3 thoughts on a massive road win for Nebraska basketball

Washington made its first seven 3-pointers of Wednesday night’s Big Ten matchup in Seattle. The Huskies led by double digits at halftime too and it still didn’t matter. Nebraska basketball, with its season on the line again, dominated the second half and notched an impressive 86-72 road win.

Yes, Washington is the last-place team in the Big Ten. But there are no easy wins in this league. Nebraska basketball certainly couldn’t afford to lose, especially after consecutive quadrant-1 wins.

Bruce Weber, the color analyst said of the win, “This won’t get Nebraska in the tournament, but a loss could have kept them out of it.”

It was perfectly said. A loss to Washington would have foiled all the momentum gained on Sunday. So, Brice Williams did what he’s done all season — took over. He had some help from Juwan Gary and Connor Essegian as the Huskers blitzed Washington for 49 second-half points.

Williams scored 23. Gary added 17 and Essegian finished with 16 off the bench, including four 3-pointers. Nebraska made 11 total treys (58 percent) and here are three thoughts on a massive road win.

Nebraska might have played its best half of the season

The first half was all Washington. Great Osobor looked like he was going to get a triple-double and it felt like Washington couldn’t miss.

Eventually, though, the shots had to stop falling. You can’t shoot 100 percent from 3-point range all game and UW finished the game shooting just 3-of-18 from 3-point range. Outside of that Nebraska dominated in the paint.

The Huskers did hit 11 treys but their first 12 points of the second half came in the paint. Williams gave Nebraska the lead at 52-49 and Nebraska basketball never looked back.

Nebraska made six 3-pointers alone in the second half. Gary, Williams, and Essegian all made multiple triples in the second half, and on top of that, the defense held the Huskies to 25 points. 49-25 was the second half total and considering everything at stake, it was probably the best half of the season.

Brice Williams does it again

I wrote in the preview that Williams was going to need another big-time performance for the Huskers to win. In the second half, Williams delivered, scoring 13 points.

The alley-oop dunk early in the stanza set the tone. His two 3-pointers late were daggers and Williams continues to perform like an All-Big Ten player.

Gary and Essegian should get their due. The entire team was much better defensively and this was more than a one-man show, but after losing Keisei Tominaga, the Huskers found another special scorer in Brice Williams.

Tominaga was a third-team All-Big Ten selection and it feels like Williams could be a first-or second-team selection with the way he’s carried this team toward the NCAA tournament.

The Huskers looked like an NCAA tournament team

Speaking of the NCAA tournament, Nebraska sure looked like a tourney team on Wednesday. They are 15-8 overall and 5-7 in the Big Ten. There are plenty of challenging games remaining but if the Huskers finish 5-3, their ticket will be punched.

The Huskers are stacking up road wins and have now beaten Creighton, Washington, and Oregon on the road, plus Oregon State on a neutral floor.

Whatever happened after that six-game losing streak, Nebraska has been a completely different team over the past three games. There are eight gamers to go and little margin for error, but Wednesday’s win and the West Coast sweep is the best sign yet that the Huskers will be dancing for the second straight year.

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