1 week Ago By Wilson Moore World-Herald staff writer
The show goes on in Las Vegas for Nebraska basketball. In its second game of the College Basketball Crown — the Huskers’ final attempt at positivity for the season — NU controlled the tone, tempo and a Georgetown team running on fumes from start to finish. Nebraska’s 81-69 win its season and into the semifinals of the first-year tournament.
Nebraska (19-14) will face Boise State Saturday. By beating Georgetown, NU guaranteed itself a $50,000 NIL payout for making the semis. The Huskers’ lead stretched to as many as 19 points in the second half, and Georgetown nibbled away as it heated up from outside.
But for every push the Hoyas made, NU had a counter. When Georgetown (18-16) cut NU’s lead to single digits with a Kayvaun Mulready 3-pointer with 11:21 left in the game, Cale Jacobsen responded by getting into the paint and hitting a short jumper before Ahron Ulis picked off a pass and went the other way for an uncontested layup. Moments later, the lead was down to eight before Juwan Gary hit a crucial 3 from the corner.
When Nebraska first took control, it began on the defensive end. Georgetown lacked flow and movement as the Huskers stayed in front of their defenders, contested shots and forced the Hoyas into difficult looks from midrange and beyond the 3-point line. Georgetown didn’t do itself any favors either; among its 11 turnovers were careless giveaways, like when Mulready tried to fire a pass from one end of the baseline to another and was intercepted or Curtis Williams Jr.
’s drive to nowhere in which he stepped out of bounds under the basket. On the other end of the floor, it was Brice Williams, as has been the case so often this season, getting the ball rolling early for Nebraska. He knocked down a pair of catch-and-shoot 3-pointers in the opening minutes.
The rest of the Huskers’ offense gradually followed suit as Williams got wherever he wanted on the floor throughout the game, slithered around screens, backed down smaller defenders, attacked the rim and played in control while scoring 28 points. Connor Essegian, fresh off of a 17-point game two nights earlier, came off the bench and hit a 3, drove to the rim for a layup and pulled up from midrange in the first half on his way to _ points. Gary buried a 3-pointer on the next possession to push Nebraska’s lead to 12 within a 16-3 NU run.
The Huskers knocked down nine of their 27 attempts from 3 and got 25 points from their bench. Get local news delivered to your inbox!.
