Iowa-Illinois men’s basketball glance: Time/TV/spread/game info (Feb. 25, 2025)

What: Iowa (15-12 overall, 6-10 Big Ten) at Illinois (17-11, 9-8)

When/where: Tuesday, 8 p.m.,, State Farm Center, Champaign, Ill.

TV: FS1 (Brandon Gaudin, Robbie Hummel)

Livestream: Fox Sports Live

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network affiliates

Series: Illinois leads, 92-77

NCAA NET rankings: Illinois 23rd, Iowa 65th

Line: Illinois by 10.5

Records against the spread: Iowa 10-16-1, Illinois 12-15-1

Iowa’s next game: At Northwestern Friday at 8 p.m.

What to know: Iowa is coming off an 85-79 home win over Washington Saturday. Iowa’s Payton Sandfort had his second-straight game of at least 25 points.

Other players have picked up some of the slack in the absence of starting center Owen Freeman (finger surgery). Ladji Dembele has averaged 7.3 rebounds in the last three games, his top three rebounding games in Big Ten play this season. Junior Riley Mulvey played a career-high 15 minutes against Washington and scored nine points, his high in a conference game.

The Hawkeyes need one more win in their last four regular-season games or two wins in the Big Ten tourney to assure they don’t have their first losing season since 2017-18.

Illinois, an NCAA Elite Eight team last year, has problems. It has been plagued by injuries and viruses lately.

“It had not been for a bout with sickness,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said Monday, “they’d already be at 20 wins.”

The flu and viruses have been so bad that Illini Coach Brad Underwood didn’t shake hands with Wisconsin’s coaches and players after losing to the Badgers 95-74 on Feb. 18 for fear of transmitting illness.

The Illini were ranked as 13th in the nation the week of Jan. 6 and were ranked for seven weeks. They have lost three straight games, and by an average of 26 points. Their defeat Saturday was a doozy.

Duke routed Illinois 110-67 at New York’s Madison Square Garden. It was the most-lopsided loss in the 120-year history of Illini men’s basketball.

The Blue Devils were 12-of-23 from 3-point distance while the Illini were 2-of-26. In Big Ten games, Illinois is last in the league in 3-point shooting at 29.1 percent. It has taken 498 threes in league play to its opponents’ 320.

“Maybe we’re not tough enough to shoot ’em and make ’em,” Underwood said. “We’re tough enough to shoot ’em. I just don’t know if we’re tough enough to make ’em.

Iowa, meanwhile, ranks last in the 3-point percentage defense in Big Ten games, with opponents making 39.7 percent.

Illinois is a very good rebounding team, averaging 7.8 more per game than its Big Ten foes. It has, however, turned the ball over 63 more times than its opposition in conference play.

The Illini’s leading scorer is 6-foot-6 freshman forward Kasparas Jakucionis, who averages 15.5 points. He is from Lithuania, and played for FC Barcelona last season. Last week, ESPN.com projected Jakucionis as the No. 5 pick in this year’s NBA draft.

Illinois has four home losses. Iowa has one road win.