Tuesday, Nebraska men’s basketball heads back on the road for its first of two games against Iowa this season.
The game, scheduled for an 8 p.m. tip, will be televised on Big Ten Network with Kevin Kugler, Shon Morris and Andy Katz on the call. It can also be heard on the Huskers Radio Network with Kent Pavelka and Jeff Smith.
The Hawkeyes have won three straight against the Cornhuskers and Carver Hawkeye Arena has been a bit of a house of horrors for the Huskers. Since joining the Big Ten (2012), Nebraska is just 2-11 against the Hawkeyes in Iowa City. All time, the Hawkeyes are 20-3 against the Huskers at home and hold a 14-8 record against Nebraska in Big Ten play.
A Nebraska win Tuesday night would be the first in Iowa City since March 5, 2023, for the Huskers.
In the series, the home team has won 13 of the past 16 meetings dating back to 2016-17.
The Huskers are 6-1 in true road games this season, all coming in Big Ten play.
“We’ve had a solid road record to this point,” Hoiberg said on Monday. “But know it’s going to be a great atmosphere in Carver tomorrow night.”
Sandfort’s Return
One of the biggest storylines in the game will be the return of Husker junior Pryce Sandfort to Carver Hawkeye Arena.
Sandfort spent his first two seasons with the Hawkeyes. In his two seasons in Iowa City, he averaged 5.6 points.
This season, he is the Huskers’ leader in points per game and one 3-pointer shy of tying the single-season program record (89) for made 3-pointers in a season (Cary Cochran, 2001-02).
There will likely be some emotions for Sandfort and the Hawkeye fans on Tuesday night.
“He had two really good years at Iowa,” Hoiberg said of his leading scorer. “I’m sure a lot of things will be going through his mind, but once that ball goes up, all that stuff will go out the window. It’s all about going out and doing the things that have made him one of the top players in our league to this point in the season.
“The thing that’s been so impressive about Pryce it’s just every day he’s all about the same things. He’s so consistent in his daily approach and that’s why I don’t have any concerns about him. Certainly, there are other guys you worry maybe the roller coaster of emotions, but Pryce is going to be fine. To me, the emotions are the lead up to the game, but once the ball goes up, he’s going to be OK.”
Scouting Iowa
The Hawkeyes are 8-6 in league play and 18-7 overall.
Under Ben McCollum in his first season at Iowa, the Hawkeyes have almost an entirely new roster. McCollum brought six players with him from an NCAA Tournament team in his one season at Drake.
The biggest piece is senior point guard Bennett Stirtz. The 6-foot-4 floor general leads the team in points per game (20.4) and assists per game (4.7).
“He’s one of the top players, not only in our league, but in the country,” Hoiberg said of Stirtz. “He can hurt you in so many different ways. He can score it at all three levels, he’s got great size, really good passer, doesn’t turn the ball over.”
Stirtz’s true shooting percentage of 64.8% ranks 52nd in the nation.
“Stirtz obviously is the headliner, but they’ve got other players,” Hoiberg said. “The thing that is really impressive is their role acceptance. I think they really do a good job of playing off of Stirtz; their cutting is really good and they’ve got guys that can knock down shots all over the floor.”
One of those other players is 6-foot-7 forward Tavion Banks, another Drake transfer who is averaging a team-high 4.6 rebounds and 10.9 points on 56% shooting. Banks averages 5.5 fouls drawn per 40 minutes, good for 176th nationally.
“I think Banks is one of the more underrated players in our league — the toughness that he plays with and a really good compeiment to Stirtz,” Hoiberg said. “They’ve got players all over the place that can hurt you.”
The Hawkeyes are one of the better teams in the county at forcing their opponents into longer possessions defensively. The average possession length for an Iowa opponent is 18.3 seconds, the 331st longest in the country.
“You have to do a great job of not giving them extra opportunities,” Hoiberg said. “They do a really good job of pressuring you. They’ll get out in passing lanes, they’ll deny, they are really good with their hands, with their deflections, and you just can’t give them easy ones going the other way.”
Keys To the Game
The keys for Nebraska to get a win at Iowa aren’t easy. It’s been a tough place to play for the program historically and it will not be an easy task on Tuesday.
The first key is taking care of the basketball, something Nebraska has struggled to do in its last two games with 14 turnovers against Purdue and 18 against Northwestern.
Iowa has second best in defensive turnover rate (19.1%) in league play, and Nebraska leads the league in the same category (19.2%). The Huskers’ 10.8% defensive steal percentage in Big Ten games leads the league, and the Huskers rank 115th nationally overall at 10.5%. Iowa’s overall steal percentage of 11.5% is 49th in the country and its 10.3% steal percentage in league play ranks second behind Nebraska.
Limiting turnovers and points off of them will be the biggest key in the game.
“On the road, you are not going to be able to survive 18 turnovers,” Hoiberg said. “There’s no chance we end up on top if we turn the ball over that many times.”
The second key is rebounding. The Huskers were much better on the glass against Northwestern on Saturday. It will be key against the Hawkeyes. Iowa ranks 13th in Big Ten play in offensive rebounding rate (28.7%) and Nebraska is 17th at 23.7%.
“We were much better,” Hoiberg said. “I thought our attention to detail on our block-outs was so much better. I thought we hit first for the most part against Northwestern as opposed to Purdue, where they were wedging us and jamming us underneath the basket and then it turned into a jumping match, which we’re not going to win those very often.”
Winning the 3-point shooting battle is the third key.
Iowa is 47th nationally in 3-point percentage at 36.5%, with Nebraska not far behind at 36% (65th in the country). However, the Huskers’ 38.5% from distance in Big Ten play ranks first in the league while the Hawkeyes’ 34.6% in conference play is eighth.
Defensively, Nebraska is much better than Iowa at limiting opponents’ 3-point makes. The Huskers’ opponents are shooting 29.2% from deep this season, good for 22nd in the country. The Hawkeyes are 75th nationally in opponent 3-point percentage (32.1%).
