Indiana at Nebraska Game Lines, Prediction & 2024 NCAAB Expert Analysis in Week 6

The lone power conference game on a light Friday around college basketball with schools largely on their holiday breaks is from the Big Ten as formerly ranked Indiana visits Nebraska with the Huskers as short favorites on the NCAAB odds.

Indiana at Nebraska Game Lines: 2024 NCAAB Expert Analysis in Week 6.

Indiana Hoosiers NCAAB Line +161

Indiana (8-2, 1-0 Big Ten) opened Big Ten play on Monday with an 82-67 home win over Minnesota, the Hoosiers’ fourth straight victory. As a team, Minnesota made 26-of-55 (.473) field goals and was 13-of-15 (.867) at the free throw line, but the Gophers were out rebounded, 35-22. IU took advantage of a seven-minute, 46-second field goal drought for the Gophers with a 16-1 run and would lead 44-31 at the half and not look back.

Game Review

Ballo had 18 points, Malik Reneau and Bryson Tucker both scored 16 to lead Indiana. Ballo made all five of his shots from the floor, adding seven rebounds for the Hoosiers. He made 8 of 11 at the free-throw line after coming in shooting 54.2% there (26 for 48). Reneau hit 7 of 10 shots and grabbed seven rebounds. Tucker had six boards and made 6 of 10 shots off the bench.

Career-high 1️⃣6️⃣ points tonight for our freshman! 👏@BrysonTucker3_ | #IUBB pic.twitter.com/cEfIvOaAaO

— Indiana Basketball (@IndianaMBB) December 10, 2024

Mike Woodson

“When we recruited (Tucker), we thought he would be a big piece of the puzzle, and he is,” coach Woodson said. “We have to push him to play at a high level, play harder and smarter. “He came in and played a solid game. Hopefully he has a nice carryover to Nebraska.”

Kaanan Carlyle

Carlyle, a 6-3 sophomore transfer guard out of Stanford, added 14 points on 3-for-6 3-point shooting, plus five assists. He had missed the previous three games with an injury. Carlyle rotated with starting guard Trey Galloway, who had come off the bench in IU’s first six games. Eight Hoosiers played and eight scored, with five reaching double figures.

IU shot 56.6% from the floor on Monday. It was the third time this season – all contests that resulted in wins – in which the Hoosiers connected on more than 55.0% of their baskets. Minnesota was limited to just 18.2% from beyond the arc. This was the lowest 3-point shooting output from an IU opponent since last year’s win over Minnesota (Jan. 12, 2024 – 15.0%).

Indiana’s 82 points in the win over Minnesota were the most in a Big Ten opener since putting up 83 in a defeat to Nebraska on Dec. 28, 2016. It was the fourth-straight year IU has won its Big Ten home opener. Indiana is a potent offensive club, which is averaging 80.4 points per game and shooting nearly 51 percent from the field.

Malik Reneau

Reneau leads Indiana in scoring at 15.5 points per game on 60 percent shooting, while Mackenzie Mgbako, who was the 2024 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, is at 15.1 ppg while shooting 51 percent from the field and 41 percent from 3-point range. The Arizona transfer, Ballo is at 13.2 ppg on 70 percent shooting and is among the Big Ten leaders in rebounds (9.0 rpg) and blocked shots (2.0 bpg). Washington State transfer Myles Rice is the fourth Hoosier in double figures at 10.8 ppg while shooting 42 percent from 3-point range. In all, Indiana has eight players averaging at least 5.9 points per game.

Nebraska Cornhuskers NCAAB Line -200

Nebraska (6-2, 0-1 Big Ten) opened league play with by far its worst game of the season, an 89-52 loss at unranked Michigan State. The Spartans shot 51.8% (29 of 56) and 95.7% (22 of 23) from the foul line. The 37-point margin of victory tied for the second-largest in a Big Ten game in Michigan State history, and was the largest margin of victory in a league game since an 86-49 win over Penn State on Feb. 2, 2008 at the Breslin Center. MSU out-rebounded Nebraska, 48-19, collected 12 offensive rebounds and scored 17 second-chance points.

