Nebraska rallies on the road

By Shane Carney, The Gazette

IOWA CITY - The Nebraska Cornhuskers experienced another first as the newest member of the Big Ten Conference Thursday night, picking up their first men's basketball road victory at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Despite an enthusiastic home crowd, the Cornhuskers (11-9, 3-6) were able to sneak out of Iowa City with a 79-73 win over the Hawkeyes (11-10, 3-5).

“Overall, it was a great, great win for this basketball team,” Nebraska Head Coach Doc Sadler said. “To go on the road and win a conference game against a team that I did not think played that bad.”

The Cornhuskers had been struggling even to come away with home victories against Penn State and Indiana, although Indiana was ranked No. 11 at the time.

The win did not come easily against an Iowa team trying to get back to .500 in the league.

Be patient and calm were the two keys, Nebraska senior Brandon Richardson.

“Don't let the crowd influence how we play,” he said. “(We) just had to relax and run the offense to make the right plays.”

Richardson did just in scoring with a career-high 25 points, making 6 of 7 3-point shots.

The Hawkeyes stayed in control throughout the first half while scoring 10 points off Nebraska turnovers. The bench contributed 12 points, and Iowa led by seven points at intermission, 38-31.

A dunk about halfway through the second half by Iowa senior Devon Archie got everyone in the arena on their feet, and the Hawks still led by seven.

But the “be calm, be patient” mentality helped the Cornhuskers rally. Nebraska chipped away at the lead until they went up by two points on free throws by junior Brandon Ubel.

From that point on, the Cornhuskers allowed Iowa to tie it up just once. The Hawkeyes attempted to create some late-game heroics, but six Nebraska free throws in the last two minutes put the game out of reach.

“It feels good anytime you can go on the road and get a win,” Sadler said. “We had to play for forty minutes, and we did.”

Nebraska tries its luck on the road again Feb. 2 at Northwestern (12-7, 2-5.)

NEBRASKA (11-9)

McCray 2-6 4-6 8, Ubel 2-2 2-2 6, Richardson 9-10 1-2 25, Spencer 5-13 6-6 16, Walker 3-8 2-4 8, Diaz 3-5 1-2 7, Talley 3-8 2-2 9, Fox 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-52 18-24 79.

IOWA (11-10)

Basabe 0-0 1-2 1, McCabe 9-11 0-0 20, May 2-5 0-1 5, Marble 3-9 9-10 15, Gatens 5-13 0-0 12, Oglesby 2-6 0-0 5, Brommer 0-0 0-0 0, Cartwright 1-4 0-0 2, White 4-6 3-4 11, Archie 1-1 0-1 2. Totals 27-55 13-18 73.

Halftime_Iowa 38-31. 3-Point Goals_Nebraska 7-20 (Richardson 6-7, Talley 1-3, McCray 0-2, Spencer 0-4, Walker 0-4), Iowa 6-19 (McCabe 2-3, Gatens 2-8, May 1-1, Oglesby 1-4, White 0-1, Cartwright 0-1, Marble 0-1). Fouled Out_McCabe. Rebounds_Nebraska 34 (McCray 8), Iowa 27 (White 9). Assists_Nebraska 15 (Richardson 5), Iowa 11 (Cartwright 5). Total Fouls_Nebraska 15, Iowa 18. A_10,538.

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