#753 ASA PLAY ON Illinois -2.5 over Missouri, Sunday at 1 PM ET - Missouri is 10-1 on the season but they’ve faced one of the easiest schedules in the country ranking 361st in SOS out of 364 teams. They’ve faced only 2 top 100 teams all season and the Tigers have also played 10 straight home games. Their only game away from home was a loss @ Memphis to start the season. 7 of their 11 opponents this season currently rank 255th or lower. Illinois is 7-3 on the year but they’ve faced the 71st most difficult schedule to date with their losses coming vs Bama & Tennessee (2 top 10 teams) and @ Northwestern in OT in a game the Illini led by double digits in the 2nd half. Their most recent game was a 66-64 home loss vs #1 Tennessee losing a layup as time expired by the Vols. The Illini have had a full week to get over that tough loss and get ready for this game. These 2 rank nearly identical in offensive efficiency yet Illinois is far better on the defensive end (12th in defensive efficiency to 103rd for Mizzou) despite playing the much tougher schedule as we referenced earlier. Illinois is also the much better rebounding team and they keep opponents off the foul line which is where Mizzou has lived thus far ranking 25th in percentage of points from the FT line. This game is played on a neutral site in St Louis and last season Illinois throttled Missouri by 24 points. The Illini are still a top 20 team (per KenPom) and while the Tigers have improved, they were 8-24 last year so how much have they improved? It’s really hard to tell as they’ve been at home all season and only played a few good teams. We’ll lay the small number with the team we know is solid, that’s Illinois.