Game Review

NU was within 37-31 in the final minute of the first half before MSU closed the half with two baskets from Jaxon Kohler before taking control in the opening minutes of the second half. The Spartans opened the second half with a 27-3 run, as NU missed 12 of its first 13 field goal attempts after halftime to put the game out of reach. The Huskers shot just 33% overall and 29% in the second half.

Andrew Morgan

Morgan came off the bench to lead NU in scoring and rebounding with 14 points and seven boards. It marked the eighth double-figure effort by a Husker reserve this season. Morgan’s 14 points were a season high. Brice Williams extended his streak of double figure games to 12 with his 11-point effort. The Spartans became the first Husker opponent in 25 games to shoot at least 50 percent from the field dating back to last season. Nebraska has lost its last six Big Ten openers, all coming away from home.

Juwan Gary

What was the main theme of practice this week? “Definitely we harped on rebounding, for sure,” said senior Gary. “Last week was kind of embarrassing just on the glass in general, for sure. So just this week get back to the basics, get back to Nebraska basketball. Don’t go out there and do something that we haven’t been working on all summer.”

Brice Williams

While Williams has been one of the Big Ten’s top scorers at 17.5 points per game entering Friday’s contest, Morgan has given the Huskers some scoring punch off the bench. He has reached double figures in each of the last two games, and has four double-figure performances in the Huskers’ first eight contests.

Fred Hoiberg

Coach Hoiberg has challenged his team to respond. Indiana is averaging 80.4 points per game (9th in the Big Ten) while holding opponents to 69.1 (12th). The Hoosiers are averaging 38.1 rebounds per game (4th in the Big Ten).

“They’re big, they’re strong, they’re playing really good basketball right now, they’re healthy,” Hoiberg said of IU. “It’s a team that will pose a lot of the same problems Michigan State did, and if we don’t respond to a run, to adversity, the same thing is gonna happen that happened Saturday afternoon for the entire season. That’s how this league is, that’s how it goes.”

🎙️ @CoachHoiberg previews Nebraska's B1G home opener on Friday vs. Indiana
https://t.co/1O9PLcKSsO

— Nebraska Men's Basketball (@HuskerMBB) December 11, 2024

Connor Essegian

The Huskers will look for a bounce-back performance from junior guard Essegian, who was held to one point in Saturday’s loss at Michigan State. Essegian, an Indiana native, had averaged 25.5 ppg on 56 percent shooting, including 52 percent from 3-point range, in the previous two contests.

Over the last two-plus seasons, Nebraska has been exceptional when holding opponents to 70 points or fewer. The Huskers are 35-4 (.897) when holding opponents to 70 points, including 30 straight wins, since a 65-62 overtime loss to No. 4 Purdue on Dec. 10, 2022. One area where Nebraska has excelled early on is converting on opponent turnovers. The Huskers are 23rd nationally in forcing turnovers at 16.3 per game after ranking 217th in that category a year ago.

How to Bet Indiana at Nebraska Game Lines NCAA Basketball

When: Friday, 8 PM ET
Where: Pinnacle Bank Arena
TV: FOX
Stream: FOX Sports Live

Indiana vs Nebraska Last Meeting

The Huskers won both matchups against Indiana last season. The one in Lincoln was 86-70 behind 28 points from Keisei Tominaga, including 16 in less than five minutes. Tonimaga was 6-of-9 shooting, hitting 3 of 6 3s, as the Cornhuskers outscored the Hoosiers 45-37 in the second half to end a seven-game losing streak in the series. Nebraska took the lead for good on a Sam Hoiberg layup about seven minutes in. Nebraska and Indiana meet for the 31st time on Friday and the 21st time since the Huskers joined the Big Ten in 2011-12. Indiana leads the all-time series, 20-10, but the Huskers are 9-11 against the Hoosiers since Nebraska joined the Big Ten.

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