The Nebraska Cornhuskers (12-10) will have their chance to upend the Big Ten’s best team when they play the No. 4 Maryland Terrapins (19-3) at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Action starts at 8:30 pm ET on Wednesday, Feb. 3 and can be seen on BTN.
The Cornhuskers are hoping for a better outcome after their 89-74 loss to Purdue on Saturday. Shavon Shields played well, finishing with 16 points, two steals, and one rebound for Nebraska. The Terrapins are coming off a 66-61 win against Ohio State on Sunday. Jake Layman had a good performance, accumulating 16 points and 10 rebounds to claim his third double-double of the season.
Maryland takes on Nebraska as a six-point favorite. The Over/Under (O/U) for the matchup is presently unavailable. The Cornhuskers have gone 12-10 Straight Up (SU) and 10-7 Against The Spread (ATS).
On the other side, the Terrapins have 19-3 SU and 11-10-1 ATS records. Maryland is one of the top shooting teams in the country, making .497 of its shots from the floor. Moving on to the Maryland defense, teams seem to consistently miss three-point shots against the Terrapins, who are the 30th-best team in the country in terms of three-point field goal percentage allowed at .307. They average 5.2 blocks per game, good for 28th in the nation.
The conference rivals will be squaring off for the first time this season. In their most recent meeting a season ago, Maryland came out on top, bumping its SU record to 2-0. However, with a 1-0-1 record, Nebraska has the advantage ATS.
Predictions: SU Winner – MD, ATS Winner – MD
Notes
Nebraska is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Nebraska’s last 7 games.
The Maryland Terrapins hold a solid 8-2 SU record in matchups against Big Ten Conference rivals, while the Nebraska Cornhuskers currently sit at 4-5 in these games.
Ranked 27th, the Maryland Terrapins have an offensive rating of 114.6. The Nebraska Cornhuskers rank 138th with a defensive rating of just 101.4.
The Maryland Terrapins have one of the best field goal percentages this season, ranking ninth in the nation with a FG% of 49.7%. When their opponents record a similar or higher FG%, the Nebraska Cornhuskers are winless with a 0-5 record.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers average 18.0 three point attempts per game and have an underachieving 2-8 record when attempting at least 20 in a game. The Maryland Terrapins average 21.0 attempts and have an outstanding 11-3 record when attempting 20 or more.
Nebraska ranks 168th in offensive rebounds, while Maryland ranks 82nd in defensive rebounds.
On average, Nebraska forces a turnover rate of 19.2%. When Maryland turns over the ball at a similar or higher rate, the team has an exceptional 9-1 record.
