Thursday night college basketball and we will see the Nebraska Cornhuskers travel to Madison, Wisconsin to take on the Wisconsin Badgers. The game has a start time of 9:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN 2. Current Vegas betting odds have Wisconsin listed as 14.5 point favorites, while the total is set at 118.5.
Analysis: The Nebraska Cornhuskers come in off a couple of nice home wins over Illinois and Rutgers. The wins now have them at 10-6 on the year overall, which includes a 2-2 mark in the Big 10. The Cornhuskers are 20-8 ATS in their last 28 vs. Big Ten and 12-5 ATS in their last 17 games following a ATS win, but just 2-9 ATS in their last 11 games vs. a team with a winning S.U. record. Nebraska is not a good offensive team, as they come in ranked 233rd in scoring (65.8 ppg), 193rd in shooting (43.4%), 280th in 3 point shooting (30.9%) and 70th in FT shooting (72.1%). Defensively the Huskers have been very good, ranking 53rd in points allowed (60.7 ppg), 24th in defensive FG% (37.7%) and 16th in 3 point defense (27.6%).
The Wisconsin Badgers come into this game off a shocking 62-57 road loss to Rutgers. The Badgers are still ranked in the top 10 in the Nation with a 15-2 record that includes an 8-1 record at home and a 3-1 mark in Big 10 play. Wisconsin is 8-17 ATS in their last 25 home games vs. a team with a losing road record and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 home games. Wisconsin has been a solid offensive team this year, ranking 58th in scoring (73.5 ppg), 20th in shooting (48.8%), 164th in 3 point shooting (34.4%) and 31st in FT shooting (74.0%). Defensively the Badgers have been excellent, as they come in ranked 7th in points allowed (54.9 ppg), 102nd in defensive FG% (40.7%) and 240th in 3 point defense (35.0%).
Pick: I will be going with the Over in this one. The Badgers are 7-1 to the Over in their last 8 vs the Big 10 and the last 2 games between these teams have put up 145 and 123 points. Normally when these two would hookup I would look for an Under play, but Wisconsin has been a much more offensively oriented team this year. Tyhe Badgers are a very good shooting team and they have averaged 73.5 pg overall, including 76.2 ppg at home. Nebraska has played good defense this year, but we also note that the 2 Big 10 games they played vs good scoring offenses (Iowa & Indiana) they did allow 70 points in each game and they have allowed 66.1 ppg on the road for the year. The Badgers do play great defense, but Nebraska has average 62.2 ppg on the road this year and should get enough points to help push this one over the total. 70-56 sounds about right here.
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