The Michigan Wolverines are playing the Illinois Fighting Illini in the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday. The game is scheduled for a 12:28 p.m. start time and it will be televised live on the Big Ten Network. The college basketball odds for the game have the Wolverines favored to pick up the win.

College Basketball Odds
Michigan -6.5

Michigan is playing some quality basketball right now. Outside of a five-point overtime loss at Minnesota and a two-point miracle defeat at Northwestern, Michigan has won six games and looked good in each of them. The Wolverines could have finished with a higher seed in the tournament had they won those other two contests, but they are where they are and a victory here would set them up for a showdown with top-seeded Purdue on Friday.

Illinois basically torched its chances at an NCAA Tournament appearance when they lost at Rutgers on Saturday. Surely, if they are able to beat both Michigan and Purdue they’d have an argument but in reality all they had to do was win Saturday to get in.

Now they have work to do. It won’t be easy to shut down a good shooting team like Michigan, especially if threes are going in early. In the team’s win Sunday night, Michigan connected for 63 percent of its shots and hit 14 triples in the win. The Wolverines appear to be playing their best basketball of the season right now and that’s big for them heading into this one.

Free Pick: Michigan

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