Huskers Head to Iowa Friday Night

Huskers Hit road to Face Iowa Friday Night
The Nebraska men's basketball team has a quick turnaround following its win over No. 1 Purdue, as the Huskers travel to Iowa for a matchup with the Hawkeyes Friday night.  Tipoff is set for 8:37 p.m. (central) and the game will be carried on the Big Ten Network and the Huskers Radio Network.

Nebraska (13-3, 3-2 Big Ten) put together a dazzling offensive performance in its 88-72 win over Purdue Tuesday night. The Huskers shot 51 percent from the field, including 61 percent from 3-point range, in knocking off a No. 1 team for just the fourth time in school history and first time since 1982. Keisei Tominaga led four Huskers in double figures with 19 points, including five 3-pointers, while Rienk Mast added 18 points and helped limit National Player of the Year Zach Edey to 15 points and seven rebounds. 

Tominaga has been on a tear in January, averaging 21.3 ppg on 57 percent shooting over the last three games. The 6-2 guard is shooting 48 percent from 3-point range in that stretch and averaging 4.0 3-pointers per game. As a team, Nebraska is averaging 82.0 ppg this month on 49 percent shooting, including 46 percent from 3-point range. 
One performance that went under the radar was the effort by Brice Williams, who had nine points and set season highs in assists (nine), rebounds (11) and steals (two). Williams, who has set career bests in assists in each of the last two games, was questionable for the game because of a foot injury suffered in the second half against Wisconsin. 

Friday's game wraps up a stretch of three games in seven days, as Iowa has been off since an 86-77 win over Rutgers Saturday afternoon. Payton Sandfort had 24 points and eight rebounds to lead four Hawkeyes in double figures. Iowa is 7-1 in Carver-Hawkeye Arena this season. 

Numbers to Know
.801 - Nebraska is shooting 80.1 percent from the foul line (165-206) over the last 10 contests
dating back to Nov. 22. Keisei Tominaga is shooting a team-best 92.5 percent (37-of-40) in that span, while Brice Williams is at an 88.9 clip (32-of-36).

1.47 -Nebraska's assist-to-turnover ratio this season, which is sixth in the Big Ten as of Jan. 10.  Over the last decade, NU's best assist-to-turnover ratio is 1.32, set in the 2018-19 season. Nebraska's 16.2 assists per game is the program's highest average since 1995-96 (17.37 apg). 

2 - Nebraska has held 15 of 16 opponents under 50 percent shooting. Only Wisconsin, which shot 55 percent on Jan. 6, has shot over 50 percent this season. NU has held 21 of its last 23 opponents to under 50 percent shooting. 

4 - Nebraska's 2023-24 roster features four career 1,000-point scorers (Josiah Allick, Jarron Coleman, Rienk Mast and Brice Williams). Williams became the most recent member of the 1,000-point club at Wisconsin on Jan. 6.

9.6 - NU leads the Big Ten with 9.6 3-pointers per game as of Jan. 10.  NU has averaged more than 8.0 3-pointers/game just twice in program history (2001-02 and 2020-21). The Huskers are 8-1 this season when hitting at least 10 3-pointers.

8.7 - Rienk Mast leads the Huskers and ranks fifth in the Big Ten with 8.7 rebounds per game. It is on pace to be NU's highest rebounding average since the 2007-08 season (Aleks Maric, 10.2 rpg).

60.9 - Nebraska's 3-point shooting percentage against Purdue, as the Huskers went 14-of-23 from beyond the arc. It is just the second time in Fred Hoiberg's five seasons at Nebraska that the Huskers shot at least 60 percent from 3-point range. 

A Red Letter Day: Huskers Knock Off No. 1 Purdue
The 88-72 win over No. 1 Purdue Tuesday night marked Nebraska's fourth all-time win against a No. 1 team and first since a 67-51 win at Missouri on Feb. 6, 1982.

