Iowa finishes off Nebraska for third straight win

IOWA CITY — When Iowa made the trip to Lincoln, Neb., a close, competitive game slipped through the Hawkeyes' fingers late. Players said after that game and leading into Sunday's rematch against Nebraska that it felt like it was one that got away.

Sunday, though, was summed up succinctly by Huskers Coach Tim Miles.

'They finished us off,' Miles said.

Iowa got its third straight win and avenged the double-overtime loss last month with an 81-70 triumph Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Up three with just less than four minutes to go, the Hawkeyes got free throws from Peter Jok and Jordan Bohannon, a bucket from Cordell Pemsl in the post and a dagger of a 3-pointer from Brady Ellingson that put the game away.

When presented with the opportunity to seal a win, this time the Hawkeyes seized it.

'Communication helped us seal it,' forward Tyler Cook said. 'Before, we would kind of do that in the second half and kind of ease up on it at the end, which is backwards. Today we were able to stay consistent throughout the final buzzer, and that helped us avoid a scary ending.'

In that last four-minute stretch, where Iowa (14-10, 6-5 Big Ten) hit its 3s and free throws, Nebraska (10-13, 4-7) didn't. That was how Miles saw it, and cited those open possessions as the backbreaker for the Huskers, who now have lost seven of their last eight.

Defense was what every Hawkeye pointed to as the reason for the end of Sunday's story being different from that of Jan. 5.

A month apart, the Hawkeyes went from allowing 57 points from Tai Webster and Glynn Watson Jr. alone to holding Webster to 14 points on 6 of 18 shooting and an ailing Watson to three points on 0 of 4 shooting. Where last time rotations, ball screens, defense in transition and personnel recognition resulted in 'just a bad night defensively,' as Coach Fran McCaffery put it, 'this time we were a lot better.'

'I think it was our second-half defense, honestly,' Ellingson said. 'They shot really well the first half and we knew we had to change that up and force them to take not-as-good shots. We had to block out and get rebounds. Our defense the second half was a big difference.

'We're communicating a lot better. A lot of little things are coming together right now.'

The collective effort on both ends for the Hawkeyes was spread among several contributors on Sunday, rather than one or two individuals having big games — as has happened a few times for Iowa this season. In the last win against Rutgers, the Hawkeyes had 24 assists on 30 made shots. They improved that Sunday with 22 assists on 27 made shots.

Bohannon led with 15 points on 4 of 6 shooting from 3-point range, and added five rebounds and two assists. Ellingson's timely 3-pointer late gave him 11, and he added five assists — the second straight game in which he tallied that many assists while also having no turnovers. Cook had 13 points on 6 of 10 shooting, and his work in the post helped draw Nebraska big men Jordy Tshimanga and Isaiah Roby into foul trouble.

Dom Uhl added seven points and three rebounds, Nicholas Baer had seven points, six rebounds and three blocks, Pemsl added six points and four rebounds, and Ahmad Wagner added six points of his own.

All of them were rejoined by Jok, whose 12 points, five rebounds and five assists in his return from a back injury weren't nearly as aggressive as he's used to — but that was by design. McCaffery said after the game how 'proud of him' he was and how 'his shot selection was really terrific, really efficient.'

Iowa closed out Nebraska with key possessions late, but also because throughout the game Jok made a conscious effort to fit in with what had been working for Iowa in his two-game hiatus.

'Everybody stepped up. Everybody played really good defense, and also moved the ball, were patient with the ball,' Jok said. 'My mindset was to come in there and get in the flow of what they've been doing and not try to force anything. … I was trying to find other guys. I need to ease back into it, too. I'll be good from now on.'

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