A hot ticket in Lincoln right now, or at least a warm one? Try the Nebraska men’s basketball team.

Despite losing two of three games including back-to-back road games earlier this month, demand for Nebraska basketball tickets at the Pinnacle Bank Arena is on target to hit the highest level in at least five years, according to an analysis by online broker SeatGeek. Monday night's 66-51 road win at No. 25 Indiana is undoubtedly going to increase the ticket demand for the final eight home games even more, starting with Thursday night's 7 pm game against No. 6 ranked Michigan State.

"Nebraska is off to a strong start, and we certainly see demand up this year for their home games,” said Chris Leyden, SeatGeek’s communications manager. SeatGeek is the ticket broker partner of HuskerOnline.com.

That doesn’t mean you can’t find seats at all levels at Pinnacle, where capacity is 15,500. But the secondary market price has trended higher so far this season, with some tickets in the lower levels going for big bucks of $100 or more.

Like football, all Nebraska home games once again this year are technically sellouts. But the real action is in the resale market where single-game tickets can be purchased through ticket brokering websites, including SeatGeek, Ticket Express and StubHub.

To gain a better sense of ticket demand and prices for this season, SeatGeek analyzed its data and shared the highlights with HuskerOnline.

In addition, Ticket Express and the Nebraska ticket office, which partners with StubHub, largely confirmed SeatGeek’s findings based on their own experiences this season.

Among the data-scrubbing takeaways:

*The average resale price for a ticket at Pinnacle is $42, based on SeatGeek’s sales through the first half of the season up to last Thursday’s Penn State game, a six-point victory for Nebraska.

Keep in mind that season tickets in the third level of the Pinnacle arena -- the cheapest package for the 18-game home schedule -- cost $108, or $6 per ticket; a lower level season ticket costs $378, or $21 per game; and a seat in the 200 level costs $234 for a season tickets or $13 per game. Of course, some prime seats also require donations.

With brokers in the secondary market, handling fees and taxes could significantly alter the price to walk through the doors.

*The average $42 resale price this season is $5 higher than a year ago at the same point in the season. Last year, the average resale price for a ticket was $37. For the 2016-2017 season, it was $25, up from $23 in the 2015-2016 season. In 2014-2015, the average resale price through SeatGeek was $34.

“I would equate demand for tickets this season to that first season” at Pinnacle in 2013 with there being a “sense of urgency” to purchase, said Marc Boehm, executive associate athletic director for external operations.

In addition, the 1,500 student season tickets sold out immediately, as they have since Pinnacle opened, Boehm said.

Though the early home schedule this season featured mostly lower-tiered opponents, six of the games were on weekends, which typically outdraw midweek games. The super weekend marquee matchup was against Creighton.

By contrast, the early 2017-2018 home schedule included only four weekend games, with Kansas being the biggest draw.

“We’ve lobbied for a long time with the conference” for more weekend games, said Boehm. “Saturday games and early Sunday games are very favorable situations. Sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw dictated by television.”

*The hottest home game ticket this season may come down to the regular season home finale against Iowa on Sunday, March 10 at 1 p.m. It will also be senior day.

“That’s definitely one of the games a lot of people have circled,” said Chad Carr, president of Ticket Express in Omaha. “For a lot of people, that will be the last time to see the team.”

For now, Nebraska’s December game against arch-rival Creighton stands as the highest-demand ticket, with an average resale price on SeatGeek of $90. At Ticket Express, Carr said tickets for the Bluejays’ retailed from $37 to $270.

SeatGeek’s Leyden said tickets for the Iowa game currently have an average resale price of $90, and prices could get hotter if demand increases and supply tightens closer to tip-off.

The next-best comparison would be the 2017 Saturday home game against highly ranked Kansas. Tickets for that game on the SeatGeek site sold for an average of $147.

