As if haunted by some eerie premonition, Iowa State Head Coach Tim Floyd “didn’t feel great about it going in [to the game]” on Saturday against Nebraska.

He couldn’t have known his team would fall at home by a score of 69-74 in overtime to a team that had not previously won on the road . But he had “felt better going into games.”

Before the Cyclones’ loss to Texas on Wednesday, some people may have already placed a ‘w’ in the win column for Saturday’s matchup.

However, the hot hand of Nebraska point guard Tyronn Lue turned an easy win into a hard-fought loss for an ISU team struggling to gain some momentum for the upcoming Big 12 Tournament.

“You have to give Nebraska credit,” Floyd said.

“They also did a super job of running their offense with purpose and going to Lue every trip. We didn’t have an answer for Lue.”

Lue finished with 30 points, equaling his career high.

The Cyclones came out in the first half looking tough on the inside. After controlling the tip, center Kelvin Cato scored the first two points of the game on a short jumper.

ISU opened a 4-0 lead on a layup by forward Kenny Pratt. Nebraska jumped right back into the game when Lue hit his first three-pointer. The Cyclone’s did not trail in the first half until the 12:26 mark.

NU began building a first-half lead that eventually reached 10 points with 3:41 left. A three-pointer by ISU guard Dedric Willoughby cut the deficit to 19-26, and then made it a five-point gap with two free throws.

Neither team would score again until the :20 mark, when NU center Mikki Moore hit a layin and made the score 21-28.

With 20 seconds left, Cyclone forward Stevie Johnson hit a set of free throws that took ISU into the locker room trailing 23-28 at halftime.

The Cyclone offense received a lift by forward Shawn Bankhead in the second half. Bankhead scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half. After trailing 29-37 at the 16:37 mark, ISU started to climb back into the game.

The game was tied at 39-39 when Bankhead hit a free throw at the 13:01 mark. The Cyclones grabbed a 41-39 lead on a dunk by Cato that ignited the Hilton crowd.

The ‘Clones began to build on their lead with solid play on the inside.

Reserve forwards Klay Edwards and Stevie Johnson were key players in the paint for ISU. Edwards scored six points and pulled down seven rebounds, while Johnson also added six points and two boards.

“Stevie was outstanding, [and] I thought Klay Edwards was terrific ,” Floyd said.

The Cyclones’ lead was 55-47 with 3:47 left in the second half when Lue took the game over, scoring 12 points in the final four minutes.

Lue started with a jumper that made the score 55-49, and followed with a layup that cut the Cyclone lead to four. Lue hit a three-pointer that made the score 59-58, but ISU went up by four on a layin by Edwards.

Lue then hit another three-pointer to bring NU within one point with 39 seconds left.

ISU answered with two free throws by Willoughby and made it a 64-61 ball game with 37 seconds left. With 24 seconds left, Nebraska tied the game at 64-64 on a three-pointer by forward Bernard Garner.

With 14 seconds left, the Cyclones tried to run a fake screen to Pratt in the paint, but his shot did not fall, and the game headed into overtime.

The Huskers continued their charge in overtime by taking a 68-65 lead with 3:23 left on a 15-foot jumper by Lue.

The Cyclones were faced with a scary situation when Cato was fouled and fell hard to the court floor.

“He grabbed my arm and I landed on my hip,” Cato said.

“I can’t even lift my arm over my head, and I just didn’t want to let the team down,” Cato said.

He re-entered the game after being looked at on the sidelines. “[I] had to go out there and keep trying to box out, rebound and set screens and do what I had to do,” Cato said.

ISU climbed within one on a Willoughby jump shot at the 2:00 mark.

With 25 seconds left, Moore sank two free throws to make it 69-72, and Lue added a pair to make the final score 69-74. “He [Lue] beat us every kind of way,” Floyd said.

With the Big 12 Tournament around the corner, the pressure is now on the Cyclones to get back into the winning ways to which they are accustomed. “We got a lot of work to do,” Willoughby said. “This team is no where near where we were last year.”

ISU is known for a well-disciplined defense, but it was the defense that failed to stop Lue and the Huskers from taking a win away from the Cyclones at home.

“Our defense has been our bread and butter and it’s not there any more,” Willoughby said. “We’re out of sync.”