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.

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.

Nebraska will play Georgetown, an 85-82 winner over Washington State, Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. (CT)

Williams’ 30-point night was the second-highest postseason performance in school history and his fourth 30-point game of the year marked the first Husker to have four 30-point games since 2019.

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, four assists and four steals from Sam Hoiberg. In all, Nebraska totaled 11 steals and out-scored ASU, 24-11 on points off turnovers.

Trailing 49-39 with just under 15 minutes left, the Huskers used a 14-5 spurt to cut the deficit to 54-53 after five straight points from Essegian with 10:08 left.

Essegian, who was held scoreless until the 10:30 mark of the second half, helped Nebraska regain the lead for good, scoring eight straight for the Huskers, who turned a 58-55 deficit into a 63-61 lead with 5:22 left. The Essegian basket started a 10-0 Husker run in less than two minutes as Nebraska built a 71-61 lead on a Sam Hoiberg 3-pointer with 3:29 left.

From there, the Huskers kept attacking, building a 12-point lead with 1:21 left. The Sun Devils made one last charge, pulling to within 80-74 on Amier Ali’s 3-pointer with 32 seconds left, but Williams went 4-of-4 from the line and added a dunk after NU beat the press to end ASU’s upset hopes.

Alston Mason led ASU with 23 points while Basheer Jihad added 21 points for Arizona State (13-20).

In the first half, the teams were within two possessions for most of the half before Arizona State closed the half on a 14-4 run to take a 38-30 halftime lead.

Nebraska trailed 8-2 early before the Huskers got going behind Williams, who had 13 first-half points. NU used a 12-2 run to take its largest lead of the half at 14-10 at the 13:59 mark after the senior scored five straight points of the Huskers.

The teams would trade the lead for most of the first 15 minutes, as the opening half saw 12 lead changes and four times before Nebraska took a 26-24 lead on a basket from Berke Büyüktuncel.

The Sun Devils, who shot 46 percent in the half and went 10-of-11 from the foul line, used a 7-0 run to regain the lead, taking a 31-26 lead on Jihad’s basket with just over three minutes left in the half. The Huskers cut the deficit to three after a pair of Hoiberg free throws but a 3-point play from Jihad with 1:07 left keyed a 7-2 Sun Devil spurt to close the half.

Notes
*-Nebraska improves to 25-26 all-time in postseason games with tonight’s win.
*-Nebraska is now 4-4 all-time against Arizona State.
*-Nebraska overcame an 11-point second-half deficit, marking the third time this year the Huskers rallied from a double-digit deficit.
*-Brice Williams finished with 30 points for his fourth 30-point game of the season. He is the second Husker in the Big Ten era with four 30-point games in a season, joining James Palmer Jr. who also had four in 2018-19.
*-Williams’ 30-point night is the second-highest scoring effort by a Husker in a postseason game, trailing the 33 points that Tom Baack scored against Marshall in the 1967 NIT.
*-Williams now has 650 points, passing Eric Piatkowski (646, in 1993-94) for fourth place in NU’s single-season list.
*-Nebraska’s 56 points in the second half was its highest scoring half of the season (previous high 54 in first half vs. South Dakota) and the highest since scoring 57 in the first half against Doane during the 2020-21 season.
*-Connor Essegian finished with 17 points, all coming in the final 10:29 of the game. It marked the 29th time this season a Husker reserve reached double figures. Essegian was 7-of-7 from the floor in the second half
*-Cale Jacobsen led NU a huge lift off the bench, setting career bests in assists (five), steals (three) and minutes (23), as he finished +10 on the night.
*-Sam Hoiberg matched a career high with four steals as the Huskers finished with 11 steals on the night.
*-Nebraska shot 50.8 percent on the night, the eighth time NU shot 50 percent from the field this season. The Huskers were 20-31 from the field in the second half