A second half run is what was needed for the Huskers to defeat the Arizona State Sun Devils 86-78 to advance to take the Georgetown Hoyas in the second round of the Crown Basketball Tournament.
Led by 30 points from First-Team All Big Ten guard Brice Williams, the Huskers trailed the Sun Devils by 8 at halftime, before taking the lead with 7:02 remaining in the second half and never looking back.
For Georgetown, they are coached by Ed Cooley who is in his second season with the Hoyas after coaching 12 seasons at Providence, leading them to 7 NCAA Tournament appearances.
The Hoyas defeated the Washington State Cougars in their first round matchup, thanks to a breakout performance sophomore guard Malik Mack, who scored a career high 37 points, making 8 threes.
Like the Sun Devils, the Hoyas will be very undermanned for this matchup, missing a handful of key starters in leading scorer Micah Peavy and guard Jayden Epps.
Players to Watch for Georgetown:
Malik Mack:
12.5 PTS 3.7 REB 4.3 AST 35% 3PT
After scoring 37 points against the Cougars on Monday night, we can expect that Hoyas coach Ed Cooley will continue to let the offense run through Mack.
The Huskers will need to be ready for Mack to play the Brice Williams role for Georgetown.
Mack doesn’t have the best shooting splits on the season, as he is shooting just 37.8% from the field and has only shot 50% or higher from the field in 2 of his last 15 games.
Curtis Williams Jr:
4.5 PTS 1.8 REB 41.7% FG
Curtis Williams Jr. has played a small bench role for the Hoyas for most of this season while starting two games as a sophomore.
The numbers won’t jump out to you, but Williams has put together some good performances this season for the Hoyas.
Williams played a four game stretch in January where he scored 10 or more points, two of those games coming against #7 Marquette and #9 UConn.
Players to Watch for Nebraska:
Brice Williams:
20.3 PTS 4.1 REB 2.8 AST
It was business as usual for Brice Williams against the Sun Devils on Monday, scoring 30 points for fourth time this season.
The gameplan for Georgetown will be simple, get Brice involved and if the Huskers can get stops on defense that will allow Brice to push the floor, it will only lead to more free throw attempts for a 88.6% free throw shooter.
Williams shot 10/13 from the free throw line against Arizona State.
Connor Essegian:
10.6 PTS 2.8 REB 1 AST 38% 3PT
It’s been a good past couple of days for Connor Essegian, who scored 17 points against Arizona State on Monday night and followed it up by announcing that he will be returning to Nebraska for his senior season on Tuesday.
After shooting 0/11 from the field in the Huskers regular season finale loss to Iowa, Essegian was spot on against the Sun Devils, as the only shots he missed came from behind the arc.
Expect the Huskers to look for Essegian and Essegian to pull the trigger quickly on a lot of threes on Wednesday night for the Huskers.
Prediction:
It took a little bit of want, but eventually the Huskers we’re able to climb there way back and defeat Arizona State.
It feels like the players are motivated and while there may not be many people in attendance, the majority of fans on Monday night we’re Husker fans.
I think the Huskers use this momentum and try and knockout Georgetown, who is missing some key guys right now.
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2025
8:30 PM CT FS1
Nebraska: 79 Georgetown: 74