Game Day Essentials: Game #31 vs Iowa

[hhcmatt]

Nebraska Cornhuskers (17-13) at Iowa (15-15)

 

Date: Sunday Mar. 9th, 2025

Time: 11:00 am CST
Arena: PBA

Broadcast:  Fox (Kevin Kugler and Nick Bahe)

Iowa Info

Head Coach: Fran McCaffery (15th year)
Location: Iowa City, IA
Conference: B1G
Nickname: Hawks

Coach's Nickname: White Magic

Mascot: Herky the Hawk

Line: Nebraska by 6.5
Typical Rotation Depth: 9+

KenPom rank: 74

Nota bene:  

• It's Senior day. Starting just after 11 Nebraska will honor Jeff Grace III, Braxton Meah, Rollie Worster, Andrew Morgan, Ahron Ulis, Juwan Gary and Brice Williams. It's possible that 7 number is a record.
• Both teams have won just 5 games each since they met on Jan 7th
• Iowa lost starting center Owen Freeman for the season on January 27th

 

Player to watch: Payton Sandfort

Sandfort is having an off-year by his standards from the 3pt line, shooting just 33% from 3 on the season. He's the guy who isn't Dix who is taking the shots though, with over 200 3pt attempts already. Remains a good rebounder as Iowa's stretch 4

 

Player to watch: Josh Dix

Sandfort is having an off-year by his standards from the 3pt line, shooting just 33% from 3 on the season. He's the guy who isn't Dix who is taking the shots though, with over 200 3pt attempts already. Remains a good rebounder as Iowa's stretch 4

 

Iowa Roster

Player	#	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	Summary
Payton Sandfort	20	SR	G	6-7	215	16.1 Pts 6.2 Reb 2.9 Ast
Josh Dix	4	JR	G	6-5	192	14.1 Pts 3.2 Reb 2.8 Ast
Owen Freeman	32	SO	F	6-10	230	16.7 Pts 6.7 Reb 1.3 Ast
Brock Harding	2	SO	G	6-0	162	8.7 Pts 2.3 Reb 5.5 Ast
Pryce Sandfort	24	SO	F	6-6	205	8.5 Pts 2.6 Reb 1.3 Ast
Drew Thelwell	3	SR	G	6-3	185	9.7 Pts 2.2 Reb 2.8 Ast
Seydou Traore	7	SO	G	6-7	215	6.3 Pts 3.0 Reb 1.3 Ast
Ladji Dembele	13	SO	F	6-8	250	4.3 Pts 3.3 Reb 0.5 Ast
Even Brauns	0	SR	C	6-9	250	2.9 Pts 1.0 Reb 0.4 Ast
Cooper Koch	8	FR	F	6-8	215	4.6 Pts 2.1 Reb 0.8 Ast
Riley Mulvey	44	JR	C	6-11	245	2.3 Pts 1.9 Reb 0.3 Ast
Carter Kingsbury	14	JR	G	6-4	225	1.3 Pts 0.8 Reb 0.4 Ast
Chris Tadjo	34	FR	F	6-8	240	1.7 Pts 1.2 Reb 0.0 Ast
Jacob Koch	10	FR	G	6-2	180	1.8 Pts 0.5 Reb 0.5 Ast

 

Other players

 

Pryce Sandfort is the other main 3  threat for the Hawkeyes. With Tony Perkins transferring, Brock Harding now man's the position and he's been a solid shooter and a ballhawk.  Morehead St transfer combo guard Drew Thelwell slots in at the 1 and 2 for the Hawks and brings size and ball handing to the position. Yet another Hawkeye hitting over 40% from 3 and another ball-hawk. Manhattan transfer forward Seydou Traore has been battling an ankle injury last month but appears to be healthy now, adding some size and rebounding depth. Ladji Dembele bring some Tyler Cook type juice to the table in terms of size fouls too much to stay on the court. Speaking of old Hawkeyes, freshman 4 Cooper Koch has some Jarrod Uthoff vibes in terms of length and 3 level scoring.

UNL Game Notes

 

Roster/infirmary report

 

 

Possible starters for Nebraska

3    Guard    Brice Williams     6-7    214 lbs    Senior

4    Forward    Juwan Gary     6-6    226 lbs    Senior

24    Guard    Rollie Worster     6-5    210 lbs    Senior

34    Center    Braxton Meah     7-1    264 lbs    Senior

9    Forward    Berke Büyüktuncel     6-10    244 lbs   

 

Bench

0    Guard    Connor Essegian     6-4    190 lbs    Junior

1    Guard    Sam Hoiberg     6-0    185 lbs    Junior

2    Guard    Ahron Ulis     6-3    190 lbs    Senior

23    Forward    Andrew Morgan     6-10    242 lbs    Senior 

31    Guard    Cale Jacobsen     6-4    195 lbs    Sophomore

12    Guard    Gavin Griffiths     6-7    193 lbs    Sophomore

5    Forward    Braden Frager     6-7    220 lbs    Freshman
8    Guard    Jeffrey Grace III     6-3    200 lbs    Junior
20    Forward    Justin Bolis     6-8    225 lbs    Sophomore
25    Guard    Nick Janowski     6-4    208 lbs    Freshman

35    Forward    Henry Burt     6-7    222 lbs    Sophomore

 

Out for year
51    Forward    Rienk Mast     6-10    260 lbs    Senior

 

Hoiberg Presser (Twitter Link)

https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1dRKZYogwjrxB

 

 

The Skinny: 

Sorry this will be very brief as I was too under the weather to finish the writeup yesterday and am under the gun with the early start time. Iowa has a top end offense and bottom of the conference defense.  If Nebraska can't contain Iowa's shooters, they'll need the offense to fire on all cylinders. 

 

Given Nebraska's post season hopes and the fact that the loser doesn't make the B1G Tourney, it's a game with tremendous stakes.

 

Prediction: Nebraska 85 - Iowa 77

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[jimmykc]

Thanks for the effort, Matt. Hopefully your prediction will be right on the money which should help your recovery. I note the local Fox coverage is set to begin at 11:30, so I hope they are not going to start with the game in progress. Maybe 11:00 is the start of the senior day ceremony, which should take a while. Get well soon.  

[hhcmatt]

2 minutes ago, jimmykc said:

Thanks for the effort, Matt. Hopefully your prediction will be right on the money which should help your recovery. I note the local Fox coverage is set to begin at 11:30, so I hope they are not going to start with the game in progress. Maybe 11:00 is the start of the senior day ceremony, which should take a while. Get well soon.  

 

I know you're an eyes man but it's in the neighborhood as this is a massive ear infection.  Can hear out of one side at the moment, just got back from my second trip to urgent care in as many days.

Happy to report that I'm not showing up on the availability report and I will be in attendance today.