By Pat Harty

The Iowa men’s basketball team is a creature of habit, and right now that habit is ruining the season.

Iowa’s inability to play defense proved costly again as Nebraska shot nearly 60 percent from the field and cruised to a 98-84 victory on Saturday in Lincoln, Neb.

“I’m disappointed with our defensive performance,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said on his post-game radio show. “Anytime you give up 98, obviously, you’re not going to be happy about it. And we’ve just got to get it corrected.”

Sophomore forward Tyler Cook and sophomore guard Jordan Bohannon both scored 24 points for Iowa and helped to trim a 14-point halftime deficit to just two points early in the second half.

But then Nebraska went on a 13-2 scoring run and Iowa never threatened again.

The Cornhuskers improved to 7-4 in the Big Ten and 16-8 overall, while Iowa fell to 2-8 and 11-12.

Nebraska is having the kind of season that many expected from the Hawkeyes, who continue to be a sieve on defense.

Nebraska hit its scoring average with nearly 13 minutes left in the second half and then just kept making shots and free throws. The 98 points is the most that Nebraska has scored in a Big Ten game.

Iowa has allowed at least 90 points in four Big Ten games and 87 in another. The team’s inability to defend has turned a once-promising season into an unfolding nightmare.

Iowa shot nearly 50 percent from the field and had 21 assists against Nebrtaska while scoring at least 80 points for the 13^th time this season. But Saturday marked just the second time that Iowa has lost this season while scoring at least 80 points.

“You go on the road and shoot fifty percent, you shoot 40 (percent) from three, and you have 20 assists and nine (turnovers), you should be in a better position,” McCaffery said. But you give up 98 (points).”

Nebraska is proof coming off a losing season that the circumstances can change dramatically in just one year.

But the Cornhuskers also are benefitting from the addition of two experienced transfers in 6-foot-6 Miami transfer James Palmer Jr., and 6-9 Georgetown transfer Isaac Copeland. They combined to score 51 points in Saturday’s game and Copeland also had 11 rebounds.

McCaffery doesn’t have any transfers waiting to provide a spark for next season. Joe Wieskamp is a heralded incoming freshman for Iowa with a huge upside, but he won’t have the kind of experience that Palmer and Copeland bring this season.

Iowa now has to win seven of its final eight games just to finish .500 in the Big Ten and McCaffery has to wait for another game to try to earn his 400^th career victory.

Bohannon made six 3-point baskets in Saturday's game and has made at least five 3-point baskets in four consecutive road games, but Iowa is just 1-3 in those games.

The score was even at 10 when the first timeout was called with 15 minutes, 41 seconds left in the opening half. Bohannon already had made two 3-point baskets at that point, but freshman center Luka Garza also was saddled with two fouls.

Garza picked up his second foul barely one minute into the game and was replaced immediately by Cordell Pemsl. Garza returned to the game with more than 7 minutes left in the first half, but only played briefly before halftime.

He also struggled in the second half and finished with just eight points and four rebounds.

Nebraska ended the first half with an 18-6 scoring run and led 48-34 at halftime, thanks partly to 15 points from Copeland.

Iowa only scored eight points in the final 7 minutes of the first half.

Cook and Bohannon led Iowa with 12 and 11 points, respectively, in the first half, but their teammates only combined for 11 points and sophomore shooting guard Isaiah Moss was held to two points for the entire game.

Bohannon scored seven of Iowa’s first nine points in the second half and it took the Hawkeyes barely five minutes to cut the 14-point halftime deficit to just two points.

But Nebraska eventually pulled away as Iowa offered little resistance on defense.

McCaffery has been reluctant to blame the defense after previous losses, but that wasn’t the case on Saturday.

Iowa’s defensive woes were impossible to ignore.

If it weren't for Nebraska choosing not to shoot at the end, the Hawkeyes could’ve surrendered 100 points.

And if the defense doesn’t improve in a hurry, this season will continue to unravel.