The Illinois State Redbirds take on the Belmont Bruins in the Missouri Valley Tournament. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
Belmont is favored by 1 point on the spread with a moneyline of -110. The total is set at 163 points.
Here are my Illinois State vs. Belmont predictions and college basketball picks for March 7, 2025.
Illinois State vs Belmont Prediction
My Pick: Illinois State +1 (Play to -1.5)
My Illinois State vs Belmont best bet is on the Redbirds spread, with the best odds currently available at bet365. For all of your college basketball bets, be sure to find the best lines by using our live NCAAB odds page.
Illinois State vs Belmont Odds
| Illinois St Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+1 -115 | 163 -110 / -110 | -110 |
| Belmont Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-1 -105 | 163 -110 / -110 | -110 |
- Illinois State vs Belmont spread: Belmont -1
- Illinois State vs Belmont over/under: 163 points
- Illinois State vs Belmont moneyline: Belmont -110, Illinois State -110
- Illinois State vs Belmont best bet: Illinois State +1 (Play to -1.5)
Spread
I'm backing the Redbirds on the spread.
Moneyline
I'm passing on the moneyline.
Over/Under
I'm passing on the over/under.
My Pick: Illinois State +1 (Play to -1.5)
Illinois State vs Belmont College Basketball Betting Preview
Illinois State has an elite four-around-one motion offense that showed its complete versatility against Missouri State on Thursday. Chase Walker was a bully in the post, and the team shot 10-for-23 (44%) from deep in a 70-54 win.
I have no faith in Belmont to stop the Illinois State train. The Bruins are a compact defense that allows a super high 3-point and unguarded catch-and-shoot jumper rate, ranking 360th nationally in Low Quality 3s forced (per ShotQuality).
Illinois State's defense is lifeless on the other end of the court. However, the Redbirds are mostly vulnerable defending the dribble, while the Bruins are more of a motion-based secondary offense, creating from hand-off and off-ball screening sets.
Illinois State can’t defend those sets either, but the Redbirds hang better on those actions than anything else.
More importantly, Belmont loves running in the open court and creating in transition, and Illinois State is an elite transition-denial defense. The Redbirds should win this game convincingly if they can control the pace.
While these two split the regular-season series, Belmont squeaked out an overtime victory at home way back in early December, while Illinois State pulled out a road victory in late January, despite the Bruins shooting 12-for-27 (44%) from deep.
I’ll take my chances with the Redbirds in the third matchup, especially if they can keep hitting their shots — this is the most dangerous offense in the Missouri Valley when clicking.
