Huskers Set for Rematch at Iowa

Nebraska Cornhuskers (13-3, 2-3 Big Ten)

at Iowa Hawkeyes (9-4, 3-1 Big Ten)

Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022, 5:10 p.m. (CT)

Carver-Hawkeye Arena – Iowa City, Iowa

Live TV: BTN (Sloane Martin, Christy Winters Scott)
Live Radio: Huskers Radio Network (4:45 p.m.)
Matt Coatney (PBP), Jeff Griesch (Analyst)
Lincoln (107.3 FM), Omaha (ESPN 590 AM), Huskers.com, Huskers App

Huskers Prepare for Rematch with Hawkeyes 

• The Nebraska women’s basketball team completes its two-game regular-season series with Iowa on Sunday when the Huskers travel to Iowa City to take on the Hawkeyes.

• Tip-off between the Huskers (13-3, 2-3 Big Ten) and the Hawkeyes (9-4, 3-1 Big Ten) just one week after battling each other in Lincoln is set for 5:10 p.m. (CT) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena with TV coverage provided by the Big Ten Network with Sloane Martin and Christy Winters Scott on the call.

• Matt Coatney and Jeff Griesch will provide commentary for the Huskers Radio Network (B107.3 FM, Lincoln; ESPN 590 AM, Omaha), Huskers.com and the Huskers App.

• Nebraska is looking to rebound from back-to-back losses to Iowa (95-86, Jan. 9) and Indiana (72-65, Jan. 13) after taking the No. 6 Hoosiers down to the wire in Bloomington on Thursday night. USBWA National Freshman of the Week Alexis Markowski led Nebraska with 17 points and seven rebounds, including nine straight points in the final four minutes. Markowski, who scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, helped the Big Red rally from a 17-point third-quarter deficit to trim the margin to 68-65 with 24 seconds left.

• Markowski, who earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors for the third time on Jan. 10, has averaged 17.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals in three games as a starter against top-25 Big Ten teams in place of injured starter Bella Cravens (ankle).

• Sam Haiby, a returning second-team All-Big Ten choice, is the only Husker who has produced double figures in all five conference games. She had 18 points last Sunday against Iowa and had 10 points at No. 6 Indiana before leaving the game early in the fourth quarter with an arm injury.

• Jaz Shelley, who leads Nebraska in every major statistical category, just missed a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds at Indiana. The 5-9 guard notched her fifth double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds against Iowa. Shelley is the only player in the Big Ten to rank among the top 20 in the conference in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals and blocked shots. 

• Isabelle Bourne, an honorable-mention All-Big Ten selection a year ago, has added 9.8 points and 4.4 rebounds, while Ashley Scoggin has pitched in 9.0 points as one of the Big Ten’s best knock-down shooters. Bourne and Scoggin have joined Shelley in the starting five for all 16 games this season. Scoggin ranks 17th nationally with her 44.9 three-point field goal percentage.

• Nebraska continues to play a deep rotation, with Allison Weidner, Annika Stewart, Kendall Coley, Ruby Porter, MiCole Cayton and Kendall Moriarty all seeing regular playing time.

Nebraska Cornhuskers (13-3, 2-3 Big Ten)

40 – Alexis Markowski – 6-3 – Fr. – F/C – 10.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg

34 –Isabelle Bourne – 6-2 – So. – F – 9.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg

0 – Ashley Scoggin – 5-7 – RSo. – G – 9.0 ppg, 1.1 rpg

1 – Jaz Shelley – 5-9 – So. – G – 13.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg

4 – Sam Haiby – 5-9 – Jr. – G – 11.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg

Off the Bench

14 – Bella Cravens – 6-3 – Jr. – F – 7.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg

21 – Annika Stewart – 6-3 – Fr. – F – 6.6 ppg, 2.5 rpg    

3 – Allison Weidner – 5-10 – Fr. – G – 5.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg

