The Championship game in the East Region will take place on Saturday evening when the 3-seed Illinois Fighting Illini out of the Big Ten Conference face the #1 overall seed out of the Big East, the UConn Huskies, with the game taking place at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts with the game scheduled to start at 6:09 PM ET and will air on TBS.

The Big Ten has two teams in the Elite Eight with the Illinois Fighting Illini being the first team to play from the conference in the Elite Eight this season following wins against the Morehead State Eagles in the 1^st round by a score of 85-69, the Duquesne Dukes in the 2^nd round by a score of 89-63, and a 72-69 win against the Iowa State Cyclones in the Sweet 16 on Thursday. Illinois never trailed against Iowa State in the matchup on Thursday as the Fighting Illini began the game on an 8-0 run and led by ten points at home time by a score of 36-26. 

Terrence Shannon Jr. struggled from the free throw line even though he is an 80.4% free throw shooter this season he only made 50% in the game against the Cyclones making five of his ten attempts, however, he still led the game in scoring with 29 points. This will be the 10^th Elite Eight Appearance for the Illinois Fighting Illini and the first since the 2005 NCAA Tournament in which they advanced to the championship game before losing to the North Carolina Tar Heels. 

The Fighting Illini have compiled a record of 5-4 in the Elite Eight with the most recent win coming against the Arizona Wildcats by a score of 90-89 in overtime. The Fighting Illini will look to advance to their 6^th Final Four with a win against the UConn Huskies in the championship game in the East region.

The UConn Huskies haven’t been tested at any point in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and have covered in all three of their games to start the tournament while winning all three of their games by an average margin of 28.67 points per game including a 30-point win against the San Diego State Aztecs in the Sweet 16 on Thursday by a score of 82-52. 

UConn has started off hot in all three of their games to start the tournament as they started off on a 16-2 run against the Stetson Hatters in the 1^st round, an 11-2 run against the Northwestern Wildcats in the 2^nd round, and a 5-2 run against the San Diego State Aztecs in the Sweet 16 and have only trailed for a total of 39 seconds during the tournament. 

The Huskies have also led all three of their games by at least nine points at halftime in the tournament with a 52-19 lead against Stetson in the 1^st round, a 40-18 lead against the Northwestern Wildcats in the 2^nd round, and a 40-31 lead against the San Diego State Aztecs in the Sweet 16. It’s difficult to imagine a team even being competitive against the Huskies in the tournament based on how dominant they have played in the tournament this season. 

The Huskies will be looking to make it to the Final Four for the 2^nd year in a row following last year’s National Championship and their 7^th overall when they face the Illinois Fighting Illini on Saturday evening. 

JustBet has the UConn Huskies listed as 9-point favorites against the Illinois Fighting Illini in the championship game in the East region on Saturday evening. This will be the first time in the history of these two programs that they will face each other in college basketball. Both teams have covered the spread in their first three games of the 2024 NCAA Tournament and have been two of the better teams at covering the spread this season.

It’s hard to imagine a team keeping up with UConn in this year’s NCAA Tournament and are the odds-on favorites to become the first team to win back-to-back tournaments since the 2006 and 2007 NCAA Tournaments when the Florida Gators won back-to-back National Championships. 

UConn and Illinois have covered the spread in all three of their games in the tournament this season, however, I still give the edge to the Huskies in the game against the Fighting Illini based on how dominant they have looked, winning by an average margin of 28.67 points per game in the tournament this season. 

Lay the points with the UConn Huskies when they face the Illinois Fighting Illini in the Elite Eight on Saturday evening.