After ugly loss, Iowa out to rebound vs. surging Nebraska

Field Level Media|published: Mon 6th January, 22:17 2025

Dec 30, 2024; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes forward Payton Sandfort (20) reacts during the first half against the New Hampshire Wildcats at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

One would be hard-pressed to believe that Iowa's defense has improved from last season when looking at Friday night's game at Wisconsin, where the Badgers splashed a school-record 21 3-pointers in a 116-85 Big Ten Conference rout.

The Hawkeyes (10-4, 1-2 Big Ten) will try to bounce back Tuesday night when Nebraska (12-2, 2-1) comes to Iowa City for the first of Iowa's two conference home games this week.

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery's point of emphasis heading into Tuesday will be making sure his team does a better job of contesting shots.

"Our closeouts weren't nearly what they needed to be, whether we were man or zone," he said after the loss to the Badgers. "They have a lot of different guys that can make them and we were a little slow getting out."

Not even the nation's third-highest scoring offense could make up for allowing 116 points. Iowa enters Tuesday scoring 89.4 ppg and ranks sixth nationally in field-goal accuracy at 50.9 percent. Owen Freeman (16.8 ppg) and Payton Sandfort (15.5) lead four players in double figures.

While the Hawkeyes enter this game licking wounds, the Cornhuskers come in after one of their best wins of the season. They stifled then-No. 15 UCLA Saturday night in a 66-58 triumph in Lincoln, holding the visiting Bruins to 38.6 percent shooting and 4 of 28 from the 3-point line.

Coach Fred Hoiberg said that he talked with the Cornhuskers -- winners of six straight games -- about how defense had to be a constant presence.

"We went out there for 40 minutes and we were on point with that," he said.

Hoiberg sounded a note of caution about the trip to Iowa, noting that his team made this same excursion last season after an emotional home win over then-No. 1 Purdue.

"They handed it to us," he said of the Hawkeyes' 94-76 thumping last January that extended their all-time series lead to 25-15.

Brice Williams, who led the Cornhuskers' attack against the Bruins with 16 points, is scoring a team-high 18.8 ppg.

--Field Level Media