Illinois St Redbirds

The Redbirds covered 10 of their first 14 lined games in 2025-26 and 6 of the 17 after New Year’s Day. Illinois State was 13-2 at home and 5-7 on the road.

The turn at New Year

Illinois State went 20-12, but it was two seasons. Through 1 January the Redbirds were 12-3 and covered 10 of 14 lined games; December alone was 5-1 with five covers. From 7 January they went 8-9 and covered 6 of 17.

All three losses before New Year came as underdogs: at Ohio, and against USC and Utah State at neutral sites. After it, the defeats came at short prices. UIC won 63-59 at Illinois State on 10 January with the Redbirds at -700. Southern Illinois won 54-50 there in February at -440, and Evansville, beaten 73-47 on New Year’s Day, won the rematch 88-80 at -625. UIC beat them twice and covered both.

Home and away

At home the Redbirds went 13-2 and covered 9 of 14. On the road they were 5-7 and covered 4 of 12; only 31 Division I teams had a worse road cover rate, and 12 an equal one. The moneyline followed the split: 1.55 units up at home over 14 priced games, 1.96 down on the road over 12.

As favorites they won 15 of 21, yet the moneyline at those prices lost 2.19 units over 20 games. The season’s moneyline finished 2.98 units down over 30.

Northern Iowa, three times

The Redbirds won 59-54 at home and 71-69 at Northern Iowa at +185 in February, then lost 74-52 to the Panthers in the Missouri Valley quarterfinal. In the NIT they beat Kent State, Wake Forest and Dayton before losing the semifinal to Auburn.

Illinois State allowed 68.44 points a game, and 18 of 31 totals went under.

Questions and answers