Report: Iowa coach Lisa Bluder yells at Nebraska official over music playing during free throws

The Iowa–Nebraska game on Sunday included plenty of drama and the drama spilled over into the postgame, as Iowa coach Lisa Bluder got into it with a Nebraska official following the game.

According to Mitch Sherman of The Athletic, Bluder yelled at a Nebraska official in the hallway outside of a postgame press conference, contending that the Cornhuskers were playing music in the arena as the Hawkeyes shot free throws.

In at least one instance, the music was still clearly playing when Iowa star Caitlin Clark was shooting free throws. Not only that, but it was a taunting sound, a ‘womp womp’ of sorts following a free throw miss by Clark.

Clark had gotten to the free throw line on what appeared to be fairly light contact from Nebraska’s Jaz Shelley. Nebraska was hit with a technical when coach Amy Williams went ballistic over the call, granting Clark an additional two free throws.

The Iowa star, chasing the all-time NCAA career scoring record, made the first two free throws. Then she missed the third. As she was lining up and starting her shooting motion for the fourth and final shot, the jeering music was still playing following the miss on the third shot.

Iowa finished the game shooting 9-of-15 at the free-throw line.

Clark did not manage to break the NCAA career scoring record, which would have required her to score 39 points in the contest. She finished with 31 points after going scoreless in the fourth quarter.

Adding insult to injury for Lisa Bluder and her team, Iowa blew a 14-point fourth quarter lead to give Nebraska a huge win for its NCAA Tournament resume.

Energy was a bit of an issue at times for Iowa, which seemed to run out of gas late and even had issues earlier on extending the lead.

“We’ve had plenty of chances to break it open, but we’re just not playing with enough energy,” Clark said at halftime on FOX. “I think we need to pick up our energy a little bit in front of our group. We know they’re going to make shots. Road games are hard, so I think we just need to pick up energy in general.

“Push the ball, take the ball out faster, and then we’ve got to defend the three-point line. … They play great defense. They’re always in gaps, are always in help. I think we can get a little bit more ball movement to open up the lane for us when we’re driving.”

It didn’t happen, though, and Clark will have to settle for her record-breaking attempt coming at home on Thursday against Michigan. She needs eight more points to break the all-time mark set by Kelsey Plum.