Frank ‘The Tank” Kaminsky is back for the No. 7 Wisconsin Badgers, who fell a few steps down the AP Poll after losing to the unranked Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Sunday. The Badgers will look to bounce back from that loss when they face the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who a season ago served Wisconsin a late-season upset loss.
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[sc:MarchMadness ]Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Wisconsin Badgers Betting Preview
Where: Kohl Center, Madison
When: Thursday, January 15, 2015, 9:00 PM ET
Line: Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Wisconsin Badgers – view all NCAA Basketball lines
Betting on the Nebraska Cornhuskers
Nebraska’s defense has been the team’s strength this season, and it showed in its top form in the Cornhuskers’ last game. Armed with a suffocating defense, the Cornhuskers beat the Illinois Fighting Illini 53-43 to register their second conference win of the season.
[sc:NCAAB240banner ]The Cornhuskers held Illinois to an atrocious 27.3 percent shooting (15-for-55) from the field, while also seeing the Fighting Illini commit 13 turnovers. With their defense doing a great job, the Cornhuskers were barely threatened in the game despite a pedestrian 42.9% (21-for-49) shooting night. Nebraska’s last three opponents have averaged 60.7 PPG on 37.7% shooting.
Nebraska will have to continue that sound defense against Wisconsin—sixth in scoring in the Big Ten with 73.5 PPG—as the Cornhuskers do not have a great offense to engage the Badgers in a shootout. Nebraska is among the lowest scoring teams in the conference, putting up just 65.9 PPG thus far this season.
Terran Petteway, who scored 18 and 20 points in the Cornhuskers’ last two games, leads the team in scoring with 18.9 PPG. Petteway, along with junior guard Shavon Shields, each scored 26 points when the Cornhuskers upset Wisconsin on March of last season, 77-68. Shields is currently Nebraska’s second-leading scorer with 17.1 PPG.
Dating back to 2012, the Cornhuskers are 3-1 ATS in their last four meetings.
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Betting on the Wisconsin Badgers
The Badgers will have to take the good with the bad for now. While Frank Kaminsky (concussion) is cleared to practice and is expected to play against Nebraska, starting point guard Traevon Jackson, on the other hand, is out indefinitely after suffering a right foot injury in the Badgers’ 67-62 loss to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Sunday.
The Badgers certainly missed Kaminsky’s scoring and rebounding against Rutgers, but his defense was missed most of all. Aside from leading the team in points (16.9 PPG) and boards (8.2 RPG), the seven-footer also paces Wisconsin with 1.9 blocks per game. With Kaminsky missing, Rutgers went berserk on offense, as the Scarlet Knights shot 54.3% from the field. Now that Kaminsky is back, though, expect Wisconsin to defend better against the Cornhuskers. The Badgers will enter the contest seventh in the nation in defense with 54.9 PPG allowed to their opponents.
As for Jackson’s absence, the Badgers will have to look for someone to fill the void left by the senior. Jackson is the team’s top assist-man with 2.9 APG, while averaging 9.4 PPG. Expect sophomore Zak Showalter (2.8 PPG) to see increased minutes moving forward.
Sam Dekker and Nigel Hayes each scored 15 points against Rutgers and should see extra shooting opportunities with Jackson out. Dekker and Hayes are averaging 12.4 PPG and 12.2 PPG, respectively.
The under is 3-1 in the Badgers’ last four games as the home team.
Writer’s Prediction
Wisconsin wins, 74-62.
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