Maturity, toughness and connectivity reigned Sunday in Nebraska men’s basketball’s 84-75 win over Iowa.
The maturity was shown prior to the game, with rousing standing ovations for the Huskers’ five seniors honored on the court for senior day festivities: Sam Hoiberg, Rienk Mast, Jamarques Lawrence, Jared Garcia and Kendall Blue.
Hoiberg, Mast and Lawrence have played key roles at Nebraska. Hoiberg is the one constant in the program the last five seasons.
“I thought they handled the emotions of the day really well, and it was emotional. It was emotional for a lot of guys,” Fred Hoiberg said of the senior day moment. “I saw it in Rienk, certainly saw it in Sam. I got emotional out there. Those guys had done so much for us.”
It was shown in the response to giving up a double-digit lead at home with 14:57 left in the second half.
It was shown at the end of the game when Cale Jacobsen purposefully handed the ball off to one of those seniors, Sam Hoiberg, as the clock ran down in overtime.
Hoiberg threw the ball as high as he could when the clock stuck zeros on the overtime win.
“A lot of the emotions kind of came out in that moment,” Sam said. “You kind of suppress those, and that’s what we were told to do, so we could go and get the job done, and I think we got a little ahead of ourselves, the end of regulation, and slipped up a little bit. I think we just kind of willed that one out in overtime.”
The toughness, both mentally and physically, was challenged. Iowa does a great job and is well coached. The Hawkeyes chipped away at the Huskers’ lead using an 8-2 run in the final 1:03 of regulation and sent the game to overtime on a 3-pointer by Kael Combs with 2.7 left on the clock.
“They had a very stoic look on their faces,” Coach Hoiberg said. “The guys found a way to recover after the tough stretch there at the end, and give Iowa credit, that’s what they do. They play with a tremendous amount of poise and they found the hot hand, but our guys made really, really big plays all throughout that five-minute extra session.”
The connectivity on the court, something this team has shown all season long, particularly defensively, was on full display once again.
The Hawkeyes’ leading scorer, Bennett Stirtz, came into the game scoring 20.5 points per game. The Huskers held him to just 11 points in his 45 minutes of action.
“They brought the house every time he touched the ball,” Hawkeye head coach Ben McCollum said. “I mean, it was beyond belief. They just brought it, and then super physical with him. There’s really good defense. Like, it’s really good,” McCollum added. “They do a great job with their execution.”
Jacobsen’s Big Day
It was senior day, but Husker junior Cale Jacobsen stepped up in a huge way. The Ashland-Greenwood product had a career-high 15 points and didn’t miss a field goal, going 6-for-6 from the field and knocking down both of his 3-point attempts.
Jacobsen made the first basket in overtime at the 3:23 mark, a wide-open 3-pointer.
His eight rebounds were also a career high.
“Cale had no hesitation,” Fred Hoiberg said. “Stepped right up there and knocked down the biggest shots of the day for us.”
There might have been a little extra motivation for Jacobsen in this game.
When Hawkeye coach Ben McCollum was the head coach at Northwest Missouri State, the Bearcats showed interest but only softly recruited him. In the end, he was told the roster was full.
That full roster has certainly worked out to be a positive for the Huskers.
More History
With the win, the Huskers secured their 26th of the season, tying a single-season program record set in the 1990-91 season.
The Huskers’ second-place finish in the Big Ten standings secured the No. 2 overall seed in next week’s Big Ten Tournament. Since joining the Big Ten, Nebraska’s previous high was third, in 2024. There has been one other time in the school’s history that a team finished second in conference play, the 1992-93 Big Eight season.
With a 15-5 Big Ten record, the Huskers set a new record for conference wins in school history.