32 – Kendall Coley – 6-2 – Fr. – F/G – 3.6 ppg, 2.6 rpg

11 – Ruby Porter – 5-10 – Fr. – G – 2.8 ppg, 0.8 rpg

5 – MiCole Cayton – 5-9 – Gr. – G – 1.9 ppg, 0.9 rpg

10 – Whitney Brown – 5-8 – Fr. – G – 1.7 ppg, 0.7 rpg

15 – Kendall Moriarty – 6-1 – Fr. – G – 1.5 ppg, 0.4 rpg

Head Coach: Amy Williams (Nebraska, 1998)

Sixth Season at Nebraska (85-78); 15th Season Overall (278-187)

Iowa Hawkeyes (9-4, 3-1 Big Ten)

14 – McKenna Warnock – 6-1 – Jr. – G/F – 12.8 ppg, 7.9 rpg

25 – Monika Czinano – 6-3 – Sr. – F/C – 19.0 ppg, 5.4 rpg

20 – Kate Martin – 6-0 – RJr. – G – 7.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg

22 – Caitlin Clark – 6-0 – So. – G – 25.2 ppg, 8.1 rpg

24 – Gabbie Marshall – 5-9 – Jr. – G – 6.8 ppg, 1.8 rpg

Off the Bench

4 – Kylie Feuerbach – 6-0 – So. – G – 3.8 ppg, 1.3 rpg

44 – Addison O’Grady – 6-4 – Fr. – F/C – 3.3 ppg, 2.9 rpg

1 – Tomi Taiwo – 5-10 – Sr. – G – 3.2 ppg, 1.4 rpg

3 – Sydney Affolter – 5-11 – Fr. – G – 2.0 ppg, 2.3 rpg

23 – Logan Cook – 6-1 – Sr. – F – 1.1 ppg, 2.5 rpg

34 – AJ Ediger – 6-2 – Fr. – F – 0.9 ppg, 1.4 rpg

Head Coach: Lisa Bluder (Northern Iowa, 1983)

22nd Season at Iowa (448-238); 38th Season Overall (804-380)

Nebraska Numbers to Watch

• Through games Jan. 13, the Huskers ranked among the top 20 teams nationally in scoring margin (6th, +21.2 ppg), assists (8th, 281), rebounds (9th, 699), scoring offense (10th, 81.3 ppg),  defensive rebounds per game (10th, 30.4 rpg), free throws made (12th, 233), free throw attempts (13th, 328), blocked shots (15th, 80), assist-to-turnover ratio (16th, 1.23), rebounds per game (17th, 43.7 rpg), assists per game (17th, 17.6 apg),three-point field goals made (19th, 136), and field goal percentage (20th, .459).  

• Nebraska leads the Big Ten in scoring margin (+21.2 ppg), rebound margin (+8.3 rpg), total rebounds (43.7 rpg), defensive rebounds (30.4 rpg) and field goal percentage defense (.358)

• Nebraska guard Jaz Shelley ranks among the top 20 players in the Big Ten in scoring (17th, 13.7 ppg), rebounding (10th, 7.4 rpg), assists (8th, 4.5 apg), blocked shots (5th, 1.3 bpg), steals (7th, 1.8 spg), three-point field goal percentage (4th, .433), three-pointers made per game (5th, 2.6) and assist-to-turnover ratio (6th, 2.3).

• Jaz Shelley is the only Big Ten player to rank among the top 20 in the conference in all five major statistical categories: scoring (16th), rebounding (10th), assists (8th), blocks (6th), steals (7th).

• Huskers Jaz Shelley (5th, 2.5 pg) and Ashley Scoggin (10th, 2.2 pg) rank among the top players in the Big Ten in three-point field goals made per game. 

• Nebraska is the only team in the nation with two shooters (Scoggin, 17th; Shelley, 25th) ranked among the top 25 in the nation in three-point field goal percentage.

