Huskers Look to Advance to Crown Semis vs. Georgetown

The Nebraska men’s basketball program returns to action Wednesday night, as the Huskers face Georgetown in the quarterfinals of the College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas. Tipoff between the Huskers and the Hoyas from the MGM Grand Garden Arena is set for 8:30 p.m. (central) and will be televised on FS1 and carried on the Huskers Radio Network. Live audio for the game can also be found on Huskers.com and the Huskers app.

Nebraska (18-14) comes off an 86-78 win over Arizona State in the tournament opener on Monday night. Nebraska shot 65 percent in the second half en route to overcoming a 10-point deficit in the final 15 minutes. Nebraska’s depth played a major role in the comeback, as Connor Essegian had all 17 of his points in the second half while Cale Jacobsen set career bests in both assists (five) and steals (three) helping the Huskers outscore ASU, 47-29, over the final 15 minutes. 

Nebraska’s stars also showed up in the win, as Brice Williams led all scorers with 30 points on 8-of-16 shooting while Juwan Gary added 18 points, three assists and two steals. 

Williams, who is now second in the Big Ten in scoring at 20.3 points per game, posted his fourth 30-point effort of the season, which is the most by a Husker since 2018-19. It also marked just the third time a Husker scored 30-or-more points in a postseason game, joining Andre Smith (30 vs. Michigan in 1980 NIT) and Tom Baack (33 vs. Marshall in 1967 NIT).

Nebraska will face a Georgetown (18-15) team which trailed for most of the night against Washington State before posting an 85-82 victory. Malik Mack carried the Hoyas to victory, as the sophomore guard finished with 37 points, including 8-of-12 from 3-point range, while Jordan Banks added 16 points and 13 rebounds. Georgetown was 13-of-36 from 3-point range and converted 12 Washington State turnovers into 16 points.

Wednesday’s matchup between the two teams will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs. The winner will advance to Saturday’s first semifinal, which is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. (central). 

Career 30-Point Games at Nebraska

No.

Player

30-Pt games

1.

Dave Hoppen

7

Tyronn Lue

7

2.

Aleks Maric

6

3.

Jerry Fort

5

4.

Brice Williams

4

James Palmer Jr.

4

Andre Smith

4

Eric Piatkowski

4

Herschell Turner

4

Marvin Stewart

4

Monday Recap

Brice Williams scored a game-high 30 points to lead three Huskers in double figures, as Nebraska rallied for an 86-78 win over Arizona State in the first round of the College Basketball Crown on March 30.

While Williams posted his fourth 30-point game of the season, Nebraska (18-14) also got 18 points from Juwan Gary and 17 from Connor Essegian off the bench – all in the second half – as the Huskers picked up their first postseason win since 2019. Williams’ 30-point night tied for the second-highest postseason performance in school history and marked his fourth 30-point game of the year.

Nebraska got untracked offensively, scoring 56 points in the second half while shooting 64.5 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes. Nebraska got contributions throughout its roster, including five assists and three steals from Cale Jacobsen and seven points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals from Sam Hoiberg. In all, Nebraska totaled 11 steals and out-scored ASU, 24-11 on points off turnovers.

Nebraska’s Postseason History

The 2025 College Basketball Crown marks Nebraska’s 28th postseason appearance in program history, as Nebraska is 25-26 all-time in the postseason following Monday’s win over Arizona State. The 2024-25 season marks NU’s second straight postseason appearance, the first time that has happened for Nebraska since the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.

Experimental Rule to Make Debut in Postseason

One change from the regular season in place for both the Crown and the NIT is the use of an experimental rule which will allow a coach to appeal out-of-bounds calls for video replay review in the last two minutes of games. 

The experimental rule would eliminate the official’s voluntary ability to review out-of-bounds calls on the floor in the last two minutes of the game. Instead, these calls for a video review would be tied to the timeouts a team has remaining.

• If a team appeals the call and it is overturned, the team making the appeal would retain the timeout.
• If the review fails, the team making the appeal would lose a timeout.
• If no timeouts remain, coaches could still appeal, but if the appeal fails, they would be assessed an excessive timeout administrative technical, meaning their opponents would shoot two free throws and maintain possession of the ball.

