UMass vs. Northern Illinois prediction: Massachusetts favored to win men's college basketball matchup [1/17/2026]

Men's college basketball action continues on Saturday at 3:00 PM ET as the favored UMass squares off with Northern Illinois in men's college basketball action at NIU Convocation Center.

Based on the latest simulation results, Dimers' proven college basketball model projects Massachusetts as the most likely winner of the UMass vs. Northern Illinois game.

This article offers an expanded analysis of Saturday's matchup, including an expanded look at the predicted score, best bets and picks.

UMass vs. Northern Illinois prediction: Who will win and cover?

Using powerful machine learning and data, we have simulated the result of Saturday's NCAA basketball game between UMass and Northern Illinois 10,000 times as part of our men's college basketball predictions coverage.

Our independent predictive model gives Massachusetts a 79% chance of beating Northern Illinois. Our predicted final score has Massachusetts winning 83-74.

According to our model, Massachusetts (-8.5) has a 51% chance of covering the spread, while the over/under total of 156.5 points has a 52% chance of going over.

UMass vs. Northern Illinois odds

We have sourced 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.

UMass vs. Northern Illinois 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: