The Xavier Musketeers survived a First Four matchup against Texas on Wednesday and now they'll advance to take on the Illinois Fighting Illini on Friday in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Illinois is the No. 6 seed in the Midwest Region after a 21-12 season while Xavier is a No. 11 seed and is 22-11 overall.

Tip-off from Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisc., is set for 9:45 p.m. ET. The Fighting Illini are 3.5-point favorites in the latest Xavier vs. Illinois odds via SportsLine consensus, while the over/under for total points is 160.5.

Before making any Xavier vs. Illinois picks, check out the college basketball predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.

The model simulates every Division 1 college basketball game 10,000 times. It enters the 2025 NCAA Tournament on a 228-166 roll (+2025) on all top-rated college basketball picks dating back to 2023. This model has also produced brackets that have beaten over 91% of CBS Sports entries in four of the last six tournaments and nailed 24 first-round upsets by double-digit seeds! Anyone following could have seen HUGE returns!

The model has simulated Xavier vs. Illinois 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning Under, and it also says one side of the spread cashes in over 50% of simulations!

So who wins Xavier vs. Illinois, and which side of the spread cashes in over 50% of simulations? Join SportsLine right now to see which side of the spread you need to jump on, all from the computer model that is 228-166 (+2025) on top-rated college basketball pick and has nailed 24 double-digit upsets!