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Md.-E. Shore Hawks @ Illinois Fighting Illini

Current Records: Md.-E. Shore 2-5, Illinois 3-1

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If the oddsmakers' predictions hold true, the near future looks bright for Illinois. They will look to defend their home court on Saturday against the Md.-E. Shore Hawks at 4:00 p.m. ET at State Farm Center. The timing is sure in the Fighting Illini's favor as the team sits on three straight wins at home while the Hawks have been banged up by 20 consecutive losses on the road dating back to last season.

Illinois is headed into Saturday's contest after beating the impressive 168.5-point over/under the oddsmakers set for their last match against Alabama. Illinois fell 100-87 to Alabama on Wednesday. The loss was the Fighting Illini's first of the season.

Will Riley put forth a good effort for the losing side as he almost dropped a double-double on 18 points and nine rebounds. His performance made up for a slower game against Oakland last Wednesday. Tomislav Ivisic was another key player, dropping a double-double on 14 points and ten rebounds.

Even though they lost, Illinois smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 11 offensive rebounds in seven consecutive matchups dating back to last season.

Meanwhile, Md.-E. Shore ended up a good deal behind Murray State on Wednesday and lost 79-61. The match marked the Hawks' lowest-scoring contest so far this season.

Md.-E. Shore's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Evan Johnson, who went 8 for 12 en route to 23 points, and Ketron Shaw, who scored 24 points plus seven rebounds. That was a full 39.3% of Md.-E. Shore's points, marking the third time in a row he's had more than a third of the team's points.

Having lost for the first time this season, Illinois fell to 3-1. As for Md.-E. Shore, their loss dropped their record down to 2-5.

Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the two teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Illinois hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 88.8 points per game. However, it's not like Md.-E. Shore struggles in that department as they've been averaging 79.7. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.

The oddsmakers were right in line with the betting community on this one, as the game opened as a 33.5-point spread, and stayed right there.


The over/under is 154.5 points.

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