The No. 3 Duke Blue Devils (23-3, 15-1 ACC) will face a late-season non-conference test when they square off against the Illinois Fighting Illini (17-10, 9-8 Big Ten) on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. Duke is riding a three-game winning streak and is coming off an 80-62 win at Virginia on Monday, maintaining its one-game lead atop the ACC standings. Illinois is coming off back-to-back losses to top-15 teams, falling into a tie for seventh place in the Big Ten. This is the first meeting between the Blue Devils and Illini since 2020, when Illinois notched an 83-68 win.
Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. ET on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Duke is favored by 9.5 points in the latest Duke vs. Illinois odds, while the over/under is 152.5 points, per SportsLine consensus. Before entering any Illinois vs. Duke picks, you’ll want to see the college basketball predictions from the model at SportsLine.
The model simulates every Division 1 college basketball game 10,000 times. It enters Week 16 of the 2024-25 season on a 213-158 betting roll (+1675) on all top-rated college basketball picks dating back to 2023. Anyone following at sportsbooks and on betting apps could have seen huge returns.
The model has set its sights on Duke-Illinois. You can head to SportsLine to see its picks. Here are several college basketball betting lines for the game:
Duke is tracking towards a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, winning all but one conference game so far this season. The Blue Devils are coming off an 80-62 win at Virginia, as freshman standout Cooper Flagg had a career-high 14 rebounds. Flagg is a National Player of the Year candidate, averaging 19.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.
He is joined in double figures by fellow freshman Kon Knueppel (13.2 ppg) and junior guard Tyrese Proctor (12.0). The Blue Devils will be playing without Syracuse transfer Maliq Brown, who dislocated his left shoulder against Virginia. Duke has covered the spread in four of its last six games, while Illinois has only covered once in its last five games. See which team to pick here.
Illinois has been dealing with a string of injuries and illnesses, which have contributed to seven losses in the last 12 games. The Illini recently had a flu outbreak, limiting sophomore center Tomislav Ivisic to just 21 minutes against Wisconsin on Tuesday. Ivisic will need a big performance on Saturday night, as freshman forward Morez Johnson Jr. is sidelined after breaking his wrist against Michigan State last Saturday.
The Illini still have a pair of elite freshmen in point guard Kasparas Jakucionis and wing Will Riley, who have lottery-pick potential. Riley has scored in double figures in seven straight games off the bench, averaging 15.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists in his last five outings. Illinois has covered the spread in 14 of its last 20 Saturday games. See which team to pick here.
The model has simulated Illinois vs. Duke 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning Under, and it’s also generated a point-spread pick that is hitting in well over 50% of simulations. You can only see the pick at SportsLine.
So who wins Duke vs. Illinois, and which side of the spread hits well over 50% of the time? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Illinois vs. Duke spread you need to jump on, all from the model on an 213-158 roll on top-rated college basketball picks, and find out.
