For the third consecutive season, the Illinois State Redbirds and Northern Iowa Panthers will play to open their Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and Arch Madness. This time they meet on Thursday in St. Louis. The Panthers (13-17, 9-11 MVC) won both of those meetings and are 6-6 against Illinois State in St. Louis. The Redbirds (11-20, 6-14), who have lost 10 of their last 13 games, last beat Northern Iowa 76-70 on Dec. 31, 2019. Both teams will be looking to become just the second in Arch Madness history to make the tournament championship game after playing on Thursday, joining Valparaiso in 2020. No team has won four tournament games to clinch the title.

The game from the Enterprise Center will tip off at 1 p.m. ET. The Panthers are 4-point favorites, according to the latest Illinois State vs. Northern Iowa odds from Caesars Sportsbook, while the over/under for total points scored is set at 134.5 (see up-to-date odds for every game this week on our college basketball odds page).

Before making any Illinois State vs. Northern Iowa picks, you NEED to check out the college basketball predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every Division I college basketball game 10,000 times. The model enters Week 17 of the season 76-46 on all-top rated college basketball picks this season, returning more than $1,600 for $100 players. Anybody who has followed it has seen HUGE returns!

The model knows sophomore guard Bowen Born leads the Panthers, averaging 17.2 points, 2.6 assists and 2.3 rebounds per game. He is connecting on 41.3% of his field goals, including 36.4% from 3-point range, and a blistering 83% from the foul line. In two games against the Redbirds, Born is averaging 18 points and 2.5 rebounds and assists per game. He has reached 30 points twice this season, the last coming Feb. 1 in an 88-81 double-overtime loss at Drake.

The model also knows junior guard Darius Burford has been red hot of late, and has reached double-digit scoring in each of the last eight games. He scored a season-high-tying 23 points and grabbed five rebounds in an 80-64 loss at Indiana State on Feb. 18. He has scored 10 points or more in 22 games, including 20 or more points five times. For the year, he is averaging 12.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. He is connecting on 48.9% of his field goals and 81.9% of his free throws.

Now, it has set its sights on Illinois State vs. Northern Iowa. It is leaning Over on the total and it also says one side of the spread hits in well over 50% of simulations! You ABSOLUTELY need to see it before locking in any college basketball picks.

Who wins Illinois State vs. Northern Iowa? And which side of the spread hits well over 50% of the time? ... Join SportsLine right now to find out which side of the Illinois State vs. Northern Iowa spread you should be all over Thursday, all from the model on a roll on college basketball picks!