When the two best defenses in the Big 12 meet on the court, it’s no surprise that baskets seem as rare as a good day on Wall Street. Iowa State and Nebraska met for the first time this season with the Cyclones grinding out a 65-53 win.

“The final two minutes were intense,” sophomore forward Craig Brackins said. “We turned the ball over and they were coming back. I think we did a good job at handling the pressure towards the end and pulled one away,”

The Cornhuskers had only given up 60 or more points in four games this season with their 77-63 win over South Carolina State being the only game they’ve won. Fueling Nebraska’s defense is its ability to create turnovers. They rank third in the country with 18.4 turnovers forced per game. In contrast, Iowa State averages just 11.6 turnovers caused per game.

“Nebraska scores almost 30 percent of their points off turnovers and probably another 20 percent on the free-throw line,” head coach Greg McDermott said. “So those were the two things we set out to accomplish is to make sure that our mistakes didn’t lead to baskets for them and that we kept our hands back and tried to guard the dribble the best we could without fouling them.”

Iowa State survived Nebraska’s happy hands in the first half committing just five turnovers and two fouls. The second half saw the Cornhuskers full-court press after every made basket and it resulted in a plethora of sloppy passes by the Cyclones.

“They come out hungry — they pressure the ball very well. It shows why they’re the best defensive team in the conference,” Brackins said.

Nebraska forced 12 turnovers in the second half which allowed them to make it a two point game with two minutes left.

“I’m not sure besides their full-court pressure they really changed anything, I just thought our decisions were not as good in the second half,” McDermott said.

Brackins said his teammates and he just needed to calm down and watch their passes better in the second half. Almost a third of Iowa State’s second half possessions ended in a turnover, but with the game on the line in the final two minutes the Cyclones hung on to the ball and thus went on a 10-0 run to end the game.

Although the Cyclone defense doesn’t put up the gaudy turnover numbers Nebraska does, they do a good job at keeping their opponents field goal percentage low. Iowa State held Nebraska to 34.5 percent shooting. Only two teams have shot above 40 percent on the Cyclones this season and their 38 percent field goal percentage defense ranks 22nd nationally.

The Cyclones defense had a hand in almost every Cornhuskers shot while rarely getting contact and drawing a foul. Nebraska only went to the line ten times during the game, making seven of them.

Nebraska’s pressing defense is a good tune up for the Cyclones who next travel to Missouri — a team known for its constant full-court ball pressure.