• The Huskers' other wins against No. 1 teams came in 1958 (Kansas State) and Michigan (1964). 
• Nebraska snapped an 11-game losing streak against AP No. 1 teams dating back to 1982.
• Nebraska played a No. 1 team only one other time since joining the Big Ten - a 74-46 loss to Indiana on Feb. 13, 2013.
• Of Nebraska's four all-time wins against No. 1 teams, Fred Hoiberg's family has been part of two of them. His grandfather, Jerry Bush, coached the Huskers to their 1958 win over No.1 Kansas State
• The win over Purdue was NU's 25th all-time win against a top-10 team in program history. 
• Nebraska has now beaten at least one top-10 team in each of the past three seasons, the first time that has happened since NU knocked off top-10 teams in four consecutive seasons (1990-91 to 1993-94) under Danny Nee.

Worth Noting 
• Nebraska enters Friday's game with a 13-3 record, the program's best start in the Big Ten era (2011-12 to present) and matches its best 16-game start since the 1990-91 team opened with a 15-1 mark. NU also went 13-3 in its first 16 games in 2010-11, 1994-95 and 1991-92. A win over Iowa would give NU its best 17 game mark since the 1990-91 campaign. 

• Nebraska will be looking for its first-ever three-game win streak over Iowa since the series began in 1907. 

•  The Huskers are 19-6 over the last 25 games dating back to Feb. 1, 2023, which leads all Big Ten schools in winning percentage and is third in wins as of Jan. 10. A big reason for that is NU's offense, as NU has averaged 77 ppg on 47 percent shooting in that stretch.

• The Huskers have snapped several streaks in 2023-24. The Dec. 10 win over Michigan State snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Spartans dating back to 2016. The Dec. 17 win over Kansas State broke a seven-game losing streak to the Wildcats dating back to 2009, while the win over Indiana on Jan. 3 was NU's first since 2009, breaking another seven-game losing streak to an opponent. 

• Nebraska enters the Iowa game averaging 78.4 points per game. It is NU's highest points per game average since averaging 80.2 points per game in the 1995-96 season and on pace to finish in the top 10 in single-season scoring average.  It is also more than 10 points per game higher than NU's average at the 16-game mark in 2002-23. NU has climbed from 149th to 32nd nationally in offensive efficiency in KenPom as of Jan. 10.

• The Huskers are now 24-4 under Fred Hoiberg when scoring at least 80 points, including 19-1 over the last three seasons. The only loss was a 104-100 quadruple overtime game at North Carolina State on Dec. 1, 2021. NU has won its last 17 games when reaching the 80-point plateau.

•  C.J. Wilcher has been on a tear in recent weeks, averaging 13.4 points per game on 65 percent shooting over the last five contests to raise his season average to 8.4 ppg. He is 14-of-23 from 3-point range (.609) in that stretch with four double-figure efforts in NU's last five games.

• Nebraska held Kansas State to 46 points on Dec. 17 in holding the Wildcats to their fewest points since the 2020-21 season and third-fewest total at home since Bramlage Coliseum opened in 1988.  It marked the fewest points NU allowed on the road since joining the Big Ten and was only the second time NU had held an opponent under 50 points on the road since the 2011-12 season. Nebraska allowed just 0.68 points per possession, its lowest total in the Big Ten era.

• One strength of the Huskers has been getting to the free throw line. NU has shot more free throws in 13 of 16 games in 2023-24 and its +93 differential ranks fourth in the Big Ten as of Jan. 10. Nebraska has had more free throws made (252) than opponents have attempted (243). NU allows just 15.2 free throw attempts per game to rank second in the Big Ten as of Jan. 10.

• Nebraska enters Friday's game ranked third in the Big Ten in free throw shooting at 75.0 percent.  As we hit the halfway point of the regular season, it is on pace to be one of NU's highest season percentages. NU has not shot over 74 percent from the foul line since the 2011-12 season when NU shot a school-record 76.6 percent. 

