Illinois vs. Northwestern prediction: Illinois favored to win men's college basketball matchup [1/14/2026]

Northwestern and Illinois are scheduled to meet in men's college basketball action at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Wednesday, with tipoff at 8:30 PM ET.

Based on updated simulations, Dimers' proven college basketball model predicts Illinois as the most likely winner of the Illinois vs. Northwestern game.

This article offers a closer look at Wednesday's matchup, including an expanded look at the predicted score, best bets and picks.

Illinois vs. Northwestern prediction: Who will win and cover?

Using powerful machine learning and statistical analysis, we have simulated the outcome of Wednesday's NCAA basketball game between Illinois and Northwestern 10,000 times as part of our men's college basketball predictions coverage.

Our leading predictive model currently gives Illinois a 77% chance of beating Northwestern. Our predicted final score has Illinois winning 79-71.

According to our model, Northwestern (+8.5) has a 55% chance of covering the spread, while the 152.5-point over/under has a 53% chance of staying under.

Illinois vs. Northwestern odds

We have researched the best men's college basketball odds in America for this game, which are listed here:

All odds are correct at the time of publication and are subject to change.

Illinois vs. Northwestern picks and best bet

After matching our probabilities against the best available odds, we can reveal our picks for each of the major markets. Plus, find our best bet for the game below: