Hawkeyes, Huskers men’s basketball teams ready to compete Friday night as scheduled

The show must go on.

Blizzard conditions? Hey, Nebraska’s men’s basketball team got to Iowa City Thursday, safe and sound. So Friday’s game, played at the nobody-friendly time of 8:37 p.m. (BTN), is set to be held as scheduled.

Nebraska is the headliner of the week in Big Ten’s men’s basketball, with good reason after downing No. 1 Purdue on Tuesday night in Lincoln, 88-72.

Purdue, last season’s Big Ten regular-season and tournament champion, has the Big Ten’s best winning percentage since last Feb. 1, right? No, that would be Nebraska, which is 19-6 in that time.

For the first time in who knows how long, the Huskers bring some juice to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for a game at Iowa.

Nebraska is 3-2 in the conference, 13-3 overall. It won six of its last nine games in 2022-23, including a regular-season 81-77 decision at Iowa to close the regular season.

This season, the Huskers have won at Kansas State, and conquered Michigan State, Indiana and Purdue. The latter was Nebraska’s first win over a No. 1 team since 1982.

“It’s a great win.” Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg said after the game. “It’s a huge win for our program, but we’ve got a lot of work left to do. I think that’s the way we all need to look at this thing. This can’t be the highlight of our year.

“We have to build off this one. We bounced back from a tough loss. Now, we’re gonna see how we handle a big, emotional win like this.”

Everyone in Hoiberg’s starting lineup can make 3-pointers, and no team in the Big Ten matches the Huskers’ 9.6 per game. They sank 14 of 23 against Purdue, with senior guard Keisei Tominaga making five.

Barring a meltdown, the Huskers will have their first winning season in Hoiberg’s five-year tenure as coach.

“Fred’s upgraded the roster,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said Wednesday. “It takes a while to put the pieces together.

“He’s got a lot of guys playing at a high level and playing together. That’s the key.”

The Huskers will face an Iowa team that is 1-3 in the Big Ten, 9-6 overall. Iowa hasn’t played since its 86-77 home win over Rutgers last Saturday.

This game will be a reunion of sorts for two first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference players of last season.

Nebraska forward Rienk Mast a 6-foot-10 junior, averages 13.3 points and 8.7 rebounds. He averaged 13.8 points for Bradley last season.

Iowa forward Ben Krikke averages 16.7 points. He averaged an MVC-best 19.4 for Valparaiso a year ago.

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