Iowa vs Nebraska Men’s Basketball: Team Preview and Live Discussion – Senior Day
My Game Time Thoughts
The Iowa Hawkeyes are 2-5 over the past seven games. Unfortunately, one of those two wins was against Nebraska when they played in Iowa City.
An interesting fact is that over the past 480 minutes of Iowa Hawkeye basketball, Iowa’s best player Bennett Stirtz has only sat on the bench for 5 minutes. Over the past twelve games Stirtz has played the entire 40 minutes for nine of those games. In the other three he played 39 minutes, 38 minutes and 38 minutes.
Stritz is obviously in great shape but I will be interested to see if Iowa is going to ask him to chase Pryce Sandfort all over the court again like they did in their last game. It obviously worked so we should probably expect for it again.
I expect Pinnacle Bank Arena to be hot for this Iowa team coming into Lincoln. The last game at Iowa ended with a court storm (which is a compliment). That court storm resulted in an Iowa fan approaching Fred Hoiberg with a camera phone in which Hoiberg knocked it out of his hand.
Hoiberg rightfully defended himself that day and the days to follow as a cell phone can interfere with his pacemaker and as he said, if that were to happen then he would be dead. As he said, ““I am 100% reliant on a pacemaker, I’ll never forget a conversation with my doctor. A cellphone can put it off. If anything ever happens, I’m done. I will not survive if something ever happens to a pacemaker. I’m very cognizant of that, so when somebody rushes up on me with a cellphone, of course I’m going to react.”
Also the “F____ Pryce Sandfort” chants have gone a long way represent what the Iowa fan base is about as well.
So I hope Nebraska coaches, players and fans are raring to go on Sunday.
But what you need to keep an eye on early is how the game is officiated. If Iowa is able to be physical on the permieter and grab and pull Sandfort all over the floor like UCLA did on Tuesday then Nebraska is going to be in for a dog fight.
However, if the officials actually allow freedom of movement then Nebraska has a good chance of coming away with a comfortable win.
There is a lot riding on this game. Nebraska has already locked up a triple-bye in the Big Ten Tournament but the seeding for both the conference tournament as well as the NCAA tournament is still in the air.
Outside of the Nebraska game, Husker fans should be rooting for Michigan to beat Michigan State. If Nebraska wins and Michigan State loses, then Nebraska gets the second seed. If Nebraska wins and Michigan State wins the Nebraska gets the third seed.
However, if Nebraska loses then it could get either the third or fourth seed.
Regardless, getting the triple bye as a result of Purdue losing last night will go a long way toward getting Nebraska an extra day of rest. If you have watched this team over the past couple weeks I think an extra day of rest will go a long way.
They would get a lot of rest (which this team needs) as they wouldn’t have to play until Friday.
Also this is senior night for Kendall Blue, Sam Hoiberg, Jared Garcia, Reink Mast and Jamarques Lawrence. Additionally, Pryce Sandfort could take his talents to the NBA after this season so it could be the last time he plays at Pinnacle Bank Arena as well.
Date: Today
Time: 4 p.m. Central Time
TV/Online: Sunday’s game will be broadcast on FOX with Connor Onion and Nick Bahe on the call. It will also be available online on the FOX Sports and FOX One apps.
Radio: Sunday’s game will be carried on the Huskers Radio Network with Kent Pavelka and Jeff Smith on the call, including KLIN (1400 AM) in Lincoln, KCRO (660 AM) and KIBM (1490 AM) in Omaha and KRVN (880 AM) in Lexington. The pregame show begins an hour before tipoff and will also be available on Huskers.com and the Huskers app.
Preview from Huskers.com
The No. 9/9 (AP/Coaches) Nebraska men’s basketball team returns to Pinnacle Bank Arena for the final time this season, as the Huskers play host to Iowa on Senior Day. Tipoff is set for shortly after 4 p.m. and the game will be televised on FOX, broadcast on the Huskers Radio Network, as well as on Huskers.com and on the official Huskers app. The game will also be available on the Fox Sports and Fox One apps.
The Huskers (25-5, 14-5 B1G) will honor their five seniors – Kendall Blue, Jared Garcia, Sam Hoiberg, Jamarques Lawrence and Rienk Mast – during pregame ceremonies which will start around 3:40 p.m. This group of seniors has guided the Huskers to one of the best seasons in school history and could etch their names into the record book with a win on Sunday. Lawrence, Mast and Hoiberg were key contributors to Nebraska’s 2024 NCAA Tournament team and have played significant roles in helping NU post three straight 20-win seasons for the first time in school history.
Nebraska looks to bounce back from a disappointing 72-52 loss at UCLA late Tuesday to complete a split on the West Coast. Hoiberg’s 12 points led three Huskers in double figures, as the Huskers were held to 38 percent shooting in seeing its three-game win streak snapped.
The Huskers enter the final weekend with plenty on the line. NU is tied for third in the Big Ten standings with Illinois entering Saturday’s action. A win on Sunday would assure the Huskers of at least a third-place finish and the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten Tournament next week. NU could clinch a triple-bye with a loss but would need Wisconsin to win at Purdue on Saturday.
Iowa (20-10, 10-9 B1G) comes off a 71-68 loss to Michigan Thursday night in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes erased a 10-point second-half deficit to pull even at 66-all with less than a minute to go before Michigan escaped with the win. Bennett Stirtz led Iowa with 21 points, four assists and three steals while Cam Manyawu added 14 points and eight rebounds.
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