MBB Preview \\ at Nebraska

OPPONENT	Iowa (15-15, 6-13) at Nebraska (17-13, 7-12)
LOCATION	Lincoln, Neb.
DATE	Sunday, March 9
TIP-OFF	11:31 a.m. (CT)
RADIO	Hawkeye Radio Network
TV	FOX

 

The University of Iowa men’s basketball team heads to Lincoln for its regular season finale on Sunday, facing Nebraska at 11:31 a.m. (CT) from Pinnacle Bank Arena.  The game will be televised on FOX.

FOLLOW LIVE
Radio: Sunday’s game will be broadcast on the Hawkeye Radio Network with Gary Dolphin (play-by-play) and Bobby Hansen (color) on the call.  The network includes more than 40 stations that blanket the state of Iowa and include portions of Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin.  The Hawkeye Radio Network includes a 60-minute pregame show.
TV: Sunday’s game will be televised on FS1 with Kevin Kugler (play-by-play) and Nick Bahe (color) on the call.

OPENING TIP

• The winner of Sunday’s Iowa-Nebraska matinee will claim the final spot in the 2025 Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis.
• The Hawkeyes are looking for the season sweep over the Huskers.  Iowa downed Nebraska, 97-87 in overtime, on Jan. 7 in Iowa City behind 30-point games from Josh Dix and Payton Sandfort.
• Senior Payton Sandfort surpassed 1,500 career points against Washington on Feb. 22 and is currently 14th in career scoring (1,550) and third in career 3-pointers (259).  He is three 3s behind Jeff Horner for second place on Iowa’s all-time list.
• Sandfort is the second Hawkeye all-time with 1,500+ points, 500+ rebounds and 250+ 3-pointers.
• In the nine games without injured forward Owen Freeman, Payton Sandfort (16.3) and Dix (16.1) are combining to average 32.3 points and 11 rebound per game. 
• Sophomore Pryce Sandfort is Iowa’s third-leading scorer during the stretch, averaging 9.3 points per contest.
• Payton Sandfort and Dix combined for 50 points against No. 7 Purdue on Feb. 4, 46 points in the Feb. 12 road win at Rutgers, 44 points in the two-point loss to Oregon on Feb. 19 and 42 points in the win over Washington.
• Iowa is second in the Big Ten and is 19th nationally, averaging 82.3 points per game.  The Hawkeyes have the second-best field goal (.486) and effective field goal percentage (.563) in the league.
• Sandfort has scored 20+ eight times in the last 16 games, giving him a team-best 12 20+ point games this season.  
 • Iowa has shot better than 50 percent from the floor 12 times and better than 60 percent three times, including a season-best 62.7 percent in the win over New Orleans on Dec. 15.  The team is 10-2 when shooting at least 50 percent from the field.
• The Hawkeyes have made at least eight 3-point field goals in 25 games, including 10+ in 13 contests -- the most in a season since 2022-23. Iowa is second in the Big Ten (37th nationally), averaging 9.7 per game.  
• Iowa is leading the Big Ten in assists (18.3, 4th in NCAA) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.81, 4th in NCAA). The team has had 20+ assists in nine games.  The Hawkeyes have had fewer than 10 turnovers in five of their last eight games.

SCOUTING NEBRASKA
•  The Huskers have dropped four consecutive games to fall to 17-13 overall and 7-12 in Big Ten play.  Nebraska’s last three losses have all been by a single possession -- 49-46 vs. Michigan, 67-65 vs. Minnesota and 116-114 in double overtime at Ohio State on March 4.
• Nebraska is 10-5 at home and 4-5 in Big Ten play at Pinnacle Bank Arena this season.  
•  The Huskers have five Quad 1 and four Quad 2 victories this season.
•  Guard Brice Williams is leading the Big Ten (12th nationally) in scoring, averaging 20.4 points, while shooting 47.4 percent from the field and 89.9 percent from the free throw stripe, ranking third in the league.  He also averages 4.1 rebounds and a team-high 2.8 assists per game.
•  WIlliams has 17 20-point games, including three 30-point and one 40-point contest.  He scored a career-high 43 points on 16-of-29 shooting with five 3-pointers in the double overtime loss at Ohio State.
• Juwan Gary averages 13.7 points and 4.7 rebounds, while Connor Essegian averages 10.7 points with a team-high 70 3-point field goals off the bench.   
•  Nebraska averages 75.6 points per game, while shooting 45.6 percent from the floor and making 7.3 3-point field goals.  Defensively, the Huskers allow 72.5 points and are -0.5 on the glass.

SERIES HISTORY

• Sunday’s game will be the 42nd game in the all-time series between Iowa and Nebraska that dates back to 1907.  The Hawkeyes lead 26-15.  
• Iowa has won the last two meetings in the series -- both in Iowa City.  The Hawkeyes are 1-5 in their last six games in Lincoln. 
• Nebraska won the most recent meeting in Lincoln, winning 66-50 on Dec. 29, 2023.  
• Iowa is 2-5 all-time at Pinnacle Bank Arena, which opened in 2013. 

