TOM STRYKER’S FREE BASKETBALL SELECTION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24TH
#876 ILLINOIS (-) over Nebraska at 8 PM EST
After dropping four straight, Illinois (+6) strolled right into Happy Valley on Tuesday night and upset No. 9 Penn State 62-56. With confidence off that impressive victory, the Fighting Illini will have no trouble with the visiting Cornhuskers. Nebraska makes the trek to Champaign on a pitiful 0-11 SU (5-6 ATS) run and the Big Red simply don’t match up well in this contest. Let’s take a look inside the numbers.
In the last five meetings, head coach Brad Underwood’s boys have played well in this series posting a 3-2 SU and 4-1 ATS record. Equally impressive, when going into revenge and matched up against a foe that holds a team won/loss percentage of .375 or less, Illinois sports a reliable 20-8-3 ATS mark including a sensational 13-0 SU and 12-1 ATS in this set provided they played on the road in their last game. There is an electric conference trend that backs this Best Bet too. Since February 3rd, 2016 Big 10 home teams that hit the floor off a SU and ATS win own a remarkable 114-67-4 ATS record provided they are matched up against a conference foe. If our “play on” host is facing an opponent that arrives off two or more straight up losses, this Big 10 angle jets to a stunning 30-9-1 ATS including 23-4 ATS provided their foe played in the comforts of home last. That bodes well for the Fighting Illini.
Nebraska hasn’t exactly been a good road team either. As a guest since the 1990-91 season, the Cornhuskers hold a timid 93-243 SU and 141-177-5 ATS mark including a woeful 62-172 SU and 93-129-4 ATS provided they played in Lincoln in their last contest. With those two parameters live and Nebish holding a team won/loss percentage less than .545, this technical situation drops to a nasty 8-51 SU and 19-38-1 ATS including a pitiful 3-44 SU and 10-36 ATS provided their opponent owns a team won/loss percentage greater than .560. Finally, with a 13-32 SU and 17-26 ATS mark in their last 45 games, the Big Red just aren’t playing good basketball right now.
The Fighting Illini bring the Big 10’s top scoring defense in league play to the court (allow an avg of 63.1 ppg) and they’ll absolutely stuff this punchless Cornhuskers bunch. Take Illinois. Thanks and best of luck, Tom.
TOM’S 22-4 ATS NBA BEST BET OF THE WEEK
Stryker bounced back in a big way with Stanford on Sunday night and he’s headed over to the NBA on Monday armed with one 3* Late Phone play that will find the cash. Two highly profitable angles support this selection and these situations boats elite marks of 22-4 ATS and 53-29 ATS. Grab Tom’s NBA Best Bet of the Week for $25.