Illinois vs. USC prediction: Illinois favored to win men's college basketball matchup [2/18/2026]

USC and Illinois will meet in men's college basketball action at Galen Center on Wednesday, with tipoff at 10:00 PM ET.

Based on updated simulation results, Dimers' advanced college basketball model predicts Illinois as the most likely winner of the Illinois vs. USC 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. USC prediction: Who will win and cover?

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

Our independent predictive model gives Illinois a 74% chance of defeating USC. Our predicted final score has Illinois winning 80-73.

According to our model, USC (+12.5) has a 64% chance of covering the spread, while the 151.5-point over/under has a 53% chance of going over.

Illinois vs. USC 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. USC picks and best bet

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