Nebraska and Vanderbilt meet in a Round of 32 matchup Saturday that feels mispriced despite what the teams’ seeds would suggest.
The fifth-seeded Commodores are slight favorites, sitting as -1.5 points as of this writing, but the fourth-seeded Cornhuskers have a real case in this game with their stout defense and how convincing they looked in a 76-47 win over Troy in the Round of 64.
As the final score would suggest, Nebraska dominated during the Round of 64 game, going up by 10 points in the first half and never looking back while allowing 25 or fewer points in both frames.
Vanderbilt’s win wasn’t quite as pretty.
The Commodores eventually walked away with a 78-68 win against McNeese, but that score is a little misleading because the Cowboys led by 11 in the first half and the game stayed competitive well into the second half.
Defense has been Nebraska’s calling card all season, ranking top 10 on that end nationally coming into this game, according to KenPom.
Vanderbilt shot it decently against a much-worse defense in McNeese, shooting 52 percent overall and 38 percent from 3, but the Commodores were sloppy in the possession game, turning the ball over 13 times and allowing 16 offensive rebounds.
Betting on College Basketball?
That won’t fly against the Cornhuskers.
The SEC champion Commodores were a lot of people’s trendy pick heading into the tournament, given the stunning turnaround for the program in just a few short years, but sometimes the non-sexy pick is the way to go.
Take the underdog in what should be a tight one.
The play: Nebraska +1.5 (-110, BetMGM Sportsbook)
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Dylan Svoboda is a versatile writer and analyst across many sports. He’s particularly knowledgeable about the big three — MLB, the NFL and the NBA.
