Troy vs Nebraska Prediction, Picks & Best Bets for Today's March Madness Game

Douglas Farmer - Betting Analyst at Covers
Douglas Farmer • Betting Analyst 18+ years betting experience
Updated: Mar 19, 2026 , 10:21 AM ET • 4 min read

Farmer's Prediction: Nebraska puts the pedal to the medal in a high-scoring win, earning its first-ever victory in the NCAA Tournament.

NCAAB

Match starts: 1 hrs
TROY
66 %
NEB
34 %
EXPERT PICK - TOTAL
o137.5 (-110)
Read Analysis
Sam Hoiberg Nebraska Cornhuskers college basketball
Photo By - Reuters Connect. Nebraska Cornhuskers guard Sam Hoiberg (1) drives to the basket as UCLA Bruins guard Eric Dailey Jr. (3) moves in to defend.

Beating the Troy Trojans may not seem like a massive deal, but for a Nebraska Cornhuskers program that has never won an NCAA Tournament game, it means something.

My Troy vs. Nebraska predictions expect the Cornhuskers to keep their feet on the gas en route to a high-scoring finish.

I explain further with my full March Madness picks on Thursday, March 19.

Troy vs Nebraska prediction

Who will win Troy vs Nebraska?

Nebraska: The Nebraska Cornhuskers opened the season 20-0 before the crux of the Big Ten schedule saddled them with six losses. The most humbling of those losses was falling three times as a 1.5-point favorite, hardly an indictment of focus. Expect Nebraska to stay disciplined against an overmatched Troy Trojans team.

Troy vs Nebraska best bet: Over 137.5 (-110)

Long misses lead to long rebounds, and long rebounds lead to points in transition.

Expect plenty of each piece of that thought as the Troy Trojans hoist a bounty of 3-pointers early on Thursday: Troy takes 3-pointers at an inordinately high rate despite making less than a third of them, while the Nebraska Cornhuskers rank Top 10 in the country in both forcing 3-point attempts and in opponents missing those 3-pointers.

Nebraska is not exactly a fast-paced team, but those long misses should lead to enough easy buckets to propel this first-round matchup Over its modest total.

Covers COVERS INTEL: Troy has been an underdog of at least three buckets just three times this season; all three games were on the road, and all three games went Over their totals.

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Troy vs Nebraska same-game parlay

While Troy takes too many 3-pointers for a team that misses 67.8% of them, Nebraska shoots more than half its field-goal attempts from beyond the arc and ranks in the top third of the country in making them. This math problem is rather clear.

And the Trojans’ long misses should lead to more rebounds in the hands of Cornhuskers guards, primarily Sam Hoiberg, already with a knack for tracking down defensive rebounds.

Troy vs Nebraska SGP

  • Over 137.5
  • Nebraska -13
  • Sam Hoiberg Over 4.5 rebounds

Our Big Dance SGP: Troy's misses yield Huskers' gains

There is a cognitive disconnect here. Combining the Over 137.5 with Nebraska -13 pays +260, but this combination featuring Troy’s Team Total pays better than double that. The two same-game parlays are hardly different, certainly not 140% different. The entire thought in this preview is that Troy is going to miss long-range shots, and those will lead to easy buckets for Nebraska. Those thoughts apply to both of those same-game parlays; this one just pays wildly better.

Troy vs Nebraska SGP

  • Over 137.5
  • Troy Team Total Under 62.5
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Troy vs Nebraska odds

  • Spread: Troy +13 | Nebraska -13
  • Moneyline: Troy +575 | Nebraska -1000
  • Over/Under: Over 137.5 | Under 137.5

Troy vs Nebraska betting trend to know

Troy finished the regular season on a 1-5 stretch against the spread, also losing three times outright as a favorite. Two wins in the Sun Belt Tournament pushed the Trojans into the NCAA Tournament, but they hardly closed the season strongly. Find more college basketball betting trends for Troy vs. Nebraska.

How to watch Troy vs Nebraska

Location Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, OK
Date Thursday, March 19, 2026
Tip-off 12:40 p.m. ET
TV truTV

Troy vs Nebraska key injuries

Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change.
Not intended for use in MA.
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Douglas Farmer
Betting Analyst

Douglas Farmer spends his days thinking about college football and his nights thinking about the NBA. His betting habits and coverage follow that same pattern. He covered Notre Dame football for various outlets from 2008 to 2024, most notably spending eight seasons as NBC Sports’ beat writer on the Irish. That was also when his gambling focus took off. Knowing there were veteran beat writers with three decades more experience than he had, Douglas found his niche by best recognizing Notre Dame’s standing in each year’s national landscape, a complex tapestry most easily understood and remembered via betting odds.

In 2021, that interest created a freelance opportunity with Covers, a role that eventually led to Douglas joining the company full-time in 2023. In the fall, Douglas will place five or six dozen bets each week, a disproportionate amount via BetRivers because the operator tends to have lines slightly different than the rest of the market. The same can be said of Circa Sports’ futures markets.

While Douglas is an avid NBA fan and covers the league throughout the year, the vast majority of his bets are on college football, because that is the biggest key to sports betting: Know what you do not know.

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