What Iowa coach Ben McCollum said after defeating Nebraska on Thursday
Iowa coach Ben McCollum met with the media following his team's 77-71 victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Sweet 16. The Cornhuskers led by three at the half but Iowa was able to outscore Nebraska 34-25 in the second half. Pryce Sandfort led all scorers with 25 points while shooting 8 of 13 from the field and 6 of 10 from the 3-point line.
Bennett Stirtz led the Hawkeyes with 20 points and played for all 40 minutes. Iowa shot 52% (27-52) from the floor, 43% (13-30) from beyond the arc and 83% (10-12) from the free throw line. Nebraska struggled shooting 41% (24-58) from the field, 34% (13-38) from the 3-point line and 91% (10-11) from the charity stripe.
The Hawkeyes' head coach acknowledged that his team had a poor start but a great finish and said that his team will need to play better to advance beyond the Elite Eight. Yeah, I think to start we weren't fantastic to start. They had an elite game plan to start.
They played with elite pace. They adjusted their defense quite a bit. I think a lot of people will talk about the rivalry.
I was around it when I was in Iowa, you know, and grew up in Iowa and understand the rivalry and whatnot. It's nice to have -- I guess if you would a call it rival that runs such a class program. I think Coach Hoiberg, they have got great kids.