Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.LINCOLN — A second wind, a second chance, a second season.
Whatever you call it, the Nebraska men's basketball team is happy to see the second half of the Big Ten schedule.
Starting with Thursday's 6 p.m. game at Iowa, the Huskers (10-9, 2-6) will face one team currently ranked in the Top 25 in the next seven games. That's after a stretch of eight games in which seven foes were ranked or had been at some point in January.
"Definitely there are more games that we feel like we have a lot better shot to win," junior forward Brandon Ubel said. "But that's not saying any of these is any easier.
"It's basically a coin flip. Going on the road these next two games at Iowa and Northwestern, you toss it up and see what happens."
Nebraska's most recent effort — a 79-45 drubbing to Ohio State — was anything but a coin flip. The 34-point deficit was the worst in a home game in school history.
Don't remind the Huskers.
"I haven't watched any of it," Ubel said. "The way we played, it wasn't how we had been practicing even. There were no signs of it. So it's just better for us to put it out of our minds."
Ubel prefers to think about Nebraska's most recent road shows: a 59-54 loss at Illinois and a 50-45 loss at Wisconsin. Both games were decided in the final minute.
"We can go on the road and be in every game," he said. "We've shown that against top competition in the Big Ten."
NU coach Doc Sadler said his message during a team meeting earlier this week was to bear down each game because in the remaining 10 "you have a chance to win every one if you play good."
Sadler said he's not concerned about his team being worn down physically or mentally from the rugged early Big Ten schedule.
"(Monday) was one of the most enthusiastic practices we've had," he said.
Enthusiasm for the Nebraska-Iowa basketball series has been in short supply because the schools have rarely played.
The two games this season will break a 35-year drought. The last time the schools met was in November 1976 — the first game ever in the Devaney Center.
The Hawkeyes (11-9, 3-4) also have faced a rigorous early schedule this season. Four of the first six Big Ten games were against ranked opponents.
Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said facing unranked foes doesn't mean that his team can ease up.
"Nebraska has our full attention," he said. "I think they've got everybody's full attention."
Hawkeye forward Melsahn Basabe said he has taken note of Nebraska's record, but doesn't attach much value to it.
"From the outside looking in, you might say, 'You guys got Nebraska, it should be an automatic win,'" he said. "But when you really look at it, they are just as dangerous as a team like Michigan State because everybody is beating each other."
• NOTES: Iowa's scoring average of 73.9 points is its highest in 14 seasons. ... The Hawkeyes have had 10 steals or more in nine games this season, fourth most in the country. ... Roy Devyn Marble's father, Roy, was a three-time All-Big Ten player at Iowa and is the school's all-time leading scorer.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1024, lee.barfknecht@owh.com
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