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The Nebraska Cornhuskers take on the Creighton Bluejays. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Nebraska Creighton prediction and pick.
The Creighton Bluejays know that the Big East Conference is there for the taking this season. Connecticut looks like the only elite-level challenger the Jays will have to contend with in order to win the conference championship. Villanova looks frail and uncertain in the first year of new coach Kyle Neptune's tenure after the retirement of Jay Wright. Marquette has had its moments, such as a blowout of Baylor, but the Golden Eagles followed that big win with a homecourt loss to a not-quite-elite Wisconsin squad which has been noticeably inconsistent in the early part of the season. Xavier beat West Virginia but lost to an Indiana team which just got thumped by Rutgers. It really does seem that Creighton and UConn are the class of the Big East, though we obviously need to see what December brings before the meat of the conference season gets going in early January.
The Bluejays are deep, versatile, and balanced. They can win in the paint and on the perimeter. They have a good bench and a lot of players who gained significant playing time in last season's injury-filled run to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Coach Greg McDermott is developing players well, which gives him so many more lineup combinations to test in the early part of the season. He can throw so many different looks at opponents, which will make it hard for them to adjust. Creighton did lose at Texas this past week in the Big 12-Big East Battle series, but it came close to beating the No. 2 Longhorns in Austin. That kind of effort will serve Creighton well for the rest of the season. The main problem against Texas was that Creighton could not hit 3-pointers. The Jays missed 14 of their first 15 threes before hitting a few late in the game to make the score closer. That is obviously a point of emphasis for the team heading into this game against its in-state rival.
Nebraska hammered Boston College in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, scoring over 50 points in the second half and winning by over 20 in a game it was favored to win by 6.5 points. Maybe that explosion against BC represents the start of something impressive under coach Fred Hoiberg, who has struggled more than a lot of people thought he would. The skeptical view — and it is pervasive in college basketball circles — is that the win over Boston College was much more a reflection of how bad the Eagles are, not on any improvements the Huskers have recently made. This game against Creighton is a great test of that thesis.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Nebraska-Creighton College Basketball odds.
College Basketball Odds: Nebraska-Creighton Odds
Nebraska Cornhuskers: +15.5 (-115)
Creighton Bluejays: -15.5 (-105)
Over: 141.5 (-110)
Under: 141.5 (-110)
Why Nebraska Could Cover the Spread
This is a big spread, and it's a rivalry game. Nebraska might not be a particularly strong team, but rivalry-game emotions and intensity could enable the Huskers to play better defense than they would against non-rival opponents.
Why Creighton Could Cover the Spread
The Bluejays are going to hit 3-pointers after missing so many of them against Texas. If Creighton hits threes at a high rate, this game will be a blowout.
Final Nebraska-Creighton Prediction & Pick
The Jays will hit threes. This will be a blowout.
Final Nebraska-Creighton Prediction & Pick: Creighton -15.5
