The Nebraska baskeball win over Rutgers on Sunday wasn’t a thing of beauty. It wasn’t a work of art. But none of that matters. The only thing that does is that the Huskers earned their 21st win thanks to a 67-56 victory at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Nebraska basketball is now 21-9 on the season. They are 11-8 in the Big Ten and the Huskers control their destiny for the double bye in the Big Ten tournament. Sunday night was senior night and Keisei Tominaga, in his final home game, poured in 18 points. C.J. Wilcher added six (on two treys) while Josiah Allick managed 10 points, 12 rebounds, and two assists.
What does the win mean for Nebraska basketball? We break it down and offer three takeaways on what it means for the Huskers and their NCAA tournament hopes.
Nebraska is going dancing
Even before this win, Nebraska wasn’t among the last eight teams projected in the field by Joe Lunardi of ESPN. The Huskers are in every bracket according to Bracket Matrix. The only way they were going to miss the NCAA tournament was a collapse, which was avoided after the win.
Nebraska baskeball has won five of six games and all five of those wins were by double digits. Four of those five wins were over teams with winning records and at this point, I don’t see the Huskers being left out, even if they lose their next two games. 21 wins should be enough.
The defense did the job
We wrote in the pre-game keys that this game was going to come down to defense and rebounding. Nebraska gave up way too many second-chance points the first time around and the Scarlet Knights grabbed 18 offensive rebounds on Sunday, but the Huskers won the overall rebounding battle 42-38. Nebraska had 13 offensive rebounds in its own right. They also held Rutgers to just 33 percent shooting and 4-of-16 from 3-point range.
The Scarlet Knights made 11 treys in their overtime win over Nebraska in New Jersey. This time around, Nebraska outscored Rutgers 27-12 from beyond the 3-point line, which proved to be the difference. That and the stellar defense which was on point from the opening tip.
Keisei Tominaga goes out in style
Tominaga only made one 3-pointer but he capped his Nebraska basketball career, on his home floor in style with 18 points. His movement without the ball was stellar and went 5-of-7 on 2-point attempts. He was money from the free throw line and there’s no doubt that he helped change the program. He also gave us one more memorable shot.
Keisei might not be an NBA draft pick but he’s going to go down as one of the best Nebraska basketball players in a long time, as well as one of the most fun to watch, ever.
The Vault won’t be the same without him.
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