Huskers Clamp Down on Hawkeyes in 66-50 Win

Juwan Gary’s 14 points led five Huskers in double figures, as the Huskers held Iowa to 26 percent shooting in a 66-50 victory Thursday evening.

Gary, who also grabbed nine rebounds, keyed the Huskers’ best defensive performance since the 2018-19 season, as the Hawkeyes were held 33 points below their Big Ten-leading scoring average.

In addition to Gary, Sam Griesel had 12 points and 10 rebounds while C.J. Wilcher (13), Emmanuel Bandoumel (10) and Derrick Walker (10) all finished in double figures for Nebraska, which improved to 6-1 at home with the only setback coming in an overtime loss to now No. 1 Purdue.

Nebraska (8-4, 1-2 Big Ten) thrilled the sellout crowd of 14,920 with a 20-0 first-half run, turning a 9-8 lead into a 21-point cushion en route to taking a 38-26 lead into the locker room. NU eventually pushed the lead to 24 and cruised to a 16-point win.

The 50 points allowed was NU’s best defensive effort under Fred Hoiberg and lowest by a Big Ten opponent since Northwestern was held to 50 points on Feb. 16, 2018. Nebraska held Iowa (8-5, 0-2 Big Ten) to a season-low 26 percent shooting, the lowest by a Husker opponent since Mississippi Valley State shot 19 percent on Nov. 6, 2018.

Nebraska out-rebounded Iowa 54-40, as the 54 rebounds were the most by a Husker team against a Big Ten opponent since joining the conference in 2011-12.

Iowa scored the first points of the game on Patrick McCaffery’s 3-pointer, but Walker and Griesel combined for nine straight points to give the Huskers a six-point lead. Iowa was within 9-8 before the Huskers held Iowa scoreless for nearly nine minutes as the Hawkeyes missed 16 straight shots at one point to fall behind 29-8.

Iowa responded with a 16-4 run in a four-minute span to trim the lead to 33-24 with 1:40 remaining in the half. However, that was as close as they would get, as Nebraska closed the half with a three-pointer by Gary to take a 38-26 lead to the locker room. Nebraska was aided by hot shooting from behind the arc, making 6-of-9 attempts in the first half.

The Huskers came out of the break strong, using a 12-4 run in the first four minutes of the second half to go ahead 50-30. Despite a seven-minute scoring drought for NU, Nebraska still held a 20-point advantage with five minutes remaining. The Big Red led by double figures the rest of the way as they improved to 8-6 on the season and 1-2 in conference play.

Filip Rebraca led the Hawkeyes in scoring, finishing with 16 points and 13 rebounds, while Kris Murray had 17 points and eight rebounds.

Nebraska travels to East Lansing to take on the Michigan State Spartans on January 3. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. (central), and the game will be televised on the Big Ten Network and carried on the Huskers Radio Network.