Nebraska @ Iowa preview
Carver-Hawkeye Arena
Last Meeting ( Feb 8, 2020 ) Nebraska 72, Iowa 96
On the heels of one of its biggest wins of the year, No. 5 Iowa will have to avoid a letdown when it hosts Nebraska on Thursday in a Big Ten contest in Iowa City, Iowa.
The Hawkeyes (18-7 overall, 12-6 Big Ten) recorded a 73-57 win at then-No. 4 Ohio State on Sunday, avenging a four-point loss to the Buckeyes earlier last month. Sunday's result helped wash away some of the pain of a 22-point loss at Big Ten-leading Michigan three days earlier.
"There was no panic," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said.
Luka Garza, Iowa's all-time scoring leader, had another big game with 24 points and 11 rebounds for his 11th double-double this season and 31st of his career.
Jordan Bohannon became the Hawkeyes' career assist leader, while Joe Wieskamp hit five 3-pointers against Ohio State and is shooting 48.8 percent from deep.
"I was just trying to shoot the ball with confidence," said Wieskamp, who has six games with five made 3s this season -- including four in the past six contests.
"I just tried to make shots in critical points and do whatever I could to help our team get the win."
Visiting Nebraska (7-17, 3-14) looks like a pushover on paper, but the Cornhuskers have shown some life of late. They've won two straight, including a shocking 72-51 home win over Rutgers on Monday.
Lat Mayen made five 3-pointers en route to scoring a career-high 25 points against the Scarlet Knights.
Derrick Walker was 7 of 11 from the field as Nebraska shot over 50 percent for the second consecutive game after doing so only three other times this season.
"It was great to see all of the work that our guys have been putting in pay off in a game like that," Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said. "It's the exact effort and consistency you need to compete in this league and win in this league."
Nebraska was playing its first game without leading scorer Teddy Allen, a junior who announced before the game that he was leaving the program.
Iowa, which will wrap up the regular season at home against No. 25 Wisconsin on March 7, can finish as high as third and as low as sixth in the Big Ten standings. The top four teams receive a double bye in the Big Ten tournament, while the No. 3 seed would avoid Michigan until the championship game.
"We know we just have to keep doing what we're doing and control the things that we can control -- our effort on the defensive end and our ability to move the ball offensively," Garza said. "When we do that, good things happen."
Nebraska is 1-7 at Iowa since joining the Big Ten in 2011-12. The Cornhuskers haven't defeated a ranked opponent since shocking No. 21 Maryland in the second round of the 2019 conference tournament.
--Field Level Media