A Big Ten battle is on tap between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the No. 21 Northwestern Wildcats at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday at State Farm Center. Illinois is 18-9 overall and 13-2 at home, while the Wildcats are 20-7 overall and 6-2 on the road. Northwestern is ranked second in the Big Ten; Illinois is ranked fifth. The Fighting Illini are favored by 5.5 points in the latest Illinois vs. Northwestern odds from Caesars Sportsbook, and the over/under is set at 136. 

Before you make any Northwestern vs. Illinois picks or predictions, you'll want to see what the SportsLine Projection Model is saying.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every Division I college basketball game 10,000 times. The model enters Week 16 of the season 71-42 on all-top rated college basketball picks this season, returning more than $1,700 for $100 players. Anybody who has followed it has seen huge returns.

Now, it has simulated Illinois vs. Northwestern 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning Over, and it's also generated a point-spread pick that is hitting in well over 50% of simulations. You absolutely need to see it before locking in your own picks.

So who wins Illinois vs. Northwestern? And which side of the spread hits well over 50% of the time? Join SportsLine right now to see which side of the spread you need to jump on, all from the computer model that has crushed its college basketball picks.