No. 9 Huskers Match School Record with Overtime win over Iowa

Lincoln – Cale Jacobsen had six of his career-high 15 point in overtime, as No. 9 Nebraska scored the final nine points in overtime for an 84-75 win over Iowa Sunday afternoon at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Jacobsen, who finished with career highs in both points and rebounds (eight) in 30 minutes off the bench, have the Huskers the lead for good with 1:30 left in the extra period, breaking a 75-all deadlock.

From there, Nebraska took over, scoring the final nine points, including four straight points from Sam Hoiberg before Jamarques Lawrence scored out the 9-0 run with a steal and layup as Nebraska improved to 26-5 on the season and tied a school record for most wins in a season. Nebraska held the Hawkeyes to 1-of-6 shooting in the extra session after Iowa rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to get the game into overtime.

Jacobsen, Hoiberg and Pryce Sandfort had 15 points apiece while Rienk Mast added 14 as the Husker seniors finished the year with a 16-2 home mark.  Nebraska shot 50 percent from the field and hit 10 3-pointers in becoming only the third team to score above its scoring average against Iowa, which came into the day leading the Big Ten in scoring defense at 65.2 ppg.

With the win, the Huskers secured the No. 2 overall seed in next week’s Big Ten Tournament and will play in the quarterfinals on Friday evening at 5:30 p.m.

Iowa was led by Cooper Koch and Kael Combs, who had 18 points apiece as Iowa (20-11, 10-10 Big Ten will open Big Tournament action on Wednesday as the No. 9 seed and will play either Oregon or Maryland.

The first half was similar to the first meeting in Iowa City, as neither team led by more than six points as Nebraska took a 30-26 advantage to the locker room. 

The Huskers used a 7-0 run to erase an early deficit, taking a 15-10 lead on a Jared Garica 3-pointer with 9:51 left in the half. Nebraska would lead the rest of the half, but could not shake the Hawkeyes, who kept it within six points the final 10 minutes of the half. NU shot just 42 percent in the opening 20 minutes while holding Iowa to 41 percent shooting.

The Huskers got some breathing room to start the half, as a trio of 3-pointers, including two from Sandfort and one from Mast held NU open the second half on a 10-4 run to stretch the lead to 40-30 after a Berke Buyuktuncel free throw with 16:16 left.

Nebraska, which shot 52 percent in the second half kept Iowa at bay, but the Hawkeyes would hang around, as they shot 61 percent after halftime. Nebraska led 64-54 after a pair of Mast free throws at the 5:13 mark, but 3-pointers from Koch and Tavion Banks quickly cut the Husker lead to 64-60 with 3:26 left.

The Huskers would push the lead to 68-62 after a steal and layup from Jacobsen with 1:47 left but could not close the door, missing two front ends of 1-and-1s to keep Iowa alive. Trailing 70-67 after a pair of Sandfort free throws with 13.7 seconds left, Bennett Stirtz missed a 3-pointer but Iowa got the rebound and Combs tied it at 70 with a 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left to send the game to overtime.