Thursday is the home finale for Michigan this season as the No. 25 Wolverines look to improve their Big Ten Tournament positioning when they host a very bad Nebraska side. UM is a heavy favorite on the Mybookie NCAAB odds. Let’s see how the College Basketball odds will be for the Nebraska vs Michigan.
Nebraska vs Michigan 2020 College Basketball Game Preview & Betting Odds
- When: Thursday, 6:30 PM ET
- Where: Crisler Center, Ann Arbor
- TV: Fox Sports 1
- Opening NCAAB Lines: Michigan -16.5 (total 148.5)
Taking on the Wolverines. ⌚️: 5:30 PM CT 📍: Crisler Center 📺: FS1 📻: @HuskerSports#Redefine #GBR
— Nebraska Basketball (@HuskerHoops) March 5, 2020
Nebraska vs Michigan First Meeting
The Wolverines won 79-68 at Nebraska on Jan. 28. Kevin Cross’s step-back jumper from the baseline gave the Cornhuskers their last lead, 52-50, before Michigan went on a 21-4 run to go up by double digits. Eli Brooks led Michigan with 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Franz Wagner, who had 18 points, started the run with a 3 from the top of the key. The Huskers missed 11 of 12 shots over a nine-minute stretch and went scoreless for four while the Wolverines pulled away. Cam Mack led the Huskers with 19 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.
Michigan leads the all-time series, 17-3. One of Nebraska’s three wins in the series was a 74-73 win over No. 1 Michigan at the NU Coliseum on Dec. 12, 1964.
Why Bet on Nebraska?
The Huskers (7-22, 2-16 Big Ten) lost their 14th straight game Sunday, 81-76 in overtime in their home finale vs. Northwestern. The Huskers had a chance to win in regulation, but committed a turnover and Northwestern was unable to get the go-ahead basket before the buzzer.
Miller Kopp took Northwestern’s first shot in overtime, draining a 3-pointer that triggered a 7-0 Wildcat run and the Wildcats held on to snap their 12-game losing streak. Nebraska cut its deficit to 78-76 on Dachon Burke Jr.’s 3-pointer with 46 seconds left and the Huskers had a chance to tie the game 22 seconds later when Yvan Ouedraogo missed a pair of free throws. Northwestern hit 3 of 4 free throws to seal the win. It was NU’s fourth OT game of the season, tying a school record.
The Huskers lost the game at the free-throw line where the Huskers hit just 8 of 30. No Division 1 team in the last 10 years has shot under 30% from the free throw line with 30 or more attempts. Nebraska shot 27%.
Haanif Cheatham had a team-high 20 points for Nebraska, while freshman Yvan Ouedraogo grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds and had 11 points. Those 19 boards by Ouedraogo, who played a career-high 38 minutes, were the most by a Husker since the 2006-07 season and most by a Husker freshman in at least three decades.
Cam Mack has 179 assists on the season and needs one more to pass Charles Richardson for third place on Nebraska’s single-season list. Mack is 15th nationally in assists at 6.4 assists per game. Mack is one of just eight players in Division I — and just four in power conferences — averaging at least 12.0 points, 6.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.0 steal per game
Team Stats
Offense- Total Score: 70.28
- Field Goal %: 41.18
- Three Point %: 32.28
- Free Throw %: 58.65
- Total Rebounds: 35.34
Defense
- Total Score: 76.59
- Field Goal %: 44.26
- Three Point %: 32.39
- Free Throw %: 67.14
- Total Rebounds: 45.38
Why Bet on Michigan?
Michigan (18-11, 9-9 Big Ten) lost its second in a row Sunday, 77-63 at then-No. 23 Ohio State. After Michigan’s Jon Teske hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 54 with 6:41 left, CJ Walker’s jumper and back-to-back 3s by brothers Andre and Kaleb Wesson touched off a 23-9 Ohio State run to cap the victory. Ohio State was 11 for 21 from 3-point range for 52.4%.
Freshman Franz Wagner scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his first career double-double in the loss for UM. Senior Zavier Simpson was the only other double-digit point scorer for the Wolverines with 12 on the day, while adding seven assists and five rebounds. The Wolverines outscored Ohio State, 34-18, in the paint and scored 15 points off of OSU miscues.
Wagner was named the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Week for the third time this season. In his last five games, he is averaging a team-best 17.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, while shooting 60.7 percent (34-for-56) from the field, including 44.0 percent (11-for-25) from long range.
Isaiah Livers has missed only two free throws thus far this season and leads U-M at 95.3 percent (41-for-43); he is perfect from the charity stripe (33-for-33) over his last 10 games, and has shot 31-for-31 in Big Ten play.
In this one, Simpson is expected to play in his 145th career game which will set UM’s all-time mark for most career games played (Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, 144). Simpson leads the nation with a 7.9 assist average and his 220 assists. This season is his second straight with 200+ assists after finishing last season with 244. Simpson is the first U-M player to post two 200+ assist seasons.
Team Stats
Offense- Total Score: 74.97
- Field Goal %: 46.16
- Three Point %: 34.16
- Free Throw %: 71.34
- Total Rebounds: 36.52
Defense
- Total Score: 68.1
- Field Goal %: 42.13
- Three Point %: 32.07
- Free Throw %: 68.56
- Total Rebounds: 35.28
Nebraska vs Michigan Game Trends
- Nebraska are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games.
- The total has gone OVER in 9 of Nebraska’s last 13 games.
- Nebraska are 0-10 SU in their last 10 games.
- Nebraska are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games against Michigan.
- Nebraska are 1-11 SU in their last 12 games against Michigan.
- Michigan are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games.
- The total has gone OVER in 4 of Michigan’s last 5 games.
Nebraska vs Michigan Expert Prediction
Michigan 83, Nebraska 66
