The Nebraska Cornhuskers take on the Iowa Hawkeyes in Iowa City, IA. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. ET on Peacock.
Iowa is favored by 3.5 points on the spread with a moneyline of -180. The total is set at 159 points.
Here are my Nebraska vs. Iowa predictions and college basketball picks for January 7, 2025.
Nebraska vs Iowa Prediction
My Pick: Iowa -2.5 (Play to -4)
My Nebraska vs Iowa best bet is on the Hawkeyes spread, with the best odds currently available at Unibet. For all of your college basketball bets, find the best lines using our live NCAAB odds page.
Nebraska vs Iowa Odds
| Nebraska Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+3.5 -105 | 159 -108o / -112u | +150 |
| Iowa Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-3.5 -115 | 159 -108o / -112u | -180 |
- Nebraska vs Iowa spread: Iowa -3.5
- Nebraska vs Iowa over/under: 159 points
- Nebraska vs Iowa moneyline: Iowa -180, Nebraska +150
- Nebraska vs Iowa best bet: Iowa -2.5 (Play to -4)
Spread
I'm backing Iowa to cover the spread in an excellent situational spot.
Moneyline
I'm passing on the more-juiced moneyline, but I'd happily throw Iowa in a moneyline parlay.
Over/Under
I'm passing on the over/under, but I'd lean toward the over, as I believe Iowa will hit a ton of 3s in this matchup.
My Pick: Iowa -2.5 (Play to -4)
Nebraska vs Iowa College Basketball Betting Preview
It feels like a good time to buy Iowa coming home after that atrocious road loss to Wisconsin. I imagine the Hawkeyes are due for plenty of positive shooting variance after the Badgers hit 21-for-31 (67%) from 3 on Friday.
As I constantly write and talk about on The Action Network’s pages and airwaves, Big Ten home court is always worth playing.
Since 2015, Big Ten home teams in conference play are 652-554-25 ATS, suitable for 47 units of profit at a 4% ROI.
That sample includes Big Ten home teams in conference play after a loss, who are 166-142-10 ATS for 15 units of profit at a 3.6% ROI since 2015.
In short, buying Big Ten home teams in bounce-back spots is consistently profitable, and I'm doing just that with the Hawks on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Nebraska is due for a loss following six consecutive wins, including a hard-nosed 66-58 home win over KenPom No. 20 UCLA this past Saturday. However, the other five wins came against KenPom sub-50 squads, including games against Murray State (No. 114), Hawaii (No. 174) and Southern (No. 246).
The key schematic matchup is Iowa’s more perimeter-oriented, shot-making-reliant offense against Nebraska’s compact defense.
The Cornhuskers pack it in on defense, ranking 355th nationally in 3-point rate allowed. They’ve been pretty fortunate on that end, with opponents shooting under 30% from 3, a mark bound to regress on such crazy volume — ShotQuality projects that mark closer to 33% based on the “quality” of attempts allowed.
For example, UCLA shot 4-for-28 from deep in its loss to Nebraska.
Iowa is mainly a transition-and-isolation-based offense, but Fran McCaffery-led teams are built around skill, spacing and shooting.
The Hawkeyes rank among the nation’s top 50 offenses in ShotQuality’s Spacing, Shot Selection and Shot Making metrics, and there’s no shortage of elite shooters in Iowa City between The Sandfort Bros. (Payton and Pryce), Josh Dix, Drew Thelwell and Brock Harding.
It’s hard to make a schematic, on-the-court argument for Iowa’s defense, which is a sieve. I’m mainly banking on the Hawkeyes hitting a million high-quality jumpers in an excellent home-court situational spot, thus overpowering Nebraska’s offense with pure 3-point volume.
The line is likely a tad high, as the markets continue to tax these solid situational spots. Still, the market likely isn’t baking in Nebraska’s long-overdue negative regression on defense, which is why ShotQualityBets’ model projects Iowa as a seven-point home favorite on Tuesday.
