Iowa hands Nebraska another defeat, knocks Huskers out of Big Ten Tournament

Senior Day turned into a bit of a nightmare for Nebraska.

Needing a win to reach the Big Ten Tournament, the Huskers played spiritless basketball for much of Sunday’s game.

Iowa, also needing a win to make the league tournament’s 15-team field, took full advantage, reeling off an 83-68 triumph before a sold-out crowd at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Brock Harding’s three-pointer with 2:50 left seemed to be the dagger as Iowa improved to 16-15 overall while finishing 7-13 in regular-season Big Ten play.

Nebraska finishes 17-14 and 7-13 and basically has no chance of playing in the NCAA Tournament. The Huskers fell for the sixth time in the last seven games.

Brice Williams, coming off a 43-point effort at Ohio State, was held to seven points on 3-for-12 field-goal shooting. Fellow senior Juwan Gary led Nebraska with 24 points and seven rebounds.

Iowa seemed comfortable pretty much throughout the game.

During the first half, Iowa certainly found quite a bit of comfort offensively, right down to Payton Sandfort’s layup off a designed play at the halftime buzzer. Leading 40-35 at the break, the Hawkeyes hit 6 of 15 three-point shots in the first half (40%).

Meanwhile, Nebraska missed its last 10 shots from three-point land in the first half. Brice Williams, coming off a 43-point performance at Ohio State, had only seven points at halftime.

However, Williams’ steal and basket gave Nebraska an 18-10 lead, its largest of the opening 20 minutes. Iowa, though, immediately reeled off an 11-0 run, taking its first lead of the game on guard Brock Harding’s three-point basket that made it 21-18 with 10:08 left before the break.

Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg couldn’t have been pleased with his team at the break. It looked a bit tentative. It wasn’t particularly crisp on either end of the floor.

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