Worth Noting

• Tuesday’s game will be NU’s second against a Big East school this year, as the Huskers defeated then-No. 14 Creighton in Omaha, 74-63, on Nov. 22.
• For the Huskers, going west has been very fruitful, as the Huskers are 6-0 west of Nebraska this year. NU went 3-0 at the Diamond Head Classic and swept the Big Ten west coast trip of Washington and Oregon.
• With a win on Wednesday, Fred Hoiberg would pass his grandfather Jerry Bush (81) for sole possession of eighth place on NU’s career wins list.
• With his 30-point effort against Arizona State, Brice Williams now has four 30-point games this season. It ties for second on NU’s single-season chart, trailing only Dave Hoppen, who had four in 1984-85. The only Big Ten player with more 30-point games this season was Wisconsin’s John Tonje (six).
• With a 18-14 record, Nebraska will finish with a .500 or better record for the third straight season. It would mark the first time that has happened at Nebraska since a six-year stretch spanning the 2003-04 to 2008-09 seasons. With an extended run in Las Vegas, the Huskers could post consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time since the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons.
• Brice Williams became the first Husker since Terran Petteway in 2013-14 to lead the Big Ten in scoring during conference play. Williams finished with 20.7 ppg, edging out Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn (20.5) and Northwestern’s Nick Martinelli (20.5) in Big Ten action. Williams is one of three players averaging 20.0 ppg as of April 1.
• Of Nebraska’s 14 losses, nine were one-possession games within the last 45 seconds of regulation. In five of the six home losses this season, NU was within one possession in the final 40 seconds, including four in the final 10 seconds (Rutgers, USC, Michigan and Minnesota).
• NU has relied on its depth with six players averaging at least 6.5 points per game. Nine players have posted double-figure efforts, while three players (Brice Williams, Connor Essegian and Juwan Gary) have recorded 20-point games. Williams is the only Husker in the top 20 of the Big Ten in scoring.
• Nebraska went 4-4 against ranked opponents this season, as the four wins over ranked teams tie a school record done three other times in school history. Nebraska has won multiple games against ranked foes in three of the past four years and is now 9-11 in its last 20 games against ranked teams dating back to March 1, 2022.
• Nebraska is averaging 75.7 points per game heading into Wednesday’s game with Georgetown. It is on pace to be NU’s second-highest scoring average since joining the Big Ten in 2011-12. NU has scored 70+ points 19 times, including 10 games with at least 80 points. Last season, NU averaged 77.7 points per game for 34 games, its highest offensive total since the 1995-96 season.
• Nebraska has had seven games this season with multiple 20-point scorers, most recently at Ohio State on March 4 with Brice Williams (43) and Juwan Gary (24) going over the 20-point mark. NU now has multiple players who have scored 20+ points 18 times in Fred Hoiberg‘s six seasons.

The 67 combined points by Gary and Williams in the OSU game were the most by two players in a game in school history. The previous mark was 65 by Eric Piatkowski (42) and Bruce Chubick (23) vs. Oklahoma on March 11, 1994.

• The Huskers allowed 49 points in the loss to No. 15 Michigan on Feb. 24, the sixth time in 379 games against ranked opponents where NU allowed less than 50 points. It is the fewest NU has allowed to a ranked opponent since 2011 and only the third time in the last 40 years that NU held a ranked opponent under 50 points.
• Nebraska posted its third double-figure comeback of the season against Arizona State on Monday, rallying back from an 11-point deficit. Earlier this year, NU overcame a 20-point second-half deficit to win at Northwestern on Feb. 16. It was the largest deficit overcome by a Big Ten team in a road conference game since Feb. 17, 2018, when Michigan State overcame a 27-point deficit at Northwestern at Allstate Arena.
• NU is 12-1 when holding opponents to under one point per possession, but 6-13 when opponents are above 1.0 PPP. Nebraska had won its last 29 games dating back to the 2022-23 season when holding an opponent under 1.0 PPP before the Feb. 24 loss to the Wolverines. Over the last three years, NU is 38-5 when holding opponents to under 70 points. Nebraska has improved its KenPom defensive efficiency in each of the past three seasons.

 On Jan. 26, Brice and his father, Henry, became the seventh father-son duo to combine for 4,000 career points at the college level. The pair is now sixth all-time entering Wednesday’s game with Georgetown. Brice is over 1,900 career points, including 1,105 at Nebraska. Henry Williams, who passed away in 2018, was Charlotte’s all-time leading scorer with 2,383 career points.

Father-Son Duos with 4,000 Points

No.

Father (College)

Years

Points

Son (College)

Years

Points

Total

1.

Dell Curry (Virginia Tech)

1983-86

2,389

Stephen Curry (Davidson)

2006-09

2,635

5,024

2.

Mike Davis (Alabama)

1979-83

1,211

Antoine Davis (Detroit)

2018-23

3,664

4,875

3.

Steve Burtt Sr. (Iona)

1980-84

2,534

Steve Burtt Jr. (Iona)

2002-06

2,034

4,568

4.

Dell Curry (Virginia Tech)

1983-86

2,389

Seth Curry (Duke/Liberty)

2009-13

2,101

4,490

5.

Steve Alford (Indiana)

1983-86

2,438

Bryce Alford (UCLA)

2013-17

1,922

4,360

6.

Henry Williams (Charlotte)

1988-92

2,383

Brice Williams (Charlotte/Nebraska)

2019-25

1,906

4,289

7.

Greg McDermott (Northern Iowa)

1984-88

1,033

Doug McDermott (Creighton)

2010-14

3,150

4,183

• Connor Essegian has been one of the Big Ten’s best sixth men this season, as the junior guard averages 10.6 points per contest. Essegian is the only Big Ten reserve currently averaging double figures while making eight or fewer starts.
• With its 18-14 record in 2024-25, Nebraska is 47-28 dating back to the start of February 2023. NU’s .628 winning percentage is fifth among all Big Ten rams in that span. NU went just 33-80 from the start of the 2019-20 season until Feb. 1, 2023.
• Nebraska’s 114 points against Ohio State on March 4 was the fifth-highest output in school history and most points since also scoring 114 against Oregon on Nov. 25, 1995. It also was the most points NU had ever scored in a loss.
• Brice Williams is just sixth Husker in the Big Ten era to have multiple 30-point games in the Big Ten era (2011-21-present). His three 30-point games match James Palmer Jr., who had a trio of 30-point efforts during the 2018-19 season.
• As a team, Nebraska enters the postseason shooting 74.8 percent from the line. The Huskers’ free throw percentage is on track to be one of the best in school history. Nebraska’s 484 free throws made this season is 27 free throws shy from 10th place in school history (511, 2013-14).