Illinois apparently is dealing with some sort of bug as second-leading scorer and leading rebounder Tomislav Ivisic (13.0 PPG, 8.5 RPG) is out with an illness, and Will Riley (11.0 PPG) and Tre White (10.5 PPG, 5.4 APG) are iffy. Polar vortexes tend to do this ... I would play the Terps +7.5 if they weren't winless away, so we'll do this in the hopes those latter two also sit.

Maryland has yet to win a true road game this season. The Terrapins have a great defense but not sure if the offense can keep up with Illinois. The Fighting Illini are off a tough loss to Michigan State return home where they have a +28-point differential, holding their opponents to less than 60 points per game. Despite the road losses the Terrapins have been competitive, but Illinois has a big edge on the glass and have lost three of the last four in this series.

I missed the opener of 7.5 then the line quickly jumped to 9.5. Now it's back down to 7.5 and I think that's a good number to take the Illini. Illinois has lost two of three but it's a bit misleading. Kasparas Jakucionis didn't play against USC then got into early foul trouble at Michigan State where he was on the court for only nine minutes. Maryland isn't the same team away from home. The Terps haven't won a true road game this season and rank 357th in performance away from home on Haslametrics. I haven't had much luck betting home teams this week but it's a good spot to back the Illini at -8 or less.