Nebraska men’s basketball won its fourth straight game and secured its fifth Quadrant 1 victory of the season Sunday, 79-71 over Ohio State at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
It was a tough win, one of those gritty, grimy types where you have to play through physicality.
“If we continue to go out there and fight, that’s all you can ask your guys,” Coach Fred Hoiberg said. “We had that losing streak. There were some games we played actually pretty well and we lost. That will happen in this league. Right now we have to keep this momentum. The crowd was absolutely phenomenal, so thankful to have a fanbase like we do that’s there every game, win or lose. They’ve continued to come and they were a huge factor in that win today.”
It was the fourth straight 20-point scoring game for Brice Williams, who finished with a team-high 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting. The four straight 20-plus scoring games match the longest streak of Williams’ career (last three games of 2023-24 and 2024-25 opener).
Williams was once again clutch for Nebraska. He opened the game with his lone 3-pointer of the game. Not only did he score against a physical defense, but he led the Huskers with 10 rebounds. He attacked the basket late in the game and got to the free throw-line, where he finished a perfect 5-5.
“Obviously, we found a guy that’s got it going right now,” Hoiberg said. “Brice isn’t being a pig out there shooting the ball every time. He’s making the right plays, he’s getting in the pocket, he’s making the shake pass. He gets Sam [Hoiberg] on the exit, where he curled it, got fouled and we scored. He’s just making the right plays. He’s playing arguably as well as anybody. He got the award for the best player in the country last week. He’s doing it without being selfish. He’s just making winning plays.”
Nebraska was saddled with foul trouble in the first half and the offense was stagnant because of it, Hoiberg said.
Juwan Gary picked up his second foul with 9:05 left in the first half, Andrew Morgan was called for his second at the 7:15 mark, Rollie Worster picked up his second with 4:39 to go and Berke Büyüktuncel comitted his second at 1:54 mark.
Despite three starters and a key contributor picking up two fouls — Nebraska’s philosophy is to sit with two in the first half — the Huskers hung around thanks to Braxton Meah, Cale Jacobsen and Connor Essegian making plays.
At the break, the Huskers saw a nine-point lead flip to a 39-34 advantage for Ohