UNLV vs Illinois | Prediction & Pick

Rebels and Illini play out a nightmare on Kruger Street

Twenty years ago, the UNLV basketball team was supposedly on its way to making history, the Illinois Fighting Illini were not in the NCAA Tournament, and Lon Kruger was coaching at Florida. On Friday, the Rebels and Illini will meet in a second round game in the Southwest Region in Tulsa with a lot of connective tissue between them.

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#9 Illinois (19-13, 9-9 Big Ten) vs. #8 UNLV (24-8, 11-5 Mountain West)

Date/Time: Friday, March 18, 9:20 PM ET
Venue: Bank of Oklahoma Center in Tulsa, OK.
Broadcast: TBS

Money Line: Illinois +115, UNLV -135
Spread: UNLV -2
Over/Under: 132

Kruger is currently the coach at UNLV, but he once guided Illinois from 1996 through 2000. He is now in his seventh season on the bench in Vegas, and has led UNLV to the tournament for the second straight year and the fourth time in five years.

Of course, when you talk UNLV and NCAA Tournament history, the conversation eventually comes back to the Running Rebels teams coached by Jerry Tarkanian of the early 1990’s. UNLV won the national championship in 1990, defeating Duke in the largest margin of victory ever in a national championship game. The following year, UNLV was undefeated when Duke gained their revenge with a Final Four upset triumph.

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Illinois has had some recent success in the NCAA Tournament. Bruce Weber is in his eighth season in Champaign, and has guided Illinois to the tournament six times in that span. In 2005, they made it all the way to the national championship game, but haven’t won a tournament game since 2006.

The current UNLV squad is known more for their defense these days. The Rebels (they don’t prefer the ‘Running Rebels’ moniker anymore) finished in the top 40 in the nation in scoring defense and lowest field goal percentage. They defeated Wisconsin and Kansas State out-of-conference.

UNLV’s leading scorer this season was Tre’Von Willis at 13.5 points per game. Chace Stanback averaged 13.0 points per contest while also grabbing six rebounds per game.

Illinois may have played at just .500 in league play, but they did play as tough a schedule as any team in the country. This included wins over North Carolina, Gonzaga, Northern Colorado, and Oakland all out-of-conference, and they lost in overtime to Texas. Demetri McCamey (14.8 PPG), Mike Davis (12.0 PPG), and Mike Tisdale (10.1 PPG), all averaged double figures in scoring for Illinois.

The odds makers have the UNLV Rebels as a -2 point favorite with an over/under of 132.

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Predictions: This will be a fun game to watch between two teams that could either be one-and-done or do serious damage in their bracket. Illinois has played tougher competition all season long, and for that reason we’ll give a slight edge to them.

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UNLV Rebels Betting Trends:

• UNLV is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games
• The total has gone OVER in 4 of UNLV’s last 5 games