Iowa closes the regular season today with its home finale inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena where the Hawkeyes welcome in the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
There’s all sorts of Big Ten Tournament implications on the line. Iowa (19-11, 11-8 Big Ten) could climb as high as the No. 2 seed with a win. This much is certain: the Hawkeyes lock up a double-bye in the conference tournament if they take care of business in the home finale.
“All we’re thinking about right now is Nebraska on Sunday. We’ll deal with the Big Ten Tournament Sunday evening, I guess,” Iowa head men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery said.
It’s a different looking Nebraska team than the group that handed Iowa a 66-50 loss on Dec. 29, 2022. The Huskers lost starting forward Juwan Gary and starting guard Emmanuel Bandoumel for the season. In the season’s first meeting, that duo scored 14 and 10 points, respectively.
“When we played them the first time, I think they were feeling pretty good about their ability to contend in this league. Then they stumbled a little bit when the two guys got hurt. Not much, because you had to figure it out. You take two starters out of the starting lineup, that’s going to be an adjustment. They adjusted quickly. I think you have to give Fred a lot of credit there, because they never complained about it, they just kept plugging, put some guys in there.
“Okay, Wilcher, your role has changed. He was a good player, always was a good player. Tominaga, your role has changed. Other guys like Breidenbach has got an opportunity to play more; Hoiberg has got an opportunity to play more, and they fully intended to step up and perform, which they’ve done. They’ve had some great wins, a couple tough overtime wins, they’ve come back, which says a lot about them. When you get behind 17 and come back and win in overtime, it says a lot about the character of your team,” McCaffery said of the Huskers.
Nebraska (15-15, 8-11 Big Ten) held Iowa to its season low scoring output when the two teams met back in late December. Kris Murray and Filip Rebraca combined for 33 points, but the rest of the team shot just 5-of-42 from the field.
The Hawkeyes enter this contest riding the late-game heroics versus Michigan State and on the high of routing then-No. 13 Indiana in Assembly Hall.
Things were going so nice that Payton Sandfort blew goodbye kisses to the Indiana crowd. Sure, a technical foul ensued, but it was all academic by that point.
It’s also Senior Day for the Hawkeyes as Iowa will honor both Connor McCaffery and Filip Rebraca.
“Well, let’s start with Filip. I can’t imagine a better fit for a guy who transferred than Filip Rebraca, not only in terms of arriving when we really needed what he brought to the table, but how he fits with our style of play, with his teammates in this league. Just a guy who is the…he personifies class in everything that he does, his approach. He’s been zero maintenance from the day he got here, incredibly hard worker, and toughest guy in the building. He’s just one tough guy and just keeps getting better. I think that’s what’s fun as a coach to watch. He came here with a desire to prove that he could play at this level, and he certainly has done that. I think he’s an all-league player.
“Connor obviously is a little different because we had this conversation last year, but I’ll say it again. I’m just so thrilled that he came back because he was looking at his options. He graduated with two degrees, and am I going to go into the business world, am I going to start my coaching career, do I keep playing, and obviously he’s been incredibly impactful with this team, especially with the injuries that we’ve had and really being an incredible leader along with Filip in that locker room,” McCaffery said.
With the emotions of Senior Day and so much on the line in terms of the Big Ten Tournament, here’s how fans can dial in and watch, stream or listen to Iowa’s regular season finale versus Nebraska.
Plus, a look at the key players and injury report.