• Nebraska’s backcourt has taken care of the ball while creating opportunities. Jaz Shelley (2.0) and Sam Haiby (1.8) rank No. 6 and 12, respectively in the Big Ten in assist-to-turnover ratio based on the NCAA minimum of 3.0 assists per game. Husker reserves Ruby Porter (3.6) and Allison Weidner (2.2), who don’t meet the NCAA minimums, own better assist-to-turnover ratios.

• Nebraska ranks 10th nationally in scoring offense with 81.3 points per game. The only time in the last 25 years NU has averaged more than 75 points per game in a season came in 2009-10 (77.4 ppg). That Husker team went unbeaten in the regular season, won the Big 12 regular-season title and advanced to Nebraska’s first NCAA Sweet Sixteen as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.    

• Sophomore point guard Jaz Shelley has pulled down 120 total rebounds in 462 minutes this season. In two seasons (971 minutes) at Oregon (2019-20, 2020-21), the 5-9 Shelley totaled 70 rebounds.

• Jaz Shelley leads Nebraska with 19 blocked shots through 16 games. She had six blocks in 55 games over two seasons at Oregon. 

Scouting The Iowa Hawkeyes

• Iowa enters Sunday’s rematch with Nebraska at 9-4 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten after posting a 79-66 win at Purdue on Thursday. 

• Monika Czinano led Iowa inside with 27 points and eight rebounds, while going 12-for-14 from the floor. Caitlin Clark added 24 points, eight rebounds and nine assists while going 14-for-16 at the free throw line. 

• Iowa beat Purdue despite going 0-for-15 from long range. The Hawkeyes hit 27-of-30 free throws.

• The Hawkeyes opened back-to-back Big Ten road games with a 95-86 win over Nebraska in Lincoln last Sunday. Clark led the Hawkeyes with 31 points and 12 assists to go with eight rebounds, but McKenna Warnock delivered the biggest blows against the Big Red by adding 23 points on 7-of-9 three-point shooting while adding 10 rebounds. Czinano (20) and Kate Martin (12) put four Hawkeyes in double figures. 

• As a team, Iowa went 11-of-19 from three-point range against NU and 10-of-11 at the free throw line. Iowa’s 95 points are 23 more than any other team has scored against Nebraska this season.

• Iowa is averaging 81 points per game on the season, including 82.8 points in Big Ten play. The Hawkeyes are shooting 50.2 percent from the field in league play and 91.9 percent from the free throw line. Iowa owns negative rebound (-4.3) and turnover (-0.8) margins in Big Ten action.

• The Hawkeyes missed three non-conference contests (Drake, Seton Hall, USC) because of COVID cancellations and have had two Big Ten games (Penn State, Illinois) postponed by protocols.

• Last season, Iowa advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen before falling to UConn (92-72) in San Antonio. The Hawkeyes (20-10, 11-8 Big Ten) also advanced to the Big Ten Championship Game.

• Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year Caitlin Clark leads the Hawkeyes with 25.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game. Clark averages 19 field goal attempts per game for the Hawkeyes and is shooting 89.9 percent (89-99) from the free throw line (7.6 FTA pg). This season, she has hit just 22.6 percent (26-115) of her three-point attempts and is just 4-for-30 (.133) in conference play. Last season as the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Clark hit 40.6 percent (116-286) of her three-point tries. Over the last 10 games, Clark has hit just 18.3 percent (16-87) of her long-range attempts.

• Clark scored a season-high 44 points on 18-for-26 shooting and had eight assists in a win over Evansville (Jan. 2).

• In four Big Ten games, Iowa’s big three of Clark (27.3 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 9.5 apg), Czinano (21.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg) and Warnock (16.0 ppg, 8.8 rpg) have been dominant. Kate Martin (7.3 ppg) and Gabbie Marshall (7.0 ppg) round out the Iowa starters in Big Ten play, while Kylie Feuerbach (2.0 ppg), Tomi Taiwo (1.0 ppg) and Addison O’Grady (1.0 ppg) are the only other Hawkeyes to play in all four games.

