3 takeaways from Nebraska basketball win over Southern

Southern is one of the worst college basketball teams in Division 1 and the Nebraska basketball team made quick work of its final non-conference opponent with a 77-43 win on Monday at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Truth be told, the Huskers got a little sloppy in the second half. They turned the ball over too much but still won the game by 34 points. Early on, they built a 32-9 lead, then basically put it on cruise control from there.

The 3-point shooting was on point. Nebraska basketball made 13 (43 percent) from beyond the arc with six coming from Connor Essegian off the bench. He scored a game-high 20 points. Brice Williams added 11 points on five shots, seven rebounds and four assists. Andrew Morgan was the only other Husker to score in double figures with 10 points on 4-of-5 from the field and here are three takeaways from a 34-point win.

Nebraska did exactly what it needed to.

This game wasn’t going to build the resume for Nebraska baskeball, it could only hurt it. And with the way the NET rankings work, a close game against Southern could have hurt Nebraska.

But there was no sign of jetlag. The Huskers flew out of the gates and did what they should do against an inferior opponent. Nebraska turned the ball over a little too much but 43 points allowed is 43 points allowed. I don’t care who the opponent is.

CEO stays hot

In six of the past eight games, Essegian has made at least two 3-pointers. The Wisconsin transfer has 27 makes over his last eight games. Monday night was the fourth time in the past eight games that Essegian has made at least five 3-pointers.

In the last four home games, Essegian is 20-of-38 from 3-point range (52 percent) which is a positive sign for the Huskers heading into Big Ten play. Last season, he made just 20 3-pointers total. This season, he’s matched that in the last four home games, so it’s safe to say this was a good pickup for Nebraska.

Time to build the resume

Nebraska basketball was listed as one of the last four teams out of the NCAA tournament before the win over Oregon State in the championship game of the Diamond Head Classic.

It ended up not being a quadrant-1 win, but it could fluctuate as the season goes along. Regardless, Nebraska basketball is 11-2. They have one bad loss on the road to Michigan State (lopsided fashion) as well as top-100 wins over Creighton and Oregon State away from home.

A 10-8 finish in the Big Ten (11-9 overall) would have Nebraska sitting at 21-10 going into the Big Ten tournament. With the strength of the league this year, it feels like that would be more than enough to get Nebraska basketball back in the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row.

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