Northern Illinois vs. Buffalo prediction: Buffalo favored to win men's college basketball matchup [2/17/2026]

Buffalo will square off with Northern Illinois in men's college basketball action at Alumni Arena on Tuesday, starting at 6:30 PM ET.

Based on updated simulation results, Dimers' advanced college basketball model predicts Buffalo as the most likely winner of the Northern Illinois vs. Buffalo game.

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

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

Using powerful machine learning and data, we have simulated the outcome of Tuesday's NCAA basketball matchup between Northern Illinois and Buffalo 10,000 times as part of our men's college basketball predictions coverage.

Our independent predictive model currently gives Buffalo a 78% chance of beating Northern Illinois. Our predicted final score has Buffalo winning 78-69.

According to our model, Northern Illinois (+8.5) has a 51% chance of covering the spread, while the 147.5-point over/under has a 52% chance of going over.

Northern Illinois vs. Buffalo 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.

Northern Illinois vs. Buffalo 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: