Iowa men's basketball vs. Nebraska: Box score, highlights, live updates recap

No. 17 Iowa got back on track Saturday with a 96-72 win over Nebraska in Big Ten men's basketball at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The Hawkeyes improved to 17-7 overall and 8-5 in the Big Ten. Nebraska fell to 7-16, 2-10 with its eighth straight loss.

» Box score: No. 17 Iowa 96, Nebraska 72

» Coverage from Carver: Joe jets to new high: Wieskamp gets 30 in Iowa's win over Nebraska

Turning point: Iowa sprinted to a 13-2 lead and looked to be in for a cruise. It wasn't quite that simple. An eight-minute scoring drought helped Nebraska slice the lead to 25-21. But CJ Fredrick's buzzer-beating 3 put Iowa up 41-30 at halftime, Joe Wieskamp scored seven points in 56 seconds early in the second half and the Hawkeyes eventually ran away with an easy win. It was a double-digit lead for the final 18 1/2 minutes.

MVP: Normally this space belongs to Luka Garza and he was great again (22 points, 8 rebounds), but this was Wieskamp's day. The sophomore put up a career-high 30 points on 10-for-15 shooting, including 2-for-4 from deep, and an 8-for-8 mark at the free-throw line. He also had seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Key stat: 64.3. Iowa was lights out from the field in the second half, shooting 64.3 percent in what was no doubt a cathartic game following last month's 76-70 loss to the Cornhuskers. Iowa was 11 of 25 from 3-point range after hitting 4 of 33 in Lincoln. That eight-minute scoring drought in the first half was concerning but ultimately a nonfactor.

Stat leaders:

Points — Joe Wieskamp, Iowa (30); Jervay Green, Nebraska (18)

Rebounds — Luka Garza, Iowa (8); Jervay Green, Nebraska (7)

Assists — Connor McCaffery, Iowa (4); Kevin Cross, Nebraska (5)

Steals — Connor McCaffery, Iowa (3); Cam Mack, Nebraska (3)

Blocks — Joe Wieskamp, Luka Garza, Iowa (1); Cam Mack, Akol Arop, Nebraska (1)

Iowa-Nebraska live updates recap

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