Illinois is coming into this game with a 28-8 record this season and they were 14-6 in their conference. They have been playing very well in their recent games as they have won their last 6 straight games, even winning their conference tournament, but they have not been challenged by a tough team in this tournament yet and even in their conference tournament, they never had to face the strongest team in their conference in Purdue who beat them both times this season. They have struggled many times this season against better teams they have faced as they have lost all of their big matchups against ranked teams. The only win they have this season against a team that was ranked at the time was their win against FAU while they have struggled against better teams with 2 losses against Purdue, a loss against Tennessee, and a loss against Marquette as well. They do not have many quality wins this season and even in this tournament they have beaten Morehead State and Duquesne. They have a very good offense but they do not play defense well at all as they average 73.4 points allowed per game which is 230th in the country and they do not defend shooting well either with a bottom half defense. They are going up against an Iowa State team that is 29-7 this season and was 13-5 in their conference. They have been playing very well in their recent games as they have won their last 5 straight and also won the Big 12 Tournament. They have one of the best defenses in the country as they average 61.2 points allowed per game which is 4th and they also have very good shooting defense. They have allowed just 65 points or less in their last 10 straight games and they have allowed under 60 points in 2 of their last 3 games as well. They were also challenged in the last round against a Washington State team that was ranked and finished 2nd in the Pac-12 but Iowa State still won by 11 points. Iowa State also played in a much stronger Big 12 Conference and they have a lot of quality wins this year against teams like Kansas, Baylor, and Houston twice. Iowa State is the real deal and this is a team that has a real chance at winning the National Championship this year. Iowa State will cover the spread in this game.