Nebraska Runs Past Arizona State in Second Half, Advances in College Basketball Crown

Nebraska men's basketball is still playing.

NU used a strong second half to advance in the College Basketball Crown against Arizona State Monday evening in Las Vegas, 86-78. The Huskers improve to 18-14 while the Sun Devils end their season at 13-20.

The first 21:30 of the game had moments for Nebraska, but was extremely sloppy for the most part. Arizona held an eight point lead at halftime and extended that to 11 points by the 18:34 mark of the second half.

But the Huskers became the aggressors, ratcheting up the energy for a dominant final 18:13.

Nebraska forward Juwan Gary dunks the ball against Arizona State in the first round of the College Basketball Crown. — Nebraska forward Juwan Gary dunks the ball against Arizona State in the first round of the College Basketball Crown at MGM Grand Garden Arena. | Nebraska Athletics

From that mark on, Nebraska outscored Arizona State 54-35. The Huskers shot 64.5% in the second half, holding the Sun Devils to just 46.7%.

For the game, the Huskers shot 50.8%, including 8-of-24 on 3s. The Sun Devils shot 46.4% overall, making 6-of-20 from deep.

Brice Williams finished with a game-high 30 points. Juwan Gary and Connor Essegian were next for the Big Red, scoring 18 and 17 points, respectively.

Nebraska advances to the quarterfinals of the Crown. The Huskers will play Georgetown Wednesday at 8:30 CDT on FS1.

Box score

Nebraska Athletics Postgame Notes

Nebraska improves to 25-26 all-time in postseason games with tonight’s win.
Nebraska is now 4-4 all-time against Arizona State.
Nebraska overcame an 11-point second-half deficit, marking the third time this year the Huskers rallied from a double-digit deficit.
Brice Williams finished with 30 points for his fourth 30-point game of the season. He is the second Husker in the Big Ten era with four 30-point games in a season, joining James Palmer Jr. who also had four in 2018-19.
Williams’ 30-point night is the second-highest scoring effort by a Husker in a postseason game, trailing the 33 points that Tom Baack scored against Marshall in the 1967 NIT.
Williams now has 650 points, passing Eric Piatkowski (646, in 1993-94) for fourth place in NU’s single-season list.
Nebraska’s 56 points in the second half was its highest scoring half of the season (previous high 54 in first half vs. South Dakota) and the highest since scoring 57 in the first half against Doane during the 2020-21 season.
Connor Essegian finished with 17 points, all coming in the final 10:29 of the game. It marked the 29th time this season a Husker reserve reached double figures. Essegian was 7-of-7 from the floor in the second half
Cale Jacobsen led NU a huge lift off the bench, setting career bests in assists (five), steals (three) and minutes (23), as he finished +10 on the night.
Sam Hoiberg matched a career high with four steals as the Huskers finished with 11 steals on the night.

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