Iowa made fast work of Nebraska by playing some of its best basketball of the season in the last five minutes of the first half.
The Hawkeyes scored on nine straight possessions before half to build a 26-point lead, and they never let the Cornhuskers get closer than 21 the rest of the way in a 74-46 rout Sunday.
''When it comes together like that and they're playing unselfishly and playing defense, as a coach, that's the best feeling in the world,'' Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said of the decisive 21-2 run. ''The challenge is to see if you can play that way all the time.''
Aaron White had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawks (17-10, 8-6 Big Ten), who got the performance they needed on the road against the conference's 10th-place team. Iowa's NCAA tournament hopes had taken a hit the last week or so, with a home loss to Minnesota and an overtime loss at Northwestern followed by a home win over last-place Rutgers.
''We had a bad week, and what we needed was to have a good week,'' White said. ''It wasn't like we could come in here and play OK but lose. I'm happy for our guys and happy for the program, and it's a good win. The next step to that is to not get complacent.''
Peter Jok scored 14 points and Jarrod Uthoff had 11 points and four blocked shots for the Hawks, who swept the season series against Nebraska (13-14, 5-10) and sent the Huskers to their fifth straight loss and seventh in eight games.
Iowa, which shot 50 percent and made 10 3-pointers, was the first Nebraska opponent in 38 games to make at least half its shots from the floor.
Nebraska got 16 points from Terran Petteway and 10 from Walter Pitchford. The Huskers' 32.7-percent shooting matched their season low, and they were just 2 of 18 on 3s.
Shavon Shields, who had 25 points in the first meeting with the Hawks, was held to three points on 1-of-6 shooting.
''You never want to throw your players under the bus, but that was just beyond disappointing. That's not what we represent,'' said Nebraska coach Tim Miles, whose players were not made available for interviews. ''I honestly didn't expect this.''
The Huskers wore throwback jerseys from the 1954-55 season and honored some 50 former players on Legends Weekend. The party turned into a dud, though, as the Hawkeyes led all the way and by never fewer than 10 points after White hit a 3-pointer with 4:48 left in the first half.
The loss was Nebraska's most lopsided of the season and its worst at home since Ohio State put a 34-point whipping on the Huskers on Jan. 21, 2012.
TIP-INS
Iowa: The game started a stretch of four games in 10 days. Iowa won the first meeting 70-59 in Iowa City on Jan. 5. Aaron White had his first double-double since he had 15 points and 12 rebounds in a November loss to Syracuse. Iowa is 16-1 when scoring 64 or more points.
Nebraska: The Huskers started two freshmen (Tarin Smith and Fuller) for the first time in two years. The 32.7-percent shooting matched the Huskers' performance against Cincinnati in a double-overtime win in December.
CLEMMONS CLICKS
Iowa's Anthony Clemmons played 25 minutes off the bench and had eight points, three assists and a steal working at both the point- and off-guard spots.
''He's been playing aggressively,'' starting point guard Mike Gessel said. ''We need that out of him. He can get after people on defense. He was driving to the basket and making smart plays.''
SORRY, FANS
Nebraska coach Tim Miles apologized to the home fans for his team's poor showing.
''When I was at Southwest Minnesota State, to pay for shoes we used to go to the Renaissance Festival in Shakopee (Minnesota) and pick up trash. If I had the option, I would do that tonight, tomorrow and next day and pay back the fans for cost of attendance. Our fans are so supportive, and then we go into non-compete mode.''
