Nebraska Will Rebound From First Loss Of The Season

Illinois vs. Nebraska, 4:00 ET

It was a ho-hum type of day yesterday as I split my picks. Geoff Clark and I were on opposite sides of one of the better games yesterday between AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson, also known as BYU vs. Kansas. It wasn't a blowout by any means, but BYU just couldn't get the job done. Luckily, we only lost a bit of juice as Duke handled business for me earlier in the day, so no big deal. Today, we have another great matchup on the horizon as the Illinois Fighting Illini take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Illinois comes into the game ranked ninth in the country, which, I believe, is the highest they've been all season. They are 18-3 for the year and 9-1 in Big 10 play. They are currently riding a 10-game winning streak into this game. Interested in who their last loss was to? That would be this Nebraska squad who beat them at home on a buzzer-beater. To be clear, it isn't like Nebraska would've lost the game had they missed the shot, it would've just been an overtime game, which does take some pressure off of the offense. The Illini at the time were favored by almost 10 points. Nebraska has since shown the world that they are a pretty good squad. The other losses that Illinois has taken this season were against UConn, and Alabama. Both of those games came on a neutral court. The Alabama game was a tightly contested battle, but the loss to UConn was kind of ugly, seeing them lose by 13 points.

Nebraska has a tough stretch of basketball. We will very quickly find out if this team deserves to be the #5 team in the nation, or if they were a product of a fairly soft schedule for the season. Their lone loss this year came in their last game against Michigan, losing 75-72 to one of the best teams in the country. This was a road matchup, and certainly one that was in a tough environment. Kudos to them for going in and giving Michigan one of the best games they've had all season. Aside from that game, they've played exactly two other ranked teams this season, beating Illinois on the road as mentioned, and winning at home over Michigan State. The deciding point totals for these three ranked games have been three points or lower. The Cornhuskers don't seem to really just demolish opponents like Michigan, but they do work together and play well under coach Fred Hoiberg's system. 

This is a revenge game for the Illini, but are they guaranteed to win is just because Nebraska beat them last time? I don't really think so. We know that college teams don't tend to play very well on the road. I also am not fully convinced that Brad Underwood will make the adjustments needed from last game. He's a good coach, but it always seems like he comes up short in bigger games. If Nebraska had beaten Michigan, I probably would've taken Illinois today, but the loss should lead to Nebraska looking to get back on track after coming up just short against a conference rival. I also think Illinois has the better players, but sometimes the team approach works out more effectively. Give me the Cornhuskers to win this one on the moneyline. 

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