Illinois vs. Houston Opening Odds, Preview for March Madness Sweet 16

The Houston Cougars are looking to make a run at the National Championship for the second-straight season. They've dismantled their opponents in the first two rounds, beating both Idaho and Texas A&M by 31 points.

The Cougars will now take on a tough test in the Illinois Fighting Illini, who beat Penn by 35 points and VCU by 21 points en route to the Sweet 16.

Let's take a look at the opening odds for Thursday night's Sweet 16 matchup.

Illinois vs. Houston Opening Odds for Sweet 16

Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook

Spread

Illinois +3.5 (-115)
Houston -3.5 (-105)

Moneyline

Illinois +136
Houston -164

Total

OVER 139.5 (-115)
UNDER 139.5 (-105)

This game features the third-closest odds amongst the eight Sweet 16 games. Only Iowa vs. Nebraska and Michigan State vs. UConn has closer odds.

Illinois vs. Houston Preview

Illinois faced one Big 12 team during its out-of-conference schedule, beating Texas Tech by a score of 81-77 on November 11. This will be the first Big Ten team that Houston has faced this season.

The key to beating Illinois is stopping the 3-ball. The Fighting Illini rank 15th in the country in 3-point shot rate, with 50.4% of its shots coming from beyond the arc. Luckily for them, the perimeter of the Houston defense is its weak point, if there is one. The Cougars rank 44th in opponent 3-point field goal percentage, allowing teams to shoot 31.4% from beyond the arc.

The most fascinating thing about this matchup is that both teams play an extremely fundamental and disciplined style of basketball, evidenced by the fact that they rank first and second in effective possession ratio. That's going to work against Houston, as the Cougars rely on winning the rebounding and turnover battle against their opponents to overcome the fact that they rank 142nd in effective field goal percentage.

Illinois can match them in those areas, while also boasting much better shooting numbers, ranking 34th in eFG%.

Houston has the fourth-best odds to win the National Championship at +750. Illinois is tied for fifth at +1500.

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