SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2010 – FREE NCAA PICK
Illinois Fighting Illini (17-9) vs. #4 Purdue Boilermakers (22-3)
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The No. 4 Purdue Boilermakers will host the Illinois Fighting Illini in a Big Ten match up on Saturday at Mackey Arena, in West Lafayette, Indiana.
In the previous meeting this season, Purdue beat Illinois by a score of 84-78 on Jan 19. The Boilermakers are 12-1 at Mackey Arena this season.
The Boilermakers extended their unbeaten streak to eight with a huge win over rival No. 9 Ohio State, 60-57 on Wednesday night. The victory was the Boilermakers’ fourth against Top-10 teams this season, while handing Ohio State its first home loss after winning its first 15 games. Junior forward JaJuan Johnson scored 24 points in the win. Johnson is averaging 21.3 points and 8.3 rebounds in his last four appearances. It’s difficult to find fault with Purdue during its eight-game winning streak. However, they have allowed for teams to come roaring back in the second half when having as many as 14-point leads at the half.
On the other hand, Illinois fell to No. 9 Ohio State 72-53 on Sunday, snapping the Illini’s five-game win streak. Demetri McCamey led Illinois with nine points—nearly seven short of his average, in the loss. Illinois struggled with Ohio State’s zone defense, hitting just 34.3 percent of their shots. McCamey continues to be his team’s dominant offensive force. In Big Ten play, McCamey averages 16.6 points and 7.5 assists per game. He has been responsible for staggering 440 of Illinois’ 877 points — 50.2 percent. Illinois was the Big Ten’s toughest defense holding their first 12 conference opponents to 38.8 percent shooting coming into their match up against Ohio. After the loss they have dropped to 39.7 percent — just behind Purdue, which holds foes to 39.5 percent.
The odds makers have Purdue as –11-point favorites in this one.
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There is still a legitimate race for the Big 10 conference title with Purdue just one game back of
Conference leader Michigan State, and an Illinois win would leapfrog them into a three-way tie with the Boilermakers and Buckeyes for second.
This won’t be an easy win for the Boilermakers, but they should edge out a narrow margin victory at home as they continue to build their case for a No. 1 NCAA tournament seeding.
- Illinois is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games
- Illinois is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games
- Illinois is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games on the road
- Illinois is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games on the road
- Purdue is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games
- Purdue is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Purdue’s last 7 games
- Purdue is 19-1 SU in its last 20 games at home
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