Iowa vs Illinois Prediction, Picks & Odds for Saturday’s March Madness Game

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The last Cinderella alive in the NCAA Tournament, the Iowa Hawkeyes face a stiff but familiar foe in the Elite Eight. They lost to the Illinois Fighting Illini in January, and the Illini look far better these days.

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My Iowa vs. Illinois predictions and these March Madness picks expect a painfully slow game early, though the stakes of the moment could lead to some entertainment late on Saturday, March 28.

Iowa vs Illinois prediction

Iowa vs Illinois best bet: Under 64.5 — 1H (-115)

The Iowa Hawkeyes are the fifth-slowest team in the country. The Illinois Fighting Illini rank in the bottom quarter. No wonder this game’s total is 138.5.

The tournament stakes could make for a wonky second half, but expect Hawkeyes head coach Ben McCollum to feel out Illinois in the first half, particularly given how well the Illini defense played against Houston in the Sweet Sixteen.

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Furthermore, the two-day turnaround for this game should further emphasize a slow start. These college students have recovered physically, but the coaches may still want to lessen early mental mistakes simply by bringing the first half to a crawl.

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COVERS INTEL:

Houston plays nearly as slowly as Iowa, No. 353 in the country compared to No. 361 in pace. Illinois’s Sweet Sixteen win against the Cougars featured just 58 possessions, the second-lowest number of the Illini season.

Iowa vs Illinois same-game parlay

Part of why Iowa so often slows down games is that it lessens the impact of the Hawkeyes’ talent disadvantage. They are not the most physically-gifted team in even their own state, let alone in the Big Ten or the NCAA Tournament.

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That thought applies even more when a three-bucket underdog has the Final Four on the line. Slowing down the game will lead to fewer possessions, which will then give Iowa a better chance of covering this spread.

No matter how few the possessions are,…

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Publish date : 2026-03-27 19:53:00

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