3 thoughts on Nebraska basketball win over Murray State

Nebraska basketball was sharp in Hawaii on Sunday night, scoring 22 of the first 26 points in what ended up as a 66-49 win over Murray State.

The Racers don’t qualify as a quadrant-1 victory. However, Murray State was ranked 112h according to the Kenpom rankings coming in, so this wasn’t expected to be an easy win for Nebraska basketball.

The Huskers made it look easy though. Relatively easy. Connor Essegian drilled three 3-pointers in the first half and when it was 22-4 Nebraska, it felt like a blowout.

Murray State stayed competitive though. The Racers trimmed the lead to 12 but never got within single digits again. Essegian finished with five 3-pointers and 15 points. Rollie Worster scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while Andrew Morgan had a double-double with 12 points and 12 boards.

Nebraska will play either Charlotte or Hawaii on Monday at 9:30 PM CST and here are three thoughts on a 17-point win for the Huskers, their ninth of the season.

Fast start set the tone

Essegian caught fire in the first half coming off the bench to score nine points. But the defense was the real story of the first half. Nebraska basketball allowed seven 3-pointers for the game but that’s well under the average for Murray State who also shot 26 percent compared to its season average of 38 percent.

Murray State made just two field goals in the first 11 minutes and change. That was the story of the game. By the time Essegian made his third triple of the first half, the lead was 17 and it wouldn’t get back to single digits for the rest of the game.

Andrew Morgan is the Huskers’ best low-post scorer

Braxton Meah and Berke Buyuktuncel are probably better all-around players. Their defense was impactful as Murray State shot just 35 percent on 2-point attempts. Morgan was a machine though and he was good on both ends of the floor.

On offense, Morgan went 6-for-7. Murray State doesn’t have a ton of size and Nebraska was smart to get the basketball inside. Morgan took advantage and tore down 12 rebounds. Nebraska won the rebounding battle 39-23. Morgan was a big part of that.

I like all three bigs but as we get into Big Ten play, it feels like Morgan needs more minutes. He hasn’t made people forget about Rienk Mast but is shooting 33 percent from deep and averages 8.6 points in just 17 minutes per game.

Still too many turnovers and not enough assists

Nebraska only attempted 17 3-pointers, which is on average for the Murray State defense. When you are scoring inside, it’s not a big deal. But the better pass, the better shot, and Nebraska basketball didn’t do a great job of sharing the ball with just six assists. The Huskers made 35 percent of their 3-pointers but the 14 turnovers are still too many.

Murray State plays four guards so it’s an emphasis for them, but that’s an area where this team will have to improve. The ball is getting stuck too much and the Huskers still need that number closer to 10.

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