The NCAA continues Friday night with an elite Big Ten matchup! It's time to continue our college basketball odds series with an Illinois-Maryland prediction and pick.

Illinois comes into this game as the No. 17 team in the country. They have a 13-4 record and are 6-1 in conference play, putting them in second place in the Big Ten. Wisconsin leads the conference with a 6-1 record after Purdue beat Illinois back on Monday. No. 4 Purdue just lost to unranked Indiana last night, so the conference is very competitive and anyone can take control. Illinois has some bad news ahead of this game, top scoring threat Kofi Cockburn is in concussion protocol and will miss the game against Maryland. He averages 21.1 points per game off of 58.9% shooting. He will be missed big time.

Maryland is one of two teams in the conference that doesn't have a winning record. They are 9-9 on the season but just 1-6 in conference play. This is a team that needs to start getting going and they have a huge shot at winning this game without Cockburn on the other side. Maryland is coming off of an 83-64 loss to Michigan and has lost two in a row. Their last win came against Northwestern back on Jan. 12. Illinois and Maryland are meeting for the second time this year where Illinois won 76-64 the first time they met.

Here are the Illinois-Maryland college basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.

College Basketball Odds: Illinois-Maryland Odds

Illinois: -4.5 (-110)

Maryland: +4.5 (-110)

Over: 137.5 (-110)

Under: 137.5 (-110)

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Why Illinois Could Cover The Spread

This is going to be a tougher game for Illinois without their star player. But even without Cockburn, Illinois still has a good chance of covering this spread. Maryland isn't a very good team and they are lucky to be on the schedule at this time because Illinois can beat them even without a good game. This team averages 80 points per game which is among the top in the nation. They have other options who can score as Alfonso Plummer and Trent Frazier both average north of 13 points per game. If those two step up and play well, then Illinois should still find a way to cover this spread on the road. Illinois is 9-8 against the spread this year.

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Why Maryland Could Cover The Spread

Maryland now has a better chance of covering with the news of Cockburn missing the game. He is an elite scoring threat and now the Terps don't have to worry about trying to contain him. They do, however, need to focus on shutting down the rest of their offense because they can still score at will. The problem is Maryland has lost four of their last five games and in those losses failed to reach 70 points. This team doesn't score very much and so they will need to rely on their defensive efforts to keep them in the game. If Maryland wants to cover this spread, then it's going to have to come from a low-scoring affair. The Terps are 6-12 against the spread this season.

Final Illinois-Maryland Prediction & Pick

Maryland is at home where they are 6-5 on the season. I still like Illinois in this game even without Cockburn. The spread is reasonable for them to cover, and I think they will get it done. Pick Illinois and hope that the rest of the squad shows up to win.

Final Illinois-Maryland Prediction & Pick: Illinois – 4.5 (-110)