The Houston Cougars opened the tournament with a comfortable 82-68 victory over UAB while Illinois just barely escaped a first-round upset against Chattanooga. I think that'll be to the Illini's advantage here though as they're already in survive and advance mode while Houston is at risk of expecting this to be another easy win. Everyone will be high on Houston and low on Illinois after the two teams' most recent outings, pushing the value towards the Fighting Illini.

10* play on Illinois Fighting Illini.