Huskers Take College Basketball Crown With 77-66 Win
Huskers.com
Behind a trio of 20-point efforts, Nebraska rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit to defeat UCF, 77-66, in the championship game of the College Basketball Crown Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas.
Brice Williams and Connor Essegian had 21 points apiece while Tournament MVP Juwan Gary added 20 points and eight rebounds, as Nebraska finished the season with a 21-14 record and earned its first postseason title since the 1996 NIT Championship.
While Williams, who became Nebraska’s single-season scoring leader on Sunday with 713 points, it was the play of Essegian and Gary that led the Huskers back from a 49-35 deficit with 14:55 remaining.
Gary, who was knocked briefly out of the game in the second half with a cut on his forehead, provided the spark, scoring nine of his 20 points in an 11-0 run that pulled NU to within 49-46 with 12:19 left.
A 3-pointer from Jordan Ivy-Curry stopped stemmed the run momentarily, but two straight Essegian 3-pointers tied the score at 52 before Williams found Andrew Morgan for a pair of dunks to put the Huskers up for good.
Essegian, who had 14 second-half points, hit his third 3-pointer of the 13-0 blitz to push the Husker margin to 59-52 with 7:27 remaining.
In all, the Husker defense held UCF to one field goal over eight and half minutes in the decisive 24-3 spurt and just 39.7 percent shooting on the day.
The Knights (20-17) got to within 62-57 after a Darius Johnson basket with 5:28 left, but a 3-pointer from Cale Jacobsen keyed a 9-2 Husker run that pushed the lead back 71-59 with 2:35 remaining, ending the Knights’ comeback bid.
NU dished out 20 assists on the day, including a career-high seven from Sam Hoiberg, who also did an outstanding job on Darrius Johnson, holding the guard to 1-of-11 shooting after his 43-point effort in the semifinals.
In the first half, the Huskers and Knights traded runs, as the game was 35-all at the break. Willliams paced the Huskers with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
Nebraska used an 8-0 spurt over 1:14 to turn a one-point lead into an 18-9 advantage after two straight Williams 3-pointers. Nebraska eventually built a 23-11 cushion on a 3-pointer from Essegian with 10:21 left in the half before the Knights regrouped.
UCF rallied behind the play of Ivey-Curry, who had 15 first-half points to pace the Knights. Currey scored eight points in an 11-4 spurt that pulled UCF within 27-23 with 6:25 left in the half. Ivey-Currey finished with a game-high 29 points off the bench while Nils Machowski added 13 points in the loss.
Nebraska stretched the lead to 33-26 with just under five minutes left in the half after jumpers from Essegian and Williams, but went ice cold, missing its last seven field goal attempts in the half.
UCF started the second half with a 14-0 run over the first 5:05 of the second half, building a 49-35 lead after a Tyler Hendricks 3-pointer, as NU missed its first seven shots of the half before Gary’s basket got NU on track.
College Basketball Crown All-Tournament Team
Juwan Gary, Nebraska (MVP)
Brice Williams, Nebraska
Tyson Degenhart, Boise State
Eric Dixon, Villanova
Darius Johnson, UCF
Huskers.com
Behind a trio of 20-point efforts, Nebraska rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit to defeat UCF, 77-66, in the championship game of the College Basketball Crown Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas.
Brice Williams and Connor Essegian had 21 points apiece while Tournament MVP Juwan Gary added 20 points and eight rebounds, as Nebraska finished the season with a 21-14 record and earned its first postseason title since the 1996 NIT Championship.
While Williams, who became Nebraska’s single-season scoring leader on Sunday with 713 points, it was the play of Essegian and Gary that led the Huskers back from a 49-35 deficit with 14:55 remaining.
Gary, who was knocked briefly out of the game in the second half with a cut on his forehead, provided the spark, scoring nine of his 20 points in an 11-0 run that pulled NU to within 49-46 with 12:19 left.
A 3-pointer from Jordan Ivy-Curry stopped stemmed the run momentarily, but two straight Essegian 3-pointers tied the score at 52 before Williams found Andrew Morgan for a pair of dunks to put the Huskers up for good.
Essegian, who had 14 second-half points, hit his third 3-pointer of the 13-0 blitz to push the Husker margin to 59-52 with 7:27 remaining.
In all, the Husker defense held UCF to one field goal over eight and half minutes in the decisive 24-3 spurt and just 39.7 percent shooting on the day.
The Knights (20-17) got to within 62-57 after a Darius Johnson basket with 5:28 left, but a 3-pointer from Cale Jacobsen keyed a 9-2 Husker run that pushed the lead back 71-59 with 2:35 remaining, ending the Knights’ comeback bid.
NU dished out 20 assists on the day, including a career-high seven from Sam Hoiberg, who also did an outstanding job on Darrius Johnson, holding the guard to 1-of-11 shooting after his 43-point effort in the semifinals.
In the first half, the Huskers and Knights traded runs, as the game was 35-all at the break. Willliams paced the Huskers with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
Nebraska used an 8-0 spurt over 1:14 to turn a one-point lead into an 18-9 advantage after two straight Williams 3-pointers. Nebraska eventually built a 23-11 cushion on a 3-pointer from Essegian with 10:21 left in the half before the Knights regrouped.
UCF rallied behind the play of Ivey-Curry, who had 15 first-half points to pace the Knights. Currey scored eight points in an 11-4 spurt that pulled UCF within 27-23 with 6:25 left in the half. Ivey-Currey finished with a game-high 29 points off the bench while Nils Machowski added 13 points in the loss.
Nebraska stretched the lead to 33-26 with just under five minutes left in the half after jumpers from Essegian and Williams, but went ice cold, missing its last seven field goal attempts in the half.
UCF started the second half with a 14-0 run over the first 5:05 of the second half, building a 49-35 lead after a Tyler Hendricks 3-pointer, as NU missed its first seven shots of the half before Gary’s basket got NU on track.
College Basketball Crown All-Tournament Team
Juwan Gary, Nebraska (MVP)
Brice Williams, Nebraska
Tyson Degenhart, Boise State
Eric Dixon, Villanova
Darius Johnson, UCF
