There are several factors that we like about the under in this matchup tonight. This game will be played on a neutral site in Madison Square Garden. Both teams had to travel, and neither is overly familiar with this court. Illinois has a top 10 ranked defense in the nation. They are holding their opponents to 36% from inside the three point line, which ranks them 1st nationally in this metric. Illinois also ranks 1st in the nation in opposing effective field goal percentage. The Illinois offense, however, ranks outside of the top 50. FAU also has a strong defense, ranking inside the top 50 in defensive efficiency. FAU does a good job of holding their opponents to long possessions on defense. All of these factors create a lot of paths for this game to go under the 147 total. Our wager is a half unit.

We are keeping a close eye on the Wisconsin Badgers. This will be a big test for this team tonight, as they are heading into a tough road environment against Michigan State. Wisconsin had two early losses against Tennessee and Providence, but have gone 5-0 since those losses. The Badgers beat Virginia and Marquette by double digits. Wisconsin currently ranks inside the top 25 in both adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency. The strength of Michigan State last season was their ability to win games from beyond the arc. However, this season, Michigan State is shooting just 26% from three point range. They rank outside of the top 60 in offensive efficiency. Tom Izzo’s team is fantastic defensively per usual, but Wisconsin looks to have the more fluent offense at this stage of the season. We will take the +5.5 with the Badgers. Our stake is a half unit.