What happened in the first half in Vegas was a story that could stay in Vegas.
The short of it is Nebraska looked like a team that hadn’t played in 22 days. There were eight turnovers to two assists. The pursuit of wearing the Crown had wobbly legs.
But that second-half story in Round 1 of the College Basketball Crown? That’s the one to share to friends as the Huskers turned an eight-point halftime deficit into an eight-point win. An 86-78 win over Arizona State on Monday night came by way of 30 points from Brice Williams, 18 from Juwan Gary and 17 all in the second half by Connor Essegian.
“I’m proud of the guys. I’m proud of how we battled back…” Essegian said on the FS1 postgame show. “We didn’t want to get down to Arizona State like that, but to see the will and the fire that we had in this team … it was really good to see.”
Nebraska scored 56 points in the final half. Essegian was certainly front and center in the comeback, going 7-for-7 from the floor in the half. Nebraska received quality minutes off the bench from walk-on Cale Jacobsen, who was plus 10 in his 23 minutes of action. And the senior Gary, in foul trouble in the first half, got loose for layups and dunks en route to a plus-18 stat line to match his point total.
A lineup of Williams, Gary, Hoiberg, Jacobsen and Essegian proved the right ticket.
“Cale Jacobsen I thought was absolutely phenomenal out there and really the tides turned when we went to that small lineup and we really kind of got it going…” Fred Hoiberg told media in Las Vegas. “Total team win. We don’t practice that small lineup a lot. Cale knows every spot on the floor 1 through 5 offensively and defensively. I thought he was player of the game. I give him a lot of credit.
“He’s the next guy up a lot. He’s had an unbelievable couple weeks of practice and I had to get him out there and it paid off for us. I’m really proud of him for what he’s all about.”
Having hit just 11-of-30 in that first half which we weren’t supposed to bring up again, the Huskers finished 51 percent from the field by game’s end (31-of-61). It snaps NU’s five-game losing streak and means the Huskers (18-14) will now play the Georgetown-Washington State winner on Wednesday night at 8:30 CT in the 16-team tournament’s quarterfinals.
“It was a great testament to our guys staying with it,” NU assistant coach Ernie Zeigler said on the Huskers Radio Network postgame show. “We didn’t come out with the right sense of purpose to start the first half and Arizona State has some talented guys.”
One of those was Zeigler’s cousin, Basheer Jihad, who had 21 points. And Alston Mason, son of former Lincoln Northeast and ASU standout Alton Mason, had 23 for the Sun Devils.
But Arizona State (13-20) came into the game with just seven scholarship players and when its big man Shawn Phillips got in foul trouble and then fouled out, the Huskers carved up Bobbly Hurley’s team with efficiency.
Down by 11 early in the second half, Nebraska had it tied at 58 by the time Essegian hit a corner 3 with 8:49 left. ASU hit a free throw but then NU rattled off 10 points in a row to lead 68-59 and never look back.
The Huskers turned it around with 14 assists in the second half and ended up with a 24-11 points-off-turnovers advantage. Hoiberg had four steals and Jacobsen had three. A big part of how the lineup that changed the game’s course.
“Those guys were just moving and talking. They were so connected,” Zeigler said. “When you got a connected group like that that gets on the floor, you’ve got to stay with them and that’s what Coach Hoiberg decided to do.”
