Illinois Fighting Illini play Creighton Bluejays in first round of NCAA Tournament

Creighton Bluejays (26-6, 18-3 Big East) vs. Illinois Fighting Illini (21-9, 11-8 Big Ten)

Austin, Texas; Saturday, 7:15 p.m. EDT

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Fighting Illini -1; over/under is 137.5

BOTTOM LINE: Illinois and No. 23 Creighton play in the NCAA Tournament opening round.

The Fighting Illini are 11-8 against Big Ten opponents and 10-1 in non-conference play. Illinois is 1-0 in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Bluejays’ record in Big East play is 18-3. Creighton is seventh in the Big East with 29.5 rebounds per game led by Morgan Maly averaging 5.8.

Illinois is shooting 43.5% from the field this season, 0.9 percentage points higher than the 42.6% Creighton allows to opponents. Creighton has shot at a 44.9% rate from the field this season, 4.6 percentage points higher than the 40.3% shooting opponents of Illinois have averaged.

TOP PERFORMERS: Kendall Bostic is averaging 15.9 points and 11.1 rebounds for the Fighting Illini. Genesis Bryant is averaging 17.6 points over the last 10 games.

Lauren Jensen is shooting 45.5% and averaging 17.7 points for the Bluejays. Maly is averaging 2.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Fighting Illini: 6-4, averaging 68.6 points, 31.3 rebounds, 15.6 assists, 5.3 steals and 2.8 blocks per game while shooting 42.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 66.2 points per game.

Bluejays: 8-2, averaging 67.8 points, 30.8 rebounds, 16.5 assists, 6.1 steals and 1.7 blocks per game while shooting 43.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 60.8 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.