• Nebraska's bench has provided a spark, averaging 23.8 points per game. The Huskers' leading scorer has come from the bench five times (Hoiberg-Lindenwood; Wilcher-Rider, North Dakota and South Carolina State; Gary-Stony Brook) and NU has had 14 double-figure efforts from its bench in 2023-24. 

• Nebraska won its first seven games by 10 or more points. It was just the second time in over 100 years - the other was from Dec. 3-30, 1990 - that the Huskers won seven straight games by double figures.

• The Huskers finished non-conference action with a 10-1 mark, matching their best non-conference record since joining the Big Ten (also 2018-19).  

About Iowa
Iowa comes into Friday's matchup with a 9-6 record following last Saturday's 86-77 win over Rutgers. The Hawkeyes feature the Big Ten's top scoring offense, averaging 86.7 points per game and have topped the 100-point mark four times.  Since a three-game losing streak to Purdue, Iowa State and Michigan, the Hawkeyes have won four of their last five with only a setback at Wisconsin in that span. Fran McCaffery is in his 14th season in charge of the Hawkeyes and has guided Iowa to the last four NCAA Tournaments (2019, 2021-23). 

Iowa features a balanced attack with five players averaging at least 9.7 ppg. Valparaiso transfer Ben Krikke leads the Hawkeyes in scoring at 16.7 points per game on 58 percent shooting. Payton Sandfort, who was the Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year in 2022-23, is at 14.2 ppg and shooting 40 percent from 3-point range, while Tony Perkins is at 14.1 ppg and tops Iowa in assists. As a team, Iowa has a 1.9-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio and averages just 10.3 turnovers per game. Iowa also gets to the foul line, as the Hawkeyes average more than 16 points per game from the foul line and shoot 75.5 percent as a team. 

Series History: The Hawkeyes lead the all-time series, 24-15, in a series that dates back to 1907. It is NU’s third-oldest series against a Big Ten foe, as only NU’s series with Minnesota and Wisconsin have been around longer.  The teams had not met since 1976 before NU joined the Big Ten in 2011-12. Nebraska is 8-12 against the Hawkeyes since joining the Big Ten, as the teams have split the last eight matchups. NU's win in Iowa City last year was its first since the 2011-12 campaign.  The home team has won 11 of the past 13 meetings dating back to 2016-17.

Last Time Out
Behind a blistering shooting night from 3-point range, Nebraska stunned No. 1 Purdue, 88-72, at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Jan. 9.

The Huskers shot 60.9 percent from 3-point range, including a season-high five 3-pointers from Keisei Tominaga, who led four Huskers in double figures with 19 points.  Rienk Mast added 18 points while C.J. Wilcher and Juwan Gary added 16, and 12 points, respectively, as Nebraska picked up its first win against a No. 1 ranked team since 1982. 

In addition to the four Huskers in double figures, Brice Williams nearly posted a triple double with nine points, 11 rebounds and a career-high nine assists, as Nebraska had 22 assists and just nine turnovers. 

Nebraska trailed 28-25 with 4:15 left in the half before taking control of the contest. NU outscored Purdue, 16-2 to close the half, including the final 13 points of the half. The run highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers from Tominaga and seven straight points from Sam Hoiberg off the bench, giving the Huskers a 41-30 halftime lead. 

The Huskers would never trail again but had to withstand several Purdue spurts in the second half. The Boilermakers hit eight of their first nine shots after halftime and pulled within 54-52 after an Edey basket with 13:24 remaining.  Nebraska responded with a run of its own, as Wilcher scored eight of his 16 points in an 11-0 spurt over the next 1:31 as his second 3-pointer of the run gave NU a 65-52 lead with 11:53 left. Purdue was within 68-62 after a Lance Jones basket, but a Wilcher 3-pointer and a Gary layup stretched the lead to 11 and NU kept the Boilermakers at bay the rest of the night.