A game that started with so much Senior Day emotion for the Nebraska basketball team had to end that way as well. Luckily, the emotions were all pure joy and happiness as the Huskers knocked off an upstart Iowa team on Sunday, 84-75 in overtime.
It was a measure of revenge for NU, which played one of its worst games of the season against the Hawkeyes when they visited Iowa City. More than that, it was the perfect sendoff for seniors Rienk Mast, Sam Hoiberg, and Jamarques Lawrence as the trio helped Nebraska finish second in the Big Ten.
Nebraska basketball's Senior Day win over Iowa sets up a historic Big Ten Tournament run
The previous highest rank Nebraska has ever finished since joining the Big Ten was third, the last time Fred Hoiberg took his team to the NCAA Tournament, two years ago. Having already clinched a triple bye, a Michigan State loss to Michigan paired with NU's victory jumped them two spots in the standings and means that Hoiberg's squad will have a slightly easier path to the Big Ten semifinals.
Making it to the semifinals of any conference tournament has brought some rather odd history. No team that's never won the NCAA Tournament has ever missed at least getting to that round of the conference tourney. Now the Huskers can sit back, wait until Friday, and hope a couple of those lower-seeded teams can pull off some upsets.
The triple bye also allows Fred Hoiberg's crew to rest up, relax, and heal from a brutally long campaign that's about to shift into another level of intensity. Nebraska won't play its first Big Ten game until Friday, March 13.
The path to taking on the Huskers starts with the winner of (15)Northwestern (18) vs Penn State in Tuesday's game, facing off against (10) Indiana. The winner of that game will then take on Purdue, and then the winner of Thursday's contest faces Nebraska.
On the other side of NU's bracket, the winner of (11) Minnesota vs (14) Rutgers will take on (6) UCLA on Thursday, and the winner of that contest will face off against (3) Michigan State.
As for the Cornhuskers, who played their final game at Pinnacle Bank Arena, all three made significant contributions to the win. Sam Hoiberg, who has been the glue of Nebraska's defense all year long, scored 15 points, had 3 rebounds, dished out 2 assists, and nabbed 5 steals.
Rienk Mast scored 14 points while draining 2-of-6 shots from beyond the arc. Jamarques Lawrence, who returned to Nebraska after a season away at Rhode Island, struggled from the floor, scoring just 8 points. Still, he made up for that by dishing out 6 assists and getting two steals.