The Nebraska men’s basketball team will try to continue its season and earn some money Wednesday night in a quarterfinal of the College Basketball Crown Tournament in Las Vegas.
The Huskers (18-14) take on Ed Cooley’s Georgetown Hoyas (18-15), who beat Washington State 85-82 in a first-round matchup on Monday. Tonight’s game will be the first-ever matchup between the men’s basketball programs at Nebraska and Georgetown.
The game is scheduled to tip at 8:30 p.m. CT inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena with the game being shown on FS1.
The Crown features a first-of-its-kind NIL prize pool that rewards the championship team with a $300,000 NIL package. The runner-up will earn a $100,000 package while $50,000 will go to the semifinalists through a new venture labeled the Vivid Seats Ambassador Program.
For more information regarding the prize money, click here.
Day/Time: Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. CT
TV: FS1 with Gus Johnson, Jim Jackson and Allison Williams on the call.
Stream: Fox Sports app.
Listen: Wednesday’s game will be carried on the Huskers Radio Network with Kent Pavelka and Jake Muhleisen on the call, including KLIN (1400 AM) in Lincoln, KXSP (590 AM) in Omaha and KRVN (880 AM) in Lexington. The pregame show begins an hour before tipoff and will also be available on Huskers.com and the Huskers app.
Fred Hoiberg’s Nebraska squad is coming off an 86-78 first-round win over Arizona State on Monday. Things didn’t look good for the Huskers, who trailed by 10 points, 49-39, with 15 minutes remaining.
But thanks to Connor Essegian’s 17 second-half points in the final 10:29 of play, Nebraska rallied. Big Red took a 60-59 lead off an Essegian baseline jumper with 7:02 left and never trailed again. After shooting 36.7% from the field in the first half, the Huskers shot 64.5% in the second to down the short-handed Sun Devils.
Brice Williams was his usual All-Big Ten self for Nebraska, pouring in 30 points with four 3s, 10 free throws, four rebounds and two assists. It was his fourth game this season of at least 30 points, the most by a Husker since 2018-19.
With Rollie Worster out of the lineup with a foot injury, Hoiberg turned to seldom-used but do-everything player Cale Jacobsen. The walk-on from in-state Ashland-Greenwood High School played 22 strong minutes and scored two points with a team-high five assists and three steals.
“Cale Jacobsen I thought was absolutely phenomenal out there,” Hoiberg said after the game. “Cale knows every spot on the floor, one through five, offensively and defensively. I thought he was player of the game.
Georgetown finished seventh in the Big East this season with a conference record of 8-12. Cooley is in his second year with the program located in Washington, D.C. After taking the Georgetown job following 12 seasons at Providence, Cooley went 9-23 in his first season with the Hoyas before doubling his win total this season.
Georgetown trailed Washington State by 9 points, 53-44, with 16 minutes remaining in the second half Monday night before rallying for the win behind a game-high 37 points from guard Malik Mack. The 6-foot-2, 175-pounder went 8-of-12 from 3 and dished out four assists. In his previous five games, Mack scored in single digits.
The Hoyas still won the game even while playing with a gutted roster. There was also a “health incident” that impacted multiple players, according to FOX.
Georgetown’s top three scorers didn’t play, including first-team All-Big East guard Micah Peavy (17.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 3.6 apg), third-team All-Big East center and projected first-round NBA draft pick, Thomas Sorber (14.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 2.4 apg), who declared for the NBA Draft, and guard Jayden Epps (12.8 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 2.3 apg). Georgetown was also without its starting center, Drew Fielder, who is in the transfer portal. The Hoyas played Washington State without a true center.
At this point, it’s unclear who will be available to play and who won’t for Georgetown.
Georgetown’s projected starting lineup
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