Nebraska vs. Illinois prediction and odds for Tuesday, January 31 (Value on total)

Illinois and Nebraska meet for the second time this season in Champaign, Illinois on Saturday after the Fighting Illini won 61-51 on the road against Wisconsin over the weekend.

The Cornhuskers are in the midst of a three game skid and have been on the losing end of five of six, including a 26-point loss to Illinois at home on January 10th. Can the team stay competitive on the road, or will the teams lingering injury concerns lead to another blowout.

Here are the odds for Tuesday’s Big Ten matchup:

Nebraska vs. Illinois odds, spread and total

Nebraska vs. Illinois prediction and pick

Nebraska is mired by injuries, namely to forward Juwan Gary and Emmanuel Bandoumel, who are both out for the year, which limits the already thin rotation for the Cornhuskers. Since, Gary went down on January 10th against Illinois, the offense has fallen off of a cliff, averaging 61 points per game and breaking 65 points just once.

They now face a top 20 defense in Illinois, who has put the clamps down on that side of the ball, holding Big Ten opponents to a conference low 47% effective field goal percentage. On the other side of the ball, the Illini are struggling to find their perimeter shot, shooting below 31% from beyond the arc in Big Ten games.

This total closed at 139.5 when these two teams first met in Lincoln, and it’s now five points lower after that game finished with 126 points. However, this drop isn’t enough given that Nebraska’s offense is a shell of itself without a pair of key contributors in the lineup.