{"id":215146,"date":"2026-03-22T05:56:45","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T05:56:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/215146\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T05:56:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T05:56:45","slug":"opening-odds-for-houston-vs-illinois-in-march-madness-2026-sweet-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/215146\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening odds for Houston vs. Illinois in March Madness 2026 Sweet 16"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charlie Cummings details the opening odds for the Houston Cougars vs. Illinois Fighting Illini matchup in the NCAA Tournament\u2019s Sweet 16.<\/p>\n

We have our first Sweet 16 matchup locked in. And it\u2019s going to be a doozy between Houston and Illinois.<\/p>\n

Houston is waltzing through the tournament so far. They\u2019ve won both matchups by exactly 31 points, showcasing a stifling defense. As usual, Kelvin Sampson brought his boys ready to play. The Cougars are looking like a legitimate title threat once again.<\/p>\n

Illinois pulled off a similar win in the first round, beating Penn by 35 points. VCU presented a bit more of a challenge, but the Illini pulled away in the second half on the strength of their defense and a 21-point performance from Andrej Stojakovic. It\u2019s another great sign for Brad Underwood\u2019s program.<\/p>\n

Houston vs. Illinois opening odds<\/p>\n

Houston opens as a 2.5-point favorite and holds -162 moneyline odds on DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a>. Illinois has +136 odds to pull off the upset, with the game total set at 140.5 points.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Houston has put together another incredible season under Sampson. After losing in the final last year to Florida, the Cougars are back with a vengeance. The addition of Kingston Flemings has been a strong boost alongside the veteran core of Emanuel Sharp, Milos Uzan, and Joseph Tugler. With an elite defense and plenty of tough shot-makers, led by an elite coach, they\u2019re a great bet to cut down the nets.<\/p>\n

Illinois has created one of the best offenses in the country this season. Led by freshman sniper Keaton Wagler, they lead the NCAA in offensive rating. Boasting an attack with four 13+ PPG scorers, they\u2019re going to create a lot of problems for this excellent Houston defense.<\/p>\n

Houston and Illinois will play on Thursday, March 26th, in Space City, with the tipoff time still TBD. The winner advances to the Elite 8 with the South Region on the line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Charlie Cummings details the opening odds for the Houston Cougars vs. Illinois Fighting Illini matchup in the NCAA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":{"0":"post-215146","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-houston-headlines","10":"tag-houston-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}