FIRST MEETING: IOWA 97, NEBRASKA 87 (OT)

Junior Josh Dix and senior Payton Sandfort combined for 61 points to lead Iowa to a 97-87 overtime victory over Nebraska on Tuesday in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes trailed 52-37 with 14:54 remaining before battling back to tie the game at 64 with 4:58 to play.
• After the Huskers’ Brice Williams hit a 3 at the buzzer to force overtime, Iowa scored the first nine points of the bonus frame and outscored Nebraska, 21-11, in OT to improve to 2-2 in Big Ten play.
• Dix’s 31 points were a career-high, while Sandfort’s 30 points tied a career-best. The duo combined for 13 of Iowa’s 17 3-point field goals, which was one off a team season high.

LAST GAME: NORTHWESTERN 68, IOWA 57

The Hawkeyes led for more than 24 minutes, but No. 8 Michigan State used a 61-point second half to rally for a 91-84 road victory on Thursday inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.  Iowa led by as many as 14 points in the first half and 37-30 at the break.
•  Junior Josh Dix paced the team with 18 points and a career-high seven rebounds.  Payton Sandfort and Seydou Traore had 15 points apiece and Pryce Sandfort added 12.  

IOWA IS...

• 6-0 when scoring 90+ points this season.
• 7-1 when winning the rebounding battle.
•12-1 when shooting more free throws than its opponents.
• 10-4 when leading at the half.

MORE NOTABLES

• Head coach Fran McCaffery has the most victories in Iowa history with 295, including a record 142 Big Ten wins.  McCaffery won his 200th career game in Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Feb. 22 against Washington. 
• McCaffery has 546 career victories, making him one of 24 active head coaches with 500 career victories.
• Iowa rallied from nine down in the second half to beat Washington on Feb. 22. It was the team’s sixth comeback victory of the season.
• The Hawkeyes have had multiple 20-point scorers in seven games this season.
• Redshirt junior Carter Kingsbury played a career-high 28 minutes in the win over Washington on Feb. 22.  
• Iowa has rallied to win six games this season when trailing in the second half.  Iowa came back from being 15 down in the overtime win over Nebraska on Jan. 7 in Iowa City.  
• Senior Payton Sandfort has started 64 consecutive games dating back to the start of his junior season.
• The Hawkeyes went 12-6 at home this season and the program has won 96 of its last 103 nonconference home games, dating back to 2012.
• Iowa is second in the Big Ten and 36th nationally, averaging 13.47 fast-break points. 
• The Hawkeye reserves have outscored their counterparts in 16 games.  Iowa got 57 points from its reserves in the 112 point outburst against New Hampshire on Dec. 30.  
• Iowa has held 20 opponents under 50 percent shooting (and three under 40 percent), has forced at least 18 turnovers in six games and has held six opponents under 70 points.   The Hawkeyes are 98-3 when holding opponents to fewer than 61 points over the past 14+ seasons.
• The Hawkeyes have had 10 games decided by single digits (4-6 record) and four games decided by a single possession (2-2 record).
• The Hawkeyes had a 62-point first half in the win over New Hampshire.  Iowa has scored 50+ 11 times in a half this season.  
• Graduate Drew Thelwell won the 100th game of his collegiate career in Iowa’s victory over USC Upstate on Nov. 26. He scored his 1,000th career point on Jan. 24 against Penn State. 
• Iowa limited Rider to a single 3-point field goal on Nov. 19 in Iowa City -- the fewest 3-pointers the program has allowed in nearly a decade (0 vs. Alcorn State on Dec. 9, 2014).
• Iowa had 11 blocked shots in its win over New Orleans on Dec. 15, the fifth-most in a game under McCaffery.
• The Hawkeyes have had six players hit the 20-point mark in a game this season -- Payton Sandfort (12), Josh Dix (6), Owen Freeman (4), Drew Thelwell (2), Pryce Sandfort (1) and Brock Harding (1).
• Harding has 164 assists to 71 turnovers in 30 games His 5.5 assists per game are fourth in the Big Ten and 37th nationally.  He has had five or more assists in 20 games and 8+ in six contests.  
• Sandfort currently has an 89.4 career free throw percentage (261-of-292), which is the best mark in program history.  He made 18 straight free throws from Nov. 22-Dec. 21 and is fourth in the league with an 88.6 free throw percentage on the year.
• The Hawkeyes averaged 83.1 points per game in 2023-24 -- the third-highest scoring average during the McCaffery era.  Iowa has averaged 80+ points per game in four straight seasons for the first time since 1968-72.

PAYTON WATCH

Senior Payton Sandfort currently is 14th in program history with 1,550 career points, while ranking third in the record books with 259 career 3-point field goals.  He is three 3-point field goals shy of tying Jeff Horner for No. 2 in program history.
• With 17 points, Sandfort will become the 12th player in program history -- the first since Luka Garza -- to have back-to-back 500-point seasons.