Petteway leading Nebraska’s 11-1 ATS surge

Published on Monday, 2/24/14, at 1:45 a.m. Eastern.

By Brian Edwards

Nebraska improved to 16-10 overall and 8-6 in Big Ten play with Sunday’s 76-57 win over Purdue as a five-point home favorite. Terran Petteway continued his stellar play by dropping 29 points on the Boilermakers.

The win was the fifth straight for the Cornhuskers both straight up and against the spread. They have now won 12 of their 13 home games while going 11-2 ATS.

Tim Miles’s team remains perfect in single-digit ‘chalk’ situations. With Sunday’s cover, Nebraska is now 9-0 in such spots. The Cornhuskers have covered the number at an 11-1 clip in their last 12 games.

Nebraska wasn’t even in the bubble conversation until it went into Breslin Center two Sundays ago and left East Lansing with a 60-51 triumph as a 14-point underdog. It hooked up money-line supporters with a payout in the +850 range (paid $850 on $100 wagers).

With a pair of blowout wins over Penn St. and Purdue added to its resume, Nebraska’s profile is on the rise (currently #46 in RPI Rankings). It has only one home loss that came in a 71-70 decision to Michigan back on Jan. 8. Nebraska has a 6-7 record against the RPI Top 100 and only three of its defeats came at the hands of opponents with RPIs worse than that of Iowa’s No. 34. Six of the Cornhuskers’ losses have come to teams with an RPI of 19 or better.

Petteway has led this unlikely surge. After dropping 23 points on the Spartans, he put up 26 against PSU.

Nebraska has four games remaining on its regular-season schedule: at Illinois, vs. Northwestern, at Indiana and vs. Wisconsin. It isn’t inconceivable that the Cornhuskers could sweep the rest of those games, although a 2-2 record is more likely.

If Miles has Nebraska with an 18-10 overall record and a 10-8 mark in Big Ten play, I would think one win at the Big Ten Tournament will be enough to earn an at-large invite. The Cornhuskers haven’t heard their name called on Selection Sunday since 1998, but that abysmal stretch could be coming to an end soon.

**Note–Click here for Brian’s best bet on Monday’s college hoops card. Brian’s college picks have produced 16.2 units of profit by cashing at a 56-percent clip for the 2013-2014 season.

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