No. 5 Hawkeyes seek bounce-back performance against enigmatic Nebraska

IOWA CITY — The middle cluster of the Big Ten women’s basketball hierarchy resembles Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates.

Nebraska included.

“They’ve been up and down, depending on the day,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said. “I’ve seen them play well. I’ve seen them struggle.

“I’m not sure what we’re going to get (Saturday).”

Somewhat rested and revitalized after suffering their first setback in more than two months, the fifth-ranked Hawkeyes (18-2 overall, 7-1 Big Ten) host the enigmatic Huskers (13-6, 5-3).

Tipoff is 1 p.m. Saturday (BTN) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“We’re very excited to get back on the floor,” Bluder said during Friday’s press conference. “We took a couple of days off, which was kind of nice.

“We’ve had some time to sit on (Sunday’s loss at Ohio State), so we had to process it a little more. Hopefully, we can learn some things from it and it will help us move on.”

Kylie Feuerbach said, “For a few weeks, we didn’t have much of a break. It was nice to decompress and rest our mental and physical assets.”

Sunday’s loss — and the aftermath that included a court storm at Value City Arena and the subsequent collision between Caitlin Clark and a Buckeyes fan — led to the kind of “outside noise” that Bluder prefers to avoid.

“Win or lose, we try to block it out,” she said. “This is why we try to stay off social media.”

The Hawkeyes have won eight straight in the series, but the Huskers — if they are on their game — are a dangerous lot, particularly on the glass.

Nebraska leads the Big Ten in rebounding margin, at plus-10.5 per game. Iowa is second at plus-9.9.

Junior post Alexis Markowski averages 16.8 points and a Big Ten-best 10.5 boards per game.

“She’s an excellent post player,” Bluder said. “And her shooting range brings you out a little bit.”

A native of Fremont, Neb., the Hawkeyes’ Taylor McCabe faced Markowski on multiple occasions at the high school level.

“I’m very impressed on how she has improved her outside shot,” McCabe said.

McCabe and Bluder both consider Nebraska’s Natalie Potts (10.8 ppg) a candidate — maybe the favorite — for Big Ten freshman of the year.

“She’s a power forward who would prefer to post up,” Bluder said. “She’s really aggressive and rebounds extremely well.”

Two Nebraska players are siblings of former Hawkeyes.

Junior Kendall Coley is the younger sister of Chase Coley; senior Annika Stewart’s sister Hannah Stewart was a starter on Iowa’s Elite Eight team of 2019.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com