The 3-Point Play: Nebraska's resilience, offensive improvement highlighted in its upset over Iowa
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Behind hot shooting and timely defense, Nebraska battled its way to an improbable 81-77 road upset over Iowa on Sunday.
Here are my three biggest takeaways from the victory and what it means for the Huskers going forward…
Nebraska’s grit was on full display in Iowa City
When all was said and done, Iowa out-scored Nebraska 52-21 in points off turnovers and second-chance points. The Huskers gave it away 15 times and allowed 21 offensive rebounds to the Hawkeyes.
Yet whenever the sold-out crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena tried to slam the door on a Senior Day victory, NU stayed on its feet and kept throwing punches.
Sunday was a physical game from start to finish, and emotions were high on both ends. Nebraska needed a win to keep its postseason hopes alive. Iowa was trying to send its seniors out on top and lock up a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament.
Just as the Huskers have time and again this season, they didn’t get overwhelmed by the moment. In fact, they put on one of their best shooting performances of the season.
They also shut down one of the hottest offenses in the country by holding the Hawkeyes without a field goal for the final six minutes.
After being dominated on the boards all day, NU hauled in 13 of its 30 defensive rebounds over the final 10 minutes. Iowa missed nine of its last 10 shots, including its final seven attempts.
Nebraska turned it over 11 times over the first 28 minutes of the game. It only had four over the final 12 minutes while shooting 11-for-16 from the field during that stretch.
“To still find a way, that just shows that this team has a lot of resiliency to it,” NU head coach Fred Hoiberg said. “That’s been the thing I’ve been most pleased with this last month of the season. We were down 17 to Wisconsin and then eight to Maryland in the last five minutes and found a way to come back and get wins in overtime.
“Just really proud of how our guys continue to go out there and play and finally make some toughness plays down the stretch.”
The Huskers shot the lights out
What’s the best way to overcome massive disparities in rebounding and turnovers? Light up the nets with one of your best shooting performances of the season.
Nebraska kept pace despite its struggles because one player after another came up with big shots all game long.
Sam Griesel (16), Jamarques Lawrence (15), C.J. Wilcher (12), and Keisei Tominaga (11) all finished in double figures. Derrick Walker, Sam Hoiberg, and Wilhelm Breidenbach all chipped in nine points.
The Huskers shot 58.5 percent from the field, including going 60% in the second half. That marked their second-highest field goal percentage of the year, behind only its 61.5% against Boston College.
They set a season-high with 14 made 3-pointers at a 53.8% clip. Six players hit a three in the win, and four made at least two. NU assisted on 19 of its 31 made shots, led by a season-high eight from Walker.
Nebraska averaged 1.286 points per possession for the game, scoring 54% of the time it had the ball. In the second half, NU posted a whopping 1.355 ppp and scored on 17 of its 31 possessions.
“Just the confidence throughout the group,” Griesel said. “But also, this group – now we’ve played eight or 10 games together or so, and we know how we play and have built that chemistry. We’d already built that chemistry off the floor, but with this new group, we have on-court chemistry now.”
Wilcher stepped up in the clutch
This season has been an up-and-down ride for Wilcher.
After starting the first 18 games of the year, the sophomore guard was moved out of the starting lineup for the next eight. Injuries moved him back into the top five for the past five outings, and Wilcher has responded with some of his best basketball of the season since.
The former Xavier transfer scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half at Iowa, including a critical run of seven in a row late in the game.
“C.J. made some unbelievable plays for us down the stretch,” Fred Hoiberg said.
Wilcher has now reached double figures three times over the past five games. He had done that just twice over his previous 16 outings.
Wilcher did turn it over three times in the second half. But he also shot 4-of-5 from the field and 2-of-3 from behind the arc after halftime, adding five rebounds, two assists, and a steal in 30 minutes.
Nebraska has been waiting for Wilcher to find his groove all year, especially after losing Emmanuel Bandoumel and Juwan Gary to season-ending injuries. His recent resurgence has been critical during the Huskers’ impressive finish.
“It’s about just keep chopping wood,” Wilcher said. “It is something that was pretty big for our team, but you can’t get too high or too low. Just keep staying the course.”
They said it
“The word that comes to mind for me is resiliency. I felt like that was a really gritty effort by our guys. Just grown-man rebounds, getting on the floor, getting some bruises on our body – making plays like that… We just made a lot of winning plays in the second half.”
Senior point guard Sam Griesel on how he would describe Nebraska’s performance in Sunday’s road upset over Iowa.
