(Photo: Husker Athletics)
The crown fit.
Fred Hoiberg placed it atop Cale Jacobsen’s head. Looked good. Moments before Brice Williams and Juwan Gary shared a long hug after so many days of standing up in the arena together. Talk about giving Nebraska fan the feels.
Why’d Husker basketball commit to this? Let’s be honest. Some had asked that. Here were the visuals of why.
A few weeks back when the wounds from a painful finish to the regular-season were still being licked, Hoiberg met with his veterans about what to do next.
They wanted to keep playing. Every one of them. Williams in fact took that message to the whole locker room and said this wasn’t going to be a one-foot-in, one-foot-out approach to the postseason tournament to come.
Those were more than words as Nebraska claimed the College Basketball Crown championship by defeating Central Florida 77-66 on Sunday in Las Vegas.
“I feel like I have residency in Vegas now as long as I’ve been here,” Hoiberg said during the trophy presentation. “I just want to say I have absolutely cherished this time with this team the last three weeks. I’m so happy that we made the decision to play in this event. It was a first-class run event and our guys showed up.”
The Huskers completed a four-game winning run over the course of seven days. Being the top dog of the 16-team tournament gives Nebraska a final record of 21-14 and a crown.
It wasn’t the goal set at the season’s beginning but it sure was completion of a mission in recent weeks to end this thing right.
Whatever your final take may be on this Husker season, there can be great appreciation for that. Un an opt-out age, this Nebraska team got a satisfying reward for playing on and being all in.
The king of the week for Nebraska could be debated, but Juwan Gary was awarded MVP honors.
It was fitting given how the championship game played out, because after he was hit hard in the head and bleeding – even going to the locker room briefly – Gary came back on a mission.
It was Gary who helped spark an 11-0 run by Nebraska after UCF had jumped to a 49-35 lead in the second half. The score was tied at 35 at the break but things had gone sideways. NU had a 10-minute, 22-second field goal drought from the last five minutes of the first half to the first five minutes of the second half.
A Gary bucket finally ended the dry spell. Then the Huskers made up lost time in a hurry.
Connor Essegian got hot and hit a couple three-pointers to tie it at 52 at the 11:04 mark. A 14-point deficit was erased in a little more than 3 1/2 minutes.
“I think it was good that Juwan got popped in the head because he was a lot better when he came back on the floor for those last 15 minutes,” Hoiberg joked. “But they threw the first punch and I give our guys credit for sticking with it, staying in. Our movement was phenomenal. We got it going.”
Along the way Williams scored 21 points to give him 713 points for the season. That’s a new school record, five better than James Palmer Jr. Williams was on fire early with 15 points during a first half. It looked easy early. The Huskers at one point led by 12.
Like the season, obstacles arose. UCF had outscored Nebraska by 26 points in the middle parts of the game.
And even as the Huskers punched back, Williams was stuck on 15 points. Still one point behind Palmer. Until 1:10 remained. He hit two free throws to go to the top of the charts. He’d hit four more and steal a pass away to lock up the win for good.
Certainly the two headline seniors made the most of wearing the uniform a final time. Gary’s dominant second-half gave him 20 points and eight rebounds by the end. This was a day after he was 4-for-4 behind the arc in the semifinals.
As the horn sounded Williams and Gary shared a long hug in celebration, and completion.
“They mean the world to this program and this program is in a lot better place with these guys from when they came here,” Hoiberg said. “And that’s what it’s all about, from when they come here to put it in a better spot.”
It’s Nebraska’s first postseason championship since the 1996 NIT.
It capped a week of encouraging headlines for Hoiberg’s program, with NU also adding two portal additions heading into the weekend.
Some multi-tasking has been going on in Vegas with playing and the portal. But Nebraska didn’t get distracted, playing some of its more complete ball in wins over Boise State and UCF the last two days.
Jacobsen emerged as a favorite story and the walk-on was again important, scoring five points as NU bumped the lead to 69-59 with 3:24 left after UCF had made a little run.
Then there was Essegian, who had 21 himself, going 4-of-8 behind the arc. His hot shooting helped Nebraska outscore UCF 42-17 in the last 14:36 of the game.
“I couldn’t be more proud of how they finished after a tough end to the regular season,” Hoiberg said during the on-court celebration. “And I want to give a special shout-out to Husker Nation for showing up in this tournament.”
Nebraska fans repped themselves well as usual. The MVP Gary got to sit in a king’s chair. Confetti came from the ceiling. The Huskers won $300,000 toward the NIL collective too.
A long season. A roller-coaster season. It ended, though, in a way most exiting a season or Vegas aren’t familiar with – a winning hand.
“I told them, ‘I’m not losing this game,'” Gary said during the trophy presentation. “My last college game I was not going to lose … I give my props to all my guys … I love them like my brothers, for sure. Hey we’re champions, man. It does mean a lot to me.”