*Demand for the remaining eight Nebraska home games depends on the day of the week and the tip-off time, which is not out of the norm for many schools in the country, along with who they are playing. And as always, the weather, and television can impact the market, as could a late-season slump.

Nebraska has four weekend home games remaining on its schedule, starting with a potential headliner against Ohio State on Saturday, Jan. 26, at 11 a.m. In addition to the Buckeyes and Iowa, Nebraska’s remaining weekend home games are against Northwestern and Purdue in February.

*Ticket demand should be high for Thursday’s Michigan State game, but imagine if it were scheduled for a Saturday night in Lincoln?

Nebraska will take a 20-game home court unbeaten streak -- which ties a school record dating to 1965-1967 under coach Joe Cipriano -- into Thursday night’s match-up against the mighty Spartans. Nebraska’s last loss at home was the Kansas game on a last-second basket.

Still, largely because it’s a weeknight game that could keep fans outside of Lincoln in front of their television, tickets were as low as $24 a ticket as of six days before the game. Lower-level seats were selling for around $83 and up.

“To see them take on Michigan State for less than $30 a ticket seems like a fantastic deal,” said Leyden of SeatGeek.

Here are the lowest get-in prices from SeatGeek for the remaining home games. Prices are as of Jan. 12.

Tuesday, Jan. 29 vs. Wisconsin: $11; Wednesday, Feb. 6 vs. Maryland: $9; Wednesday, Feb. 13 vs. Minnesota: $9; Saturday, Feb. 16 vs. Northwestern: $34; and Saturday, Feb. 23 vs. Purdue$ $41.

Even with demand up this season, Nebraska home games are the 43rd highest in demand ticket in college basketball this year, according to SeatGeek’s Leyden.

By comparison, he said, Duke tops the list with an average price of a single-game ticket selling for $297 at Cameron Indoor.

In the Big Ten Nebraska is 12th when it comes to the average ticket price in the secondary market for single-game sales, according to SeatGeek data.

Topping the list is Indiana, at $107; followed by Illinois, at $76; Minnesota at $62; Rutgers at $55; and Michigan and Northwestern, both at $54.

Rounding out the conference, is Michigan State at $53; Wisconsin, $51; Purdue, $48; Ohio State and Maryland, both at $44; Iowa, $39; and Penn State, $31.

Leyden cautioned that at this point in the season, a single home game against a big-time opponent can lead to a big bump in the average resale price. That’s what happened recently with Wake Forest when it hosted Duke, he said.

Since moving from the Devaney Center to Pinnacle in November 2013, Boehm said the athletic department has kept season ticket prices affordable compared to the rest of the league.

In that metric, he said, “we’re in the middle to the low end.”

Despite some lackluster and underperforming seasons under Tim Miles, fans continue to fill the Pinnacle Bank Arena.

In fact, the arena has been sold out for men’s basketball four of its first six years, said Boehm. “Our fans are unbelievable,” he said.

He said he was “somewhat stunned” this season by attendance at two home games over the Christmas break against Cal State Fullerton and Southwest Minnesota State. The Cal State game drew 13,349 while the Southwest Minnesota game had actual walk-in attendance of about 12,400, he said.

“That’s staggering when you look at other schools’ attendance on their break games,” Boehm said. “We’ve got a good product.”

With Nebraska in the heart of conference play from here on out, and where every game can be a grind, one goal will be to land the best possible seed in the post-season Big Ten tournament. Then, hopefully, a March Madness bid.

The conference tournament is at the United Center in Chicago this year, making it a relatively easy drive or easy flight for Nebraska fans. Carr expects many to make the trip.

“People have realistic expectations when it comes to Nebraska basketball,” Carr said. But, if the chips fall Nebraska’s way in the post-season, he added, “this could be the year that we make the NCAA tournament and get our first-ever win.”

Steve Rosen covers the business of sports for HuskerOnline.com. Questions, comments, story ideas? Reach Steve at sbrosen1030@gmail.com.