Nebraska Basketball thoughts from tourney win over Hoosiers

Nebraska basketball was able to defeat Indiana by a 93-66 margin on Friday. In doing so, they took the season series from Indiana by a 3-0 margin. The Huskers started off hot and never looked back. Brice Williams had an amazing first half in which he really set the tone.

As result of their stellar play, the Huskers will be playing in their first Big Ten tournament semifinal ever on Saturday afternoon. They also picked up the 23^rd win of the season, the second-most in school history.

Overall, it was a solid night for basketball program that has had a tremendous season. Now, they will look to take on Illinois and get their revenge from a road loss in February.

As it stands right now however, there is a lot to celebrate on Friday night. Here are our three takeaways from a remarkable evening.

Brice Williams continues to be stabilizer

Brice Williams has picked up his level of play over the past couple weeks, and Friday, he had one of the best games of his Nebraska basketball career. He was a stabilizer throughout the course of the game, and helped Nebraska get off to a hot start early.

Although the game was a blowout itself, Indiana stayed with Nebraska in the early stages of the first half. Nevertheless, Williams responded to every Indiana basket with one of his own. He was not afraid of the moment, and he made that very clear with his play.

Williams had 23 points in total, and there was even a stretch in the first half when he had 14 points, and was four-of-five from three-point range.

Williams has picked up his play over the last month or so, and it has helped fuel the success of Nebraska basketball. He has a variety of shots in his arsenal. He can shoot the three-point shot as well as the mid-range shot. His shot versatility is extremely impressive. Nebraska basketball will need him to continue to play a high level if they want to go far in March.  Williams passed the first test with flying colors.

Keisei Tominaga will shine on national stage

I’m beginning to run out of things to say about Tominaga. He is absolutely sensational, and he proved that again on Friday night. He finished with 23 points of his own, and went nine-of-13 from the field and four-of-seven from beyond the arc. He was absolutely electric once again, and continues to show he is heating up as the games matter the most.

He was also active without the basketball, as his cuts to the basket were crisp. He was able to use those to get easy points in the paint, and diversify his game. He had an all-around efficient game Friday night, and showed he is much more than a three-point marksman.

When you look at this recent stretch he has had, he is ready for tournament play. He scored 30 points in the team’s season finale against Michigan last Sunday, with his trademark efficiency and deep three-pointers. Friday was more of the same, and it looked like he was ready to go from tipoff onward.

He is fun to watch, and a catalyst for Nebraska basketball. Nebraska basketball fans and Big 10 fans know about him and his ability. He may be a bit of a secret nationally. However, that will not be the case in the coming weeks. He is ready for the spotlight, and he will shine on the national stage.

This team is dangerous from beyond the arc

This was a classic game for a Fred Hoiberg team. Sometimes, it is frustrating when this team lives and dies by the three-point shot. However, when they are on, they are unstoppable. Friday night was one of those games where it seemed like everything was going in.

All told, Nebraska basketball went 14-of-32 from beyond the arc for a 42.8 rate. It seemed like they could not miss anything in the first half, and their efficiency from three allowed them to pull away from Indiana early. This is exactly how the offense is supposed to look under Hoiberg and they did it beautifully. Tominaga let all Nebraska basketball players with four makes.

The Huskers will need to have the same efficiency on Saturday if they want to win the game. They were able to get really good looks, and again, they did that by sharing the basketball and drawing in the defense to create those open looks. They were the top three-point shooting team in the Big Ten during the regular season with 290 shots made, and they averaged 9.4 makes a game.

They certainly lived up to their reputation, and it paid off in a big way on Friday.