Minnesota vs. Illinois prediction: Why Illinois is favored to win men's college basketball matchup [1/17/2026]

Men's college basketball action continues on Saturday at 12:00 PM ET as Minnesota squares off with Illinois in men's college basketball action at State Farm Center.

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

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

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

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

Our leading predictive model gives Illinois a 95% chance of defeating Minnesota. Our predicted final score has Illinois winning 83-65.

According to our model, Illinois (-16.5) has a 54% chance of covering the spread, while the over/under total of 142.5 points has a 58% chance of going over.

Minnesota vs. Illinois 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.

Minnesota vs. Illinois picks and best bet

After matching our predictions 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: