National Champs roll into Nebraska – Jayhawks at Cornhuskers
BetUS NCAA Basketball Betting Odds: KANSAS -4.5
Here are some of the NCAA basketball sports betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* KAN has covered four of its last five games
* KAN has won seven of its last eight games SU
* KAN has covered six of its last eight road games* KAN has won 19 of its last 24 road games SU
* KAN has played four of its last six road games UNDER the total
* NEB has won 12 of its last 18 games SU
* NEB has won 16 of its last 18 home games SU
Also….
* KAN has won the last eleven meetings SU
* KAN has covered eight of the last nine meetings
* Five of the last six meetings have gone OVER the total
* KAN has won eight of the last nine meetings SU as the road team
* KAN has covered five of the last six meetings as the road team
* KAN has had the shooting edge in each of the last ten meetings
* KAN has had the rebounding edge in each of the last nine meetings
* KAN has made more three-pointers in six of the last eight meetings
Nebraska is one of those teams that likes to control the tempo against its opponents, and that sometimes results in very low scores and upsets by the Huskers. Over the last couple of seasons Nebraska has put some high-profile notches in its belt, including Creighton, Arizona State, Oregon, Kansas State and Oklahoma.
All of those except for Creighton were last year, but Nebraska has not put a lot of meaningful W’s on the board yet this year. Maybe it’s the loss of a very capable center like Aleks Maric, who took some of his rebounding strength with whim when he departed. Doc Sadler’s team is still going to play very deliberate basketball, and there will be a great emphasis on defense, but there are certain teams who are going to break through that and dictate the tempo themselves.
One of those teams was Oklahoma State, which beat the Cornhuskers 76-74 in overtime on Saturday, as the Cowboys shot almost 55% from the field. Apparently another of those teams is Kansas, which has demonstrated some mastery over the Huskers in recent seasons, winning the last eleven meetings and eight covers in the last nine. In the last eight encounters, Nebraska has averaged less than 53 points a game, and five of the last six meetings have gone over the total, which means Kansas is definitely dictating tempo.
Kansas lost a lot of talent from last year’s national championship team, but the Jayhawks still have Sherron Collins, who averages 5.3 assists per game and scored a career-high 26 points last time out against Iowa State, and Cole Aldrich, who maintains 64% shooting while pulling down almost ten rebounds a game, so there’s a strong likelihood that Kansas will have a quickness edge in the backcourt as well as the advantage in terms of inside scoring.
We look for it to be KU’s game once again, and will lay the points with the Jayhawks, the 4.5-point favorite in the BetUS NCAA basketball betting odds.
