The Nebraska men's basketball team rallied from an 11-point deficit early in the second half to defeat Arizona State 86-78 on Monday night in the first round of the inaugural College Basketball Crown Tournament played at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
NU will play the winner of Georgetown vs. Washington State, which will be played late Monday night, on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. CT.
Brice Williams was his usual All-Big Ten self and scored a game-high 30 points with four 3s and a 10-of-13 outing at the free-throw line. Juwan Gary added 18 points and Connor Essegian 17, all in the second half.
Cale Jacobsen, the pride of Ashland-Greenwood High School in Nebraska, came off the bench to give NU strong minutes as well.
With both Rollie Worster (foot) and Gavin Griffiths (ankle) out with injury, the 6-foot-4 guard/forward Jacobsen, a walk-on who played 74 minutes during the regular season, played 22 minutes Monday night and scored 2 points with five assists, three steals and two rebounds. He owned a plus-minus of plus-10, same as Williams.
"Cale Jacobsen I thought was absolutely phenomenal out there," NU head coach Fred Hoiberg said after the game. "Cale knows every spot on the floor, one through five, offensively and defensively. I thought he was player of the game. I give him a lot of credit, he's the next guy up a lot and he's had a couple unbelievable weeks of practice and I had to get him out there, and it paid off for us.
"I'm really proud of him for what he's all about. Comes to work every day, never complains, knows not only our plays but the other team's plays he's calling from the bench. Kid is gonna be a hell of a coach one year."
Another walk-on, the 6-foot Sam Hoiberg, stuffed the stat sheet to the tune of seven points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.
After a scoreless first 20 minutes, Essegian came off the bench to provide a much-needed spark in the second half. With NU trailing 54-48 with little to no offensive rhythm, Essegian drilled a 3-pointer and then got a fast-break layup to drop to put the Huskers within 1 points.
Essegian then had a stretch of six straight points, with his baseline mid-range jumper giving NU a 60-59 edge, its first lead since 26-24 in the first half. NU pulled away after that. A 10-0 Husker run was enough to do in the Sun Devils.
"Connor Essegian and Cale Jacobsen were huge," NU assistant Ernie Zeigler told Huskers Radio Network after the game. "As always, Brice and Juwan were senior leaders in the second half. Just a great team win to put us in position to win and move on."
