January 5, 2015

----------------------------- 
           1   2   total 
Iowa      35  35    70 
NEBRASKA  28  31    59 
----------------------------- 

Iowa City, Iowa. — Despite a game-high 25 points from Shavon Shields, the Nebraska basketball team fell at Iowa, 70-59, on a snowy winter evening.

Shields was brilliant, posted his third straight 20-point game and sixth of the season with his 25-point effort in a losing cause for the Huskers (8-6, 0-2 Big Ten).

Terran Petteway joined Shields in double figures with 11 points and six rebounds despite battling through a shin bruise for most of the contest.

Aaron White led three Hawkeyes (11-4, 2-0 Big Ten) in double figures with 23 points and nine rebounds, while Gabriel Osaseni and Jarrod Uthoff added 18 and 15 points, respectively.

Nebraska, which battled significant foul trouble for nearly the entire first half, trailed by eight at the break, got out of the gate quickly in the second half, outscoring Iowa 9-2 in the first 3:14 to pull within 37-36 after a Shields layup.

Iowa responded with a 7-0 spurt to push the lead 44-36, but the Huskers would not go away as their bench keyed another 9-2 surge, highlighted by baskets from Tarin Smith and Nick Fuller, to pull to within 46-45 after a 3-point play from David Rivers with 11:32 left.

Nebraska continued to fight, as Shields scored six straight points for the Huskers, the last being a pair of free throws with 8:09 left to give Nebraska its first lead, at 51-50, since the opening minutes of the game.

Iowa, which was 2-for-14 from 3-point range in the first 32 minutes, took control with an 11-3 surge as the Hawkeyes hit three straight from long range, the last coming from White with 4:39 left to give the Hawkeyes a 61-54 lead.

Nebraska would pull to within 61-57 after a pair of Shields free throws with 2:47 left, but Iowa was solid from the line down the stretch, hitting 9-of-11 from the line in the final 2:30 to seal the win.

Iowa won the game at the foul line, hitting 31-of-38 from the charity stripe to overcome shooting 39 percent, while Nebraska went just 13-of-21 from the line.

In the first half, the Huskers survived major foul trouble in the first 10 minutes only to trail 35-28 at the break. The Huskers shot 57 percent in the first half, as Shields scored 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting for the visitors.

Iowa, which got into the bonus in the first six minutes, lived at the foul line, going 16-of-19 from the charity strip which allowed it to overcome shooting 43 percent from the floor.

Nebraska trailed 15-9 before Shields ran off six straight points to knot the score at 15-all after his driving basket. The Huskers tied it at 18 after a Walter Pitchford 3-pointer with 8:55 left, but the Hawkeyes went on a 9-1 spurt to push the lead to 27-19 after a pair of White free throws with 6:15 left in the half.

Nebraska fought back, using a 7-2 surge to pull within 29-26 after a Benny Parker layup with 3:52 left in the half and trailed 32-28 after a Pitchford dunk, but Aaron White's 3-point play with 52 seconds left in the half pushed the margin back to seven.

The Huskers return to action on Thursday night, as they host Rutgers at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. and a limited number of tickets are available by visiting Huskers.com or calling the Husker Ticket Office at 800-8-BIGRED.