IOWA CITY, Iowa — Nebraska men’s basketball lost 97-87 in overtime at Iowa Tuesday night.
The loss drops the Huskers to 2-2 in Big Ten play and 12-3 on the season. They didn’t just blow an opportunity to get a Big Ten road win, they blew a 15-point lead in the process.
“A lot of good things happened when we built that 15-point lead,” Coach Fred Hoiberg said. “Obviously, after that it wasn’t very pretty. Give Iowa credit — they kept fighting, they kept swinging, they kept clawing, and that certainly is what that team is capable of doing.”
Top-10 Defense Failed
The top-10 defense wasn’t good enough in transition and Hoiberg said as much after the game, using the word transition seven times in his 4:13 second post game press conference.
“When Iowa is in transition they are as lethal as anybody in the country, ” Hoiberg said. “Take your hat off to Iowa, they kept fighting, did a great job down the stretch.”
Defensively, Nebraska came into the game with the 10th-best defensive efficiency in the nation according to KenPom. After giving up 97 points to Iowa, it dropped to 12th.
Something had to give in this one. It was either going to be Nebraska’s defense or Iowa’s offense.
After building a 15-point lead with 16:54 left in the game, it was the Nebraska defense that gave.
For as good as the Nebraska defense has been this season, the Husker didn’t stay attached to Josh Dix enough in the game. In the three Hawkeye Big Ten games before Tuesday he was shooting 56.1% from the field and 43.8% from 3-point range.
Tuesday, the Council Bluffs (Ia.) Abraham Lincoln product played all but 22 seconds of the game and had a game-high 31 points on 10-of-14 from the field and 7-of-10 from the 3-point line.
“He’s a great player. He was a great player last year and he’s built on that and made himself a really complete overall player on both ends,” Hoiberg said. “I thought defensively he gave us problems and then offensively you saw what he did. He’s done a great job with his development and he’s got a chance to be a pro.”
If it wasn’t Dix, it was Hawkeye senior Payton Sandfort that was hitting shots late. Sandfort heated up in the second half with all of his 30 points in the final 16:41 of regulation and overtime.
“When those guys make shots, they are rhythm players, they are hard to shut off,” Hoiberg said. “I think Josh Dix is a hell of a player. I think he’s the most underrated player in the league. Sandfort has been doing that for several years now.”
The Hawkeyes came into the game averaging a Big Ten-best 89.4 points per game this season, good for third nationally, and had the 22nd-ranked offensive efficiency in the nation. After the win the Hawkeyes, have bumped that efficiency up to 19th.
Offense Good Enough to Win
Brice Williams looked as though he was going to save the day with a 3 at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. Then the offense fell apart in the final five minutes. Iowa started the overtime period with a 7-0 run and didn’t miss a shot or a free throw until the 1:02 mark in overtime.
The Husker offense was good enough to win the game for Nebraska. They shot 39.1% from 3 and 46.5% from the field. Brice Williams had a team-high 28 points on 10-of-20 shooting and 4-of-9 from 3-point range.
The Huskers missed 12 layups, and for as good as they shot free-throws against UCLA and this season overall, they missed 10 of their 22 attempts from the charity stripe on Tuesday.
“We have to find a way to finish off games like this and play complete, 40-minute games if you want to win on the road in this league,” Hoiberg said. “Free-throw shooting has been a strength of our group … We do a better job with that and maybe we win this game in regulation.”
The game was a massive missed opportunity with Nebraska moving on to play at Purdue Sunday to try and get its first road win in Big Ten play after going 2-8 away from Pinnacle Bank Arena in Big Ten play last season.