Nebraska vs. Iowa Series History

• Iowa leads the all-time series with Nebraska 18-15, including a sweep of the season series in 2020-21 and a 95-86 win over the Huskers at Pinnacle Bank Arena last Sunday. 

• Iowa jumped to an early 17-7 lead but Nebraska rallied to keep it a possession game. Iowa surged again to take its biggest lead at 50-39 with 2:59 left in the first half, but NU rallied to send it to the locker room trailing 52-46 at the half. Iowa hit 67.7 percent (21-31) of its first-half shots, including 6-of-11 three-pointers. McKenna Warnock was 5-for-5 from long range in the first 20 minutes.

• NU tied the game at 67 in the third and tied it again at 81 in the fourth, before the Hawkeyes sealed the win with a 7-0 run.

• Iowa won the last meeting in Iowa City, 83-75 (March 6, 2021). 

• The Huskers defeated Iowa 78-69 (Dec. 28, 2019) in Lincoln, before Iowa salvaged a season split with a 76-60 victory at Carver-Hawkeye Arena (Feb. 6, 2020). Iowa has won four straight in the series.

• The Huskers are 11-11 against the Hawkeyes as Big Ten foes since Nebraska joined the conference in 2011-12. NU won the first eight meetings as Big Ten opponents capped off by a 72-65 win over the Hawkeyes in the 2014 Big Ten Championship Game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

• Iowa won the next five meetings and is 6-3 over the past nine contests.

• The Huskers are 6-8 all-time against Iowa in Lincoln, dating back to a 67-66 win over the Hawkeyes at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Dec. 22, 1979.

• The Huskers are 4-8 all-time against the Hawkeyes in Iowa City. 

• Nebraska is 5-2 all-time against Iowa on neutral courts dating back to the first meeting in the series, a 71-63 Husker win at the Jennies’ Classic in Warrensburg, Mo., on Jan. 13, 1978.

Nebraska Streaks

• Sam Haiby has produced double figures in 10 consecutive Big Ten games, including all five contests this season. She had 18 points in the first meeting this season with Iowa (Jan. 9).

• Nebraska’s game with Iowa will be the sixth of seven straight games against 2021 NCAA Tournament qualifiers for the Huskers. It will be seventh of eight consecutive games versus 2021 postseason tournament qualifiers.

• The Huskers have knocked down at least one three in 414 straight games dating back to a loss at UTEP on Dec. 20, 2008. Nebraska has hit at least two three-pointers in 293 consecutive games.

Deep Bench Boosts Big Red

• The Husker bench has outscored opponent reserves 471-222 (+15.6 ppg) through 16 games, including a 349-166 edge (+18.3 ppg) in 10 games at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

• In the first meeting with Iowa, Nebraska’s bench outscored the Hawkeyes 19-2 but Iowa got two of its biggest points from reserve Kylie Feuerbach, who scored in Iowa’s decisive 7-0 run late in the game that broke an 81-81 tie.

• In Iowa’s win over Purdue, the Hawkeye bench scored four points on 1-of-4 field goal shooting in a combined 21 minutes. Iowa’s bench has totaled 159 points (12.2 ppg) through 13 games, including six total points in its last three Big Ten contests after getting nine in a win over Michigan State.

• A total of 10 Huskers are averaging better than 10.0 points per 40 minutes, including two Huskers (Alexis Markowski, 26.1pp40; Annika Stewart, 24.9 pp40; 5 pp40) who are averaging better than 20 points per 40 minutes. 

• No Husker ranks among the top 25 players in the conference in minutes per game. Jaz Shelley leads Nebraska with 28.9 minutes per game, while Courtney Shaw from Northwestern ranks 25th in the conference (30.6 mpg).