michigan-Illinois had a bigger point spread came in 2018, with Michigan winning by 10 as a 10-point favorite.
The Wolverines aren’t exactly lighting the world on fire right now but 10 points seems like a pretty big number even with Michigan dealing with a COVID-19-forced disruption to its recent slate of games.