The Nebraska men’s basketball team rallied from an 11-point deficit early in the second half to defeat Arizona State 86-78 on Monday night in the first round of the inaugural College Basketball Crown Tournament played at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
NU will play the winner of Georgetown vs. Washington State, which will be played late Monday night, on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. CT.
Brice Williams was his usual All-Big Ten self and scored a game-high 30 points with four 3s and a 10-of-13 outing at the free-throw line. Juwan Gary added 18 points and Connor Essegian 17, all in the second half.
Cale Jacobsen, the pride of Ashland-Greenwood High School in Nebraska, came off the bench to give NU strong minutes as well.
With both Rollie Worster (foot) and Gavin Griffiths (ankle) out with injury, the 6-foot-4 guard/forward Jacobsen, a walk-on who played 74 minutes during the regular season, played 22 minutes Monday night and scored 2 points with five assists, three steals and two rebounds. He owned a plus-minus of plus-10, same as Williams.
“It was a great testament to our guys staying with it,” Nebraska assistant coach Ernie Zeigler said in a postgame interview with Huskers Radio Network. “We didn’t come out with the right sense of purpose to start the first half, and Arizona State has some talented guys.”
Another walk-on, the 6-foot Sam Hoiberg, stuffed the stat sheet to the tune of seven points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.
After a scoreless first 20 minutes, Essegian came off the bench to provide a much-needed spark in the second half. With NU trailing 54-48 with little to no offensive rhythm, Essegian drilled a 3-pointer and then got a fast-break layup to drop to put the Huskers within 1 points.
Essegian then had a stretch of six straight points, with his baseline mid-range jumper giving NU a 60-59 edge, its first lead since 26-24 in the first half.
“Connor Essegian and Cale Jacobsen were huge,” Zeigler said. “As always, Brice and Juwan were senior leaders in the second half. Just a great team win to put us in position to win and move on.”
With NU last playing on March 9 in the regular-season finale, Zeigler said he thought the team was a bit rusty in the first half.
“We had an intra-squad scrimmage last week as well just trying to simulate game situations, but until you get back out in the flow, it’s a whole different deal,” Zeigler said.
Zeigler credited Jacobsen with his defense and boxing out of ASU’s Basheer Jihad, a 6-9, 239-pounder. Jihad had 21 points and seven rebounds in the game. He scored 15 points in the first half, but with Jacobsen defending him in the second half, Jihad only had six points.
NU’s offense struggled to score in the half-court, but when the Huskers got in transition, it was a different story. NU held a 24-11 edge in points off turnovers.
ASU, which was without two starters and was playing with a roster depleted by injuries and the transfer portal, just didn’t have the bodies to keep up late in the game. NU’s bench came through when it needed to, and outscored ASU’s bench 20-6.
With ASU’s lack of size — the Sun Devils became even smaller when the 7-foot Shawn Phillips Jr. fouled out in the second half — NU took advantage by attacking the paint. The Huskers outscored ASU 44-30 in paint points.
NU trailed 38-30 at the half and watched as the Sun Devils finished the first 20 minutes strong, on a 14-4 run. ASU hit five of its last seven shots of the half while NU made just three of its last 14.
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