Nebraska men’s basketball won its first in-season tournament since the San Juan Shootout in 2000 with a 78-66 win over Oregon State in the 2024 Diamond Head Classic final Wednesday.
“It’s huge; the importance of winning three games against three quality teams, that is going to help us all of the way down the road,” Coach Fred Hoiberg said after the game. “Get a true road win against Hawai’i and then a Quad 1 win against Oregon State, so three big wins for us and hopefully some momentum when we get back to Nebraska.”
Hoiberg became the first coach to win multiple Diamond Head Classic titles and is now 6-0 in Diamond Head Classic games as a head coach. He previously won the MTE in 2013 with Iowa State.
Third Scorer
Nebraska needed a third scorer to step up to support Brice Williams and Juwan Gary. Against Oregon State, sophomore Berke Büyüktuncel was that guy.
Büyüktuncel scored a career-high 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-4 from 3. It was the first game in his career that he made multiple 3-pointers in a game.
Williams earned tournament Most Outstanding Player honors, scoring 66 points in the three games in four days. In the championship game, Williams did a little bit of everything, scoring 25 points, grabbing a season-high seven rebounds and dishing out four assists while chipping in two of the five Nebraska steals.
Williams averaged 22.0 points on 56%, along with 3.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists in Nebraska’s three wins in Hawai’i. He has scored 25 or more points in three of Nebraska’s last four games and five times overall this season.
“It feels good; we came here, completed the mission,” Williams said. “Job well done.”
Gary was one point shy of his career high in the semifinal win over Hawai’i with 21. In the three tournament games, Gary averaged 14.6 points, including 14 against Oregon State.
Defense Wins
After Michigan State embarrassed Nebraska in East Lansing, Nebraska’s defense has locked in for the most part. In the four wins since Michigan State, the Huskers have held their opponents to an average of 59.5 points.
In the three games in Hawai’i, Nebraska held their opponents to just .887 points per possession. A good, not great, points per possession average is 1.0.
“After the disappointing Michigan State game, we have really responded,” Hoiberg said in his postgame radio comments. “We found a way to get a big win over Indiana and these three big wins right here.”
Nebraska held Oregon State to 39.6% shooting in the game. It is the seventh opponent in 12 games the Huskers have held opponents to under 40% from the field.
The Huskers held their three Diamond Head Classic opponents to a combined 37.4% shooting.
Oregon State came into the game holding opponents to 27.2% from 3-point range. Nebraska made eight of its 20 attempts for a 40% clip.
It wasn’t just the 3-point shooting and defense that won the game for Nebraska. The Huskers outscored the Beavers 32-20 in points in the paint and had 14 second-chance points to just four for Oregon State.
Building a Résumé
Oregon State was a quad one win for Nebraska, and the Huskers will have 13 quad one résumé-building opportunities when Big Ten play resumes on Jan. 4.
The Huskers moved up six spots in the KenPom rankings with the win, from 46th to 39th.
Nebraska men’s basketball has one more nonconference game against Southern on Monday, and a win secures a 9-1 nonconference record.
All-Tournament Team
- MOP: Brice Williams, Nebraska
- Berke Büyüktuncel, Nebraska
- Deywilk Tavarez, College of Charleston
- Gytis Nemeiksa, Hawai’i
- Damarco Minor, Oregon State
