LAS VEGAS — No team drew more fans to Sin City than Nebraska when they kicked off the College Basketball Crown on Monday spanning four games at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, where a new postseason tournament was formally formed. Despite watching head coach Fred Hoiberg’s team lose its final four regular season games and its Big Ten Tournament opening-round encounter, the Cornhuskers’ devoted supporters traveled to the desert, widely acknowledged as one of the most ardent and devoted fan communities in NCAA athletics. However, they believe that any opportunity to support Nebraska is worthwhile.
In anticipation of at least one more magnificent performance by star guard Brice Williams, a first-team all-conference player who ranks sixth nationally in scoring among power league players with an average of 20 points per game, they took a plane to Las Vegas. They had witnessed Williams surpass 20 points 17 times this season and score a school-record 43 points against Ohio State earlier this month. They were aware that he was one of the nation’s most gifted scorers, and that alone would give Nebraska a chance to win this tournament, where the Cornhuskers are ranked in the top two or three.
Every time the 6-foot-7, 214-pound veteran touched the ball in the first few minutes of Nebraska’s game against Arizona State, the fans’ excitement and expectation for Williams could be heard. From a courtside seat, a fan yelled, “Let him cook!” as Williams isolated his defender. Shortly after, Williams walked into a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and someone else said, “Oh, that is money!” Williams’ 30-point performance, which kept the Cornhuskers afloat in the first half and then won victory in the second by scoring 11 points in the final three minutes, kept the conversation going for the better part of two hours. Nebraska advanced to the quarterfinals with an 86-78 victory and will play Georgetown on Wednesday.
As the team’s undisputed best player, Williams has been outstanding throughout the season. This includes the team’s 12-2 start, which included victories over Creighton, Indiana, and UCLA; their six-game losing streak in January, which dropped Hoiberg’s team to 2-7 in conference play; their back-to-back wins over Illinois and Oregon, both of which advanced to the NCAA Tournament; and their five straight losses from February 19 to March 9, which raised doubts about whether the Cornhuskers would play any kind of postseason basketball after making it to the Big Dance the previous year.
But Williams was always Nebraska’s main attraction, through all the highs and lows, the valleys and peaks. In the Diamond Head Classic, an in-season tournament held in Hawaii over Christmas break, he delivered them 32 points in the title game. He helped them defeat then-No by 27 points in overtime. 18 Illinois on January 30 to start a four-game winning streak. In tight, low-scoring defeats against then-No. 1 in the winter, he scored 47 of his team’s 111 total points (42.3%) and handed them six straight 20-point games. Within a week, 15 Michigan and Minnesota. that this season, his shooting percentage increased from 44.4% in the 2023–24 season to 46.8%.
Williams, a senior in his final week of college basketball, scored 11 of his team’s 13 points during a very tense moment in the first half of Monday night’s game, which was not surprising. His skill set includes a mid-range jumper over a defender, followed by big man Andrew Morgan’s clever screen and re-screen for a 3-pointer from the top of the key. He scored 13 points in the first half, even though Nebraska was behind by eight points. He sunk another three-pointer two plays later and eventually earned a shooting foul on a subsequent 3-point try after curling around a pick. His teammates did not score more than six points.
Hoiberg subsequently continued, “I give our guys a lot of credit. They responded in a big way.” “I just did not think that we were playing with the fire that we needed to win a basketball game against a very talented team,” he said.
When Hoiberg’s squad was considering whether to accept an invitation to the College Basketball Crown, their attitude was consistent with that approach. According to reports, Williams informed his teammates in the middle of March that the Cornhuskers would only play in a playoff tournament if every player on the roster signed up. He did not want Nebraska to show up in Las Vegas or another place with a skeletal team that had been reduced by possible transfers and opt-outs. Pursuing the College Basketball Crown and the NIL money associated with this event would not have been feasible under such situation.
However, despite having a full roster, Nebraska started the second half behind by double digits before going on a long, spectacular 32-12 run that almost ended the Sun Devils’ hopes of pulling off an upset. The offensive explosion of shooting guard Connor Essegian (17 points), a Wisconsin transfer who had only scored in double figures three times in the previous eight games before February 5, followed a barrage of transition buckets from small forward Juwan Gary (18 points). With four minutes left, Gary and Essegian combined for 17 points in six minutes, turning a three-point deficit into a four-point lead.
Williams regained his position as Nebraska’s alpha and one of the better closers in college basketball this season after that, as shown by his 89.4% free-throw shooting percentage. After Arizona State chose to foul, Williams bolstered his clutch shooting with a transition dunk and cutting layup that put the game officially out of reach. He then buried seven of eight attempts from the charity stripe during the last 1:37.
He arrived early, late, and at the crucial moment to extend Nebraska’s season by a few days at the very least.
Williams told FOX Sports, “I think I have definitely shown throughout the season that I can make free throws at a high clip, especially in crunch time.” “But after that, my teammates kind of looked for me and made sure I got the ball. If I couldn’t, they just made plays and took advantage of different matchups. We were mutually dependent.”
