Huskers overcome mistakes to stun Iowa in 81-77 road victory

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Looking at the final stat sheet, there were multiple reasons why Nebraska had no business beating Iowa on Sunday.

But despite massive issues with rebounding and turnovers, the Huskers found one way after another to hang around and finish off a stunning 81-77 victory in Iowa City.

Sam Griesel had a team-high 16 points, and seven Huskers scored at least nine in the win. NU shot 58.5% from the field, its second-best clip of the year, and hit a season-high 14 3-pointers. Conversely, the Hawkeyes shot just 36.5% and didn’t make a field goal for the final 6:12.

That made up for Nebraska giving up 31 second-chance points off 21 Iowa offensive rebounds and a 21-10 deficit in points off turnovers. 

The Huskers secured their first winning regular season record under head coach Fred Hoiberg at 16-15, including a 9-11 finish in Big Ten play. It also gave NU its first win in Carver-Hawkeye Arena since 2012 and its first season sweep of the Hawkeyes since joining the conference.

The loss was just Iowa’s second home Big Ten defeat of the season. The first came in its Big Ten opener against Wisconsin in a game where star forward Kris Murray was out with an injury.

The Huskers also locked up the No. 11 seed in next week’s Big Ten Tournament in Chicago. They will face No. 14 Minnesota in the second game of the first round on Wednesday night.

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Nebraska set the tone early

Nebraska came out firing to open the game, hitting seven of its first 10 shots and four of its first five 3-pointers. 

But it didn’t take long for Iowa to answer. Three straight 3-pointers followed by an And-1 by Murray sparked a 12-0 run and put the Hawkeyes up 21-18.

The Huskers reclaimed the lead at 36-33 on back-to-back threes from Sam Griesel. A four-point play by Patrick McCaffery highlighted a 10-1 run and sent NU into the break trailing 43-39.

Griesel had 14 points, while Nebraska shot 57.1% from the field in the first half. That was barely enough to keep pace with a Hawkeye squad that hit 9-of-21 3-pointers. McCaffery set a career-high with five made threes in the opening half alone.

The Hawkeyes hauling in nine offensive rebounds for a 17-6 edge in second-chance points was equally as damaging to Nebraska.

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The Huskers kept on finding a way

Nebraska tied the game back up at 51-51 after an And-1 by Derrick Walker with 15:04 remaining. But turnovers and more poor defensive rebounding allowed Iowa to go up 62-58 three minutes later.

The Huskers continued to battle, though, and a 3-pointer by Sam Hoiberg gave them their first lead of the second half at 68-67 with just over eight minutes to play.

A layup by Murray put Iowa up 71-70 with 6:12 remaining, but that would be the Hawkeyes’ last made field goal of the game. Iowa scored just six more points and missed its final seven shots from that point on.

Seven straight points from C.J. Wilcher gave Nebraska its largest lead of the second half at 80-77 with 2:33 to go. A pair of free throws by Connor McCaffery made it a one-possession game with 1:56 left, but the Hawkeyes wouldn’t score again the rest of the way.

Walker finished with nine points, 12 rebounds, and a season-high nine assists in 37 minutes of work. Wilcher scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half, while Jamarques Lawrence tied his career high with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from 3-point range.

Patrick McCaffery led Iowa with a game-high 23 points on six made threes, but the Hawkeyes only shot 29.7% from the field in the second half. Murray posted 22 points but needed 22 attempts to get there.

Nebraska ends the regular season winning five of its final six games, including two straight road victories at Rutgers and now Iowa.