IOWA CITY -- Iowa earned their second-straight Big Ten Conference win on Friday night, defeating Nebraska 94-76.

Here are three takeaways from the victory.

In the first half, 14 of Nebraska's 16 buckets were dunks or layups. They scored 30 points in the paint over that timeframe. Iowa clung to a 41-36 lead at the half.

Then, Fran McCaffery took the recommendation to flip from man defense to a 2-3 zone from his assistant, Sherman Dillard.

"He said to me 'Hey, let's take a look at zone,' and I said 'No,'" McCaffery said following the game. "He said it again and I said 'Yeah, let's try it.' It really worked. Our activity level was good, and we rebounded well out of it and then we got our break going out of it, so it was really good."

The Cornhuskers scored just 16 points in the paint in the second half. The also shot just 4-of-26 from three after hitting 14 triples in their win over No. 1 Purdue just a few days ago.

"We knew coming in that this team could shoot the ball," freshman Owen Freeman said postgame. "Coach really wanted to try the 2-3 zone. He said all week that if we went zone that it had to be an active zone, and that's exactly what we were. We were closing out to shooters. That's props to coaching and to guys just bringing it when we needed it."

Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg could tell the zone threw his team for a loop offensively.

"First of all, we weren't getting into our actions," he said postgame. "Once we got it into the middle, we were fine. We got some high-lows and some good looks that we missed. When we first came down, we just weren't getting into the right spots."

"You've got to make your open shots when you're playing against a zone. We didn't do that, but again, give Fran and Iowa credit for that."

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The Iowa offense looked as smooth and efficient as it has all season. It not only showed in the final score, but on the stat sheet as well.

Six Iowa players scored in double digits, and Freeman, Payton Sandfort, and Tony Perkins finished with double-doubles.

After am 0-3 start to Big Ten play, the players can feel the difference in how they've played as of late -- especially for the five-time conference freshman of the week Freeman, who finished with a career high 22 points and 10 rebounds.

"The energy has been switched," Freeman said postgame. "It's fun to be out there right now. For me, I think it was just that adjustment period to the game. I'm a lot more comfortable and it's a lot more fun."

Perkins was a strong bright spot for the Hawkeye offense as well, finishing with a career-high 15 of Iowa's 30 assists.

"I feel like that just shows the kind of team we are," Freeman added. "We have so many different weapons that can hurt you, and when we're all clicking, we're all playing together, we're a scary team."

Josh Dix came in and had a career-high 16 points and five three-pointers as well.

"He's a special player. I've been saying it," McCaffery said postgame. "I just have to give him more minutes. He just produces. He played essentially a flawless game."

McCaffery was more than impressed with his team's offensive performance.

"30 assists on 35 field goals. You just don't see that," he said. "That speaks to the unselfishness of this group and their understanding of the game plan. The way Fred teaches defense is very good and very sound, but it's very specific. If you don't understand that, you'll play right into turnovers, deflections and missed shots. They just kept moving the ball for open people. It was a thing of beauty."

Hoiberg gave the Hawks their well-deserved flowers, too.

"Obviously, Iowa has one of the top offenses in the country," he said. "Fran does an unbelievable job getting his guys to move and cut. Their bigs are really good -- Freeman is a load down there on the block, (Ben) Krikke got it going down there for that stretch, I thought Patrick played well, Sandfort is one of the best shooters in the country. And then Perkins ran the show for them. Dix had a really good game as well. They played great, and give them credit for it."

With the victory, McCaffery tied Tom Davis for most wins as the head coach in Iowa basketball history (271 victories). With the win over Rutgers on Saturday, McCaffery passed Davis for most Big Ten wins (127) in Iowa history.

"Coach (Davis) is one of the more special people in this business," McCaffery said. "He sent me a hand-written letter congratulating me and telling me how much he enjoys watching us play. That's the kind of person he is -- from the minute I got here, he reached out to me, and we've remained close."

"I just think the world of him as a coach, but most importantly as a person."

Up next, Iowa will travel to Minneapolis to take on Minnesota at 5 PM CT on Monday, January 15. The game will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.