Iowa needed a win. A win to stop an ugly two game skid. A win against a ranked team. They needed a quality Quad One win. Despite not making a field goal over the last 5 minute, the Hawkeyes, led by Bennett Stirtz’s 25 points, got that win upsetting No.9 Nebraska 57-52. The Hawkeyes used an 11-0 run as they held Nebraska scoreless for over three-and-a-half minutes as they built a 30-21 lead. The Iowa defense forced the Cornhuskers to miss five straight field goals in that span. A 3-pointer from senior Bennett Stirtz gave Iowa its biggest lead of the first 20 minutes as they led the Cornhuskers, by 10. Back-to-back buckets from Nebraska cut Iowa’s lead to five before the break as Iowa led Nebraska, 33-28, after 20 minutes.
Stirtz paced Iowa with 13 points while junior Alvaro Folgueiras added seven in the first half. The Hawkeyes shot 10-of-23 (43.5 percent) from the field and 3-of-10 from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes. Iowa was perfect from the free throw line shooting 10-of-10. Iowa outrebounded Nebraska, 19-6, in the opening 20 minutes, and didn’t allow a single offensive rebound. Iowa held the Huskers to a season low 52 points, 27 below their average and won the rebound battle 37-24.
Head Coach Ben McCollum pointed out how special the night was. “First off, this is what it can be. You know, obviously, we’ve said it every single time we have a positive like this happen, we always make sure that everybody knows that this is what it can be. It can be this every night, it can be fun, like this. We appreciate, again, the crowd support, the energy. I think that willed us to victory. I really do. I thought it was awesome. I thought it was really cool that the students showed up, we appreciate that. We also appreciate, we had an alumni here, Aaron White. I think he’s going to come to every single game from here on out, make sure that we’re winning, he might be our good luck charm.
Nebraska is a really good basketball team. I thought they had a great game plan, particularly defensively. They are super physical and it was a good game. One thing, I do want to make sure that people understand, Payton and Pryce. Payton obviously played here four years, he’s a former player, he’s a Hawkeye. The Sandfort family means a lot to us, Pryce included. He left, obviously, but it was because of a coaching change, so it’s totally understandable. He played great, he’s having a great season, and the Sandfort family and all of them are very, very welcome here and certainly appreciate everything they’ve done.”
The Huskers used a 13-6 run out of the break to build a 41-39 lead with 13 minutes remaining in the game. Both teams then exchanged leads for the next eight minutes as Iowa led 47-45 with six minutes remaining. Leading be three with 36 seconds remaining, Stirtz got fouled on a 3-point attempt, making all three free throws giving Iowa a six-point cushion.
A Nebraska 3-pointer on the following possession cut the Iowa lead back down to three before redshirt freshman Cooper Koch and senior Tavion Banks both sunk a pair of free throws to ice the game away for the Hawkeyes, earning its first top 10 win at home since Feb. 1, 2019.
Stirtz led all scorers with 25 points, collecting two rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks. Koch added 10 points to go along with four rebounds. Banks led the Hawkeyes on the glass, with 10 rebounds, tying a season high.
The Hawkeyes shot 17-of-51 (33.3 percent) from the field and 6-of-23 (26.1 percent) from beyond the arc. Iowa missed just one free throw, converting on 17-of-18 (94.4 percent) from the free throw line. The Hawkeyes dominated the glass, outrebounding Nebraska, 37-24.
