Here's some quotes that stood out from Iowa's head coach and junior guard after the loss.
Coach, this was the most turnovers you guys have had since the last time you played Nebraska. What is it about their defense that causes so many problems for you guys?
Ben McCollum: I mean, they obviously rotate pretty good, fly around deflections. I just thought our offense was really inept to, you know, kind of both. Sometimes you just got to be able to get to that next action, get off the ball and continue. That's what we have to do. That's how we have to survive. And we had a pretty good game plan coming in. I think we probably tried to risk a few too many passes, and that's just not what you need to do. You just have to really simplify things and make sure you make the easy pass. And I didn't think we made many easy passes tonight.
What did you see that allowed you guys to get back in the game in the second half?
I thought we got to the rim better. Obviously Cale got downhill a lot better. Played a little more free. I don't think we passed the other team as much. Realized we were wearing black today, and so that was helpful. And then I thought we got some some key stops throughout.
Can you walk through what you saw in overtime on both ends of the floor?
Well, the first possession, we gave up a drive and kick. And generally we know that's what Sam [Hoiberg] does, is he's really good at driving and kicking, and we overheld That was the first possession, not really sure. And then after that, we let the guy go to the direction that he drives. Two costly mistakes, and then offensively, we got stuck on the side too much.
Kael Combs
What made Nebraska so difficult to defend in the second half?
Shot making, and then we probably have some guys are tired and stuff like that. I think Stirtz played some big minutes. But yeah, just shot making. [They were] better on defense and staying attached.
I know you want to win, but does the last two games give you guys a little bit of confidence that you're playing against two of the top Big Ten teams?
Yeah, for sure, it gives us a lot of confidence. Obviously, we want to win these games, but just to be in these situations, you have chances to win. It definitely gives us confidence going into or going into the conference tournament.
What do you guys have to do differently to get over the hump next time against some of these top teams?
I think just play better defense honestly. I think that was the key. And then not not turn the ball over so much. We had too many turnovers on top of that.
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