The Iowa Hawkeyes take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln, NE. Tip-off is set for 12:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
Nebraska is favored by 6.5 points on the spread with a moneyline of -285. The total is set at 155.5 points.
Here are my Iowa vs. Nebraska predictions and college basketball picks for March 9, 2025.
Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers Prediction, Picks
- Pick: PASS · Lean Nebraska -6.5
My Nebraska vs. Iowa best bet is on the Cornhuskers spread, with the best odds currently available at DraftKings. For all of your college basketball bets, be sure to find the best lines by using our live NCAAB odds page.
Iowa vs. Nebraska Odds, Spread, Line
| Iowa Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+7.5 -110 | 155.5 -105o / -115u | +260 |
| Nebraska Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-7.5 -110 | 155.5 -105o / -115u | -325 |
- Iowa vs. Nebraska spread: Nebraska -7.5, Iowa +7.5
- Iowa vs. Nebraska over/under: 155.5
- Iowa vs. Nebraska moneyline: Nebraska ML -325, Iowa ML +260
Spread
I'm passing on this game altogether. But I'd lay the points with the Cornhuskers if I had to pick a side.
Moneyline
I'm passing on the moneyline.
Over/Under
I'm passing on the over/under.
My Pick: PASS · Lean Nebraska -6.5
Iowa vs. Nebraska NCAAB Preview
Nebraska’s at-large tournament hopes are essentially dead after four consecutive losses, including most recently in double overtime at Ohio State.
To make it, the Cornhuskers will need a miracle run in the Big Ten Tournament.
That said, there’s an outside shot the Cornhuskers miss the conference tournament altogether. But there’s an even-larger chance that Iowa misses the league dance.
I’m writing this article before the night games on Saturday, so that you know.
Here are the final 16 Big Ten seeding scenarios at the time of writing:
This is as close to a must-win game for both teams as you’ll get. This could end up being a win-or-go-home game.
The Hawkeyes won the first regular-season head-to-head meeting back in early January, although they needed a 15-point second-half comeback and a 17-for-35 (46%) 3-point shooting performance just to win in overtime.
That was a pretty unlucky result for the Cornhuskers.
So, Nebraska will get a revenge opportunity, this time at home and against a shorthanded Iowa team that’ll be without big man Owen Freeman, who scored 15 points and grabbed eight boards in the first game.
It’s also worth mentioning Iowa is a horrific road team, as the Hawkeyes are 1-8 away form home this season and rank 356th nationally in Haslametrics' away-from-home ratings.
That said, this is a pretty poor matchup for Nebraska’s defense. The Cornhuskers run among the most compact defensive schemes in the nation, so they allow a ton of triples (349th nationally in 3-point rate allowed, 46%, per KenPom).
Meanwhile, Iowa’s entire offense is predicated upon intricate off-ball screening movement on the perimeter to generate open catch-and-shoot jumpers. Nebraska is simply going to hand the Hawkeyes those opportunities.
Nebraska should score at will on the other end, given Iowa’s defense is impossibly tiny and essentially lifeless. I expect Brice Williams to eat off those dribble handoff sets the Huskers love to run, just as he did in the first matchup (28 points on 10-for-20 shooting).
However, the entire handicap comes down to an often-impossible thing to predict: Will the Hawkeyes hit their triples? If they do, they could cover and the game should go over, but the opposite can happen otherwise.
I’d rather not bet on such a high-variance matchup. That said, I’d likely lay the points with Nebraska if I had to pick a side.
Iowa shot the lights out in the first meeting and still needed overtime to win at home.
The Hawkeyes will get their triples off, but they could lose convincingly in a game with more typical shooting splits, especially given their road woes (they’re shooting just 34% from 3 on the road this season, compared to 40% at home, for what it’s worth).
