Win streaks in conference play have been hard to come by for Iowa and Nebraska, but one of them will have their longest of the season after they face off Sunday afternoon in a Big Ten game at Iowa City.
Iowa (16-7, 6-6 Big Ten) has won its past two league contests, most recently blowing out Maryland 110-87 on the road on Thursday. That was the Hawkeyes’ most points in Big Ten play since a 116-77 victory against Northwestern on Feb. 8, 1995.
Hawkeyes senior Jordan Bohannon sank 10 3-pointers, a school record that moved the Big Ten’s career 3-pointer leader to 12th in NCAA history. The Hawkeyes made 19 treys (on 34 attempts) in the win, the most ever for Iowa in a Big Ten game.
“It impacts the game in a variety of ways, not the least of which is creating more space for everyone else,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “It settles everybody down. Rarely do you see a box score where a team makes 19 threes and has 40 points in the paint.”
The Hawkeyes are trying to win three straight Big Ten games for the first time since the final three games of the 2020-21 regular season. To do that they will have to hold off a Nebraska team that just ended a 14-game Big Ten regular-season skid.
The Cornhuskers (7-17, 1-12) beat Minnesota 78-65 in Lincoln, Neb., on Wednesday, ending a 10-game overall losing streak. Nebraska has dropped 11 in a row on the road but heads into the Sunday game with momentum.
“It all started in practice,” freshman guard Bryce McGowens said after the win over the Golden Gophers. “I feel like this week in practice, we really got after it after our embarrassing loss (on Feb. 5 to Northwestern). We couldn’t go out like that again. So I feel like we all brought it in practice, which translated over to the game.”
Iowa has won 13 of its past 14 home meetings with Nebraska. The Hawkeyes are 12-2 at home this season, the only losses coming to Illinois and Purdue, two teams that are currently in the Top 25.
–Field Level Media
