No. 5 Iowa embarrasses Huskers in 102-64 blowout

For the first time in years, Nebraska had established some momentum with back-to-back Big Ten victories heading into its road game at No. 5 Iowa on Thursday night.

However, that progress came to a screeching halt in a 102-64 loss to the Hawkeyes that wasn’t even as close as the final score might indicate.

Jordan Bohannon scored 26 points and made a career-high nine 3-pointers, while Big Ten Player of the Year candidate Luke Garza added 14 points, eight rebounds, and four blocks in just 24 minutes, as UI made a program-record 16 threes.

As good as Iowa was, the Huskers were equally as bad. NU shot just 33.8 percent and turned it over 20 times – its most in conference play – to get outscored 25-5 in points off turnovers.

In other words, all of the critical points in NU’s game plan that it needed to happen to pull off an upset fell apart from the start, and head coach Fred Hoiberg’s squad was brought back to Earth with a thud.

The 38-point final margin the most lopsided defeat of Hoiberg’s career, and the 102 points were the most Nebraska had allowed in a game since Minnesota put up 107 on Mar. 8, 2020.

Nebraska (7-18, 3-15) missed its first six shots, and Derrick Walker picked up two fouls in the first two minutes of the game, as Iowa jumped out to an early 17-5 lead.

That deficit would grow to as much as 48-26 going into halftime, as the Hawkeyes (19-7, 13-6) closed the half on a 16-3 run while NU missed nine of its last 10 shots.

Iowa was nearly flawless offensively, shooting 50 percent from the field, making nine 3-pointers, and recording 14 assists on 18 field goals.

Conversely, the Huskers were a mess on both ends of the floor. The defensive intensity was never there, and NU was even worse with the ball, going 32.3 percent from the field with 12 turnovers to 10 made shots.

It was more of the same in the second half, as Nebraska shot just 35.3 percent and turned it over eight more times after the break to help push its deficit to as much as 100-61 before all was said and done.

Kobe Webster led NU with a conference-high 17 points, though 14 of those came with the game all but decided in the second half. Lat Mayen finished with 14 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, while Dalano Banton scored 14 points off the bench.

Patrick McCaffery posted 19 points with six rebounds, while older brother Connor McCaffery only scored three on 1-of-8 shooting but added a game-high eight assists.

Iowa shot 51.4 percent for the game, and its 43 3-point attempts were one shy of the school record. The Hawkeyes were the first opponent to shoot above 50 percent since NU returned from its COVID-19 pause on Feb. 6.

Nebraska will close out the regular season on Saturday at Northwestern. Tip is set for 12:30 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised on Big Ten Network.

1. Nebraska wasn’t good in any phase

Yes, Iowa is one of the best teams in the country. But with the effort Nebraska put forth on both ends of the floor on Thursday night, it would have struggled against just about anyone.

Two quick fouls on Walker set the tone right away, but the Huskers just seemed out of it from the opening tip.

The impressive effort and execution it displayed three nights earlier in routing Rutgers were non-existent against the Hawkeyes. They were as sloppy as ever with the basketball, as at least eight of their 20 turnovers were off unforced errors.

Trey McGowens, who had been so good the past two outings, scored just three points on 1-of-7 shooting with five turnovers. Banton wasn’t any better with five giveaways of his own.

That’s 10 combined turnovers from two players who are supposed to be NU’s primary point guards.

Nebraska had countless wide-open shots early and couldn’t make anything. It had shot 41 percent from 3-point range in its two straight wins coming into the game and 37.1 percent over the last nine contests dating back to Feb. 12.

For decades, the Huskers have made it a habit of taking two steps backward after every step forward.

This was the latest instance of precisely that, as all of the positive vibes Nebraska built up in its last two wins evaporated into the Iowa City night.

2. The energy and focus were never there

Hoiberg had a feeling his team might be in trouble during Nebraska’s shoot-around hours before Thursday night’s game tipped off.

After the game, Hoiberg said he didn’t like the Huskers’ focus or energy coming in, and that translated exactly how he feared with NU’s most undisciplined and lackluster performance of the season.

What irked Hoiberg the most wasn’t the fact that Nebraska missed countless open shots but how the team let early struggles negatively affect its effort in every other area of the game.

Missed shots turned into lazy get-backs in defensive transition. Easy Iowa points led to sloppy passing and ball handling on the other end, which ended up with the most turnovers the Huskers had in a game since 25 at Creighton on Dec. 11, 2020.

“I told them in the locker room; it’s not very often I’ve gone in there and was disappointed by their effort and fight. Tonight was one of those nights,” Hoiberg said. “We looked tired. We played tired. We were a step slow. Iowa had a lot to do with that… But just our overall lack of energy and urgency was the thing I was most disappointed with.”

3. Mayen was the only positive

There wasn’t much of anything for Nebraska to feel good about on Thursday night, but the one positive was that Mayen had his second-straight career game.

After dropping a career-high 25 points against Rutgers, the junior forward followed up with 14 points and a career-best 13 rebounds while shooting 4-of-8 from behind the arc.

His 13 boards were the most by a Husker in Big Ten play and tied Yvan Ouedraogo’s 13 vs. Doane for the team’s season-high mark.

It wasn’t a game-changing performance by any stretch, but it marked another step in the right direction for an important part of NU’s rotation.

Over the previous 13 games, Mayen had been averaging 10.2 points while shooting 47 percent from the field and 41.8 percent on 3-pointers with 4.0 rebounds.

In his first 11 games this season, he only averaged 5.5 points and 2.5 boards, shooing just 30.7 percent overall and 17.6 percent from three.