Hawkeyes run over Huskers in 98-75 blowout

The momentum of finally earning its first Big Ten Conference win of the season against Minnesota only lasted a handful of days, as Nebraska suffered a 98-75 road beatdown at Iowa on Sunday afternoon.

After leading by four after the first six minutes, Nebraska completely fell apart and let Iowa break the game open with an incredible 42-10 run to close the first half.

The Huskers, who turned it over 15 times, trailed by as many as 36 points and never got within 19 after halftime.

Keegan Murray was virtually unstoppable in scoring a career-high 37 points, including 24 in the first half alone. Iowa shot 51.3 percent from the field, hit 10 3-pointers, and scored a whopping 50 points in the paint.

On the other side, NU gave up 24 points off turnovers and was outscored 21-8 in fast-break points.

Nebraska dropped to 7-18 overall and 1-13 in conference play, while Iowa improved to 17-7, 7-6. The Huskers still have not won in Iowa City since Jan. 26, 2012, in Doc Sadler’s final season as head coach.

The day started OK for the Huskers, as they took a 15-11 lead after a quick 6-0 run and assisted on their first four made baskets.

But a flurry of turnovers directly resulted in Iowa taking the game over in transition and the Hawkeyes going on a 22-4 run - 16 of those points coming from Murray - to take total control with a 53-25 lead at the break.

Iowa ended the first half leading 19-0 in points off turnovers, 10-3 in second-chance points, 24-14 in points in the paint, and 16-0 in fast-break points. Conversely, NU had 12 turnovers to nine made shots and went 2-for-14 from 3-point range.

The second half was merely semantics, as Nebraska fell behind by as many as 36 with 14 minutes left to play. Even after a 20-3 Husker run, they could only get back to within 19 points.

Murray scored Iowa’s following six points to end the threat, as NU came no closer than 21 the rest of the way.

Derrick Walker led Nebraska with 14 points and six rebounds, while Bryce McGowens scored nine of his 11 points in the second half but shot just 3-of-13 from the field. Eduardo Andre added 10 points off the bench.

In addition to his 37 points, Murray was 15-of-21 from the floor with six rebounds, three steals, and two blocks in just 29 minutes.

1. Nebraska’s volatility continues

Just four days after putting together arguably its best performance of the season in Wednesday night’s win over Minnesota, Nebraska immediately reverted to its worst habits at Iowa.

Against the Golden Gophers, NU set the tone from the opening tip with elite defensive energy and played its most team-oriented offense of the year.

The Huskers were sloppy, careless, and aloof with the basketball on Sunday. Iowa overwhelmed them in transition, and they never stood a chance after that.

Nebraska is no stranger to inconsistency, but the stark differences between its past two games are no better examples of what this season has been for head coach Fred Hoiberg’s squad.

This marked NU’s sixth loss by 20 or more points, tying the total it suffered two years ago in Hoiberg’s first season.

“When they went on that run, it obviously unraveled,” Hoiberg said on his post-game radio show on the Husker Radio Network. “When they started going downhill, we panicked. We got faster when we needed to slow down...

“I thought we’d learned our lesson on that, of coming out and doing the things that make us successful. We just tried to play that hero ball and tried to get it back at once.”

2. The Huskers played right into Iowa’s plan

There aren’t many teams that want to push the pace more than Nebraska, but Iowa is definitely one of them.

Rather than try to slow things down and keep the game from turning into a track meet, the Huskers played right into the Hawkeyes’ trap.

Nebraska seemed to have a plan to start the game, but that quickly blew up when it became reckless with the basketball. The Huskers threw sloppy passes, jacked-up bad shots early in the shot clock, and stopped trying to get the ball into the paint.

As a result, they essentially gift-wrapped one transition offense opportunity after another for the Hawkeyes, who are as good as any team in the country in fast-break scoring.

It wasn’t any surprise that ball security would be critical in this one, either. Iowa came in leading the Big Ten in steals with an average of 8.0 per game.

The Hawkeyes had eight steals in the first half alone before finishing with 10 for the day.

“We just didn’t play smart,” Hoiberg said. “It wasn’t an effort thing. It was 12 turnovers led to 19 points, and they led us 19-0 on points off of turnovers. You can’t do that.”

3. Carver-Hawkeye remains Hoiberg’s nightmare

It’s not like Nebraska has had much success in any Big Ten venue since Hoiberg took over, but Carver-Hawkeye Arena has been as rough of a trip as any over the past four years.

Not only is Hoiberg now 0-3 in Iowa City since taking over at NU, but his teams have also been outscored by an average of 28.3 ponts per game while giving up a blistering 98.6 ppg.

What’s crazy is that Hoiberg was 7-2 against the Hawkeyes as a player and then coach at Iowa State. Since arriving in Lincoln, he’s 1-3.

The struggles in Iowa City didn’t just start with Hoiberg, though. Nebraska has now lost its last nine straight road games against Iowa. Former head coach Tim Miles never won there in seven seasons.