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LINCOLN, Neb. — The University of Iowa men’s basketball couldn’t overcome a cold shooting night Tuesday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
The Hawkeyes shot just 12.1 percent from 3-point range (making 4-of-33 attempts) in a 76-70 road loss to Nebraska. Iowa is 1-5 in its last six trips to Lincoln.
Sophomore Joe Wieskamp paced the Hawkeyes with 21 points, making 10-of-23 field goals, but he went just 1-of-10 from 3-point range.
Junior Luka Garza posted a double-double — his ninth of the season — with 16 points and a career-high 18 rebounds, and freshman Joe Toussaint finished with 14 points, six rebounds, and four assists.
Nebraska had the shooting advantage across the board, shooting 49.1 percent (Iowa was 41.6) from the floor, 38.5 percent from 3-point range, and 14-of-26 (53.8 percent) from the free throw line. The Hawkeyes had just five free throw attempts — two makes — in the game.
The two teams traded 7-0 runs to start the game before Nebraska used a 16-4 run to push its lead to 23-11 at the 8:03 mark. The Huskers packed it in defensively, sending two or three players at Garza, and they kept him scoreless until the five-minute mark of the first half.
Iowa trailed 38-31 at the break before closing the gap to 43-41 on a Wieskamp layup at the 15:45 mark. The Hawkeyes took their first lead three minutes later when Wieskamp nailed his only 3-point attempt of the game, making the score 51-50 with 12:41 left.
With the game tied at 59 with 5:20 to play, Nebraska’s Thorir Thorbjarnarson hit consecutive 3-pointers in a span of 53 seconds to put the Huskers up 65-61 to seize the game’s momentum.
Five Huskers reached double figures with Thorbjarnarson leading the way with 17 points and nine rebounds. Cam Mack scored 15 points to go along with 10 assists.
Quoting Head Coach Fran McCaffery
“We had good looks, we settled a few times in the second half without really working the ball. When you’re open, I always tell my guys if you’re open, shoot the ball.
“We didn’t shoot it well. We didn’t have a ton of turnovers, and defensively we weren’t as good as we need to be for 40 minutes, we were good at times. We got worn down a little bit.”
Still No CJ
Redshirt freshman CJ Fredrick wasn’t available — he didn’t dress and was in street clothes in a boot — on Tuesday in Lincoln. Fredrick is out with a stress reaction in his foot.
Of Note…
- Garza’s 18 rebounds tie Adam Woodbury for the most by a Hawkeye in the Fran McCaffery era. Garza became the 27th player in program history to join the 1,000-point, 500-rebound club with his third rebound of the first half of tonight’s game.
- Wieskamp netted 15 of his game-high 21 points in the second half.
- Tonight concluded a stretch of eight of 10 games away from home, dating back to Nov. 28, 2019.
- Iowa won the rebounding battle, 48-34, which included 19 offensive rebounds. The Hawkeyes had a 17-3 advantage in second-chance points.
- The Hawkeyes had a 52-26 advantage in points in the paint.
- Iowa’s two free throws and five free throw attempts are both season-lows.
Up Next
Iowa returns to home court on Friday when the Hawkeyes host No. 12/14 Maryland. Tipoff is set for 6:01 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Tickets are available for purchase at hawkeyesports.com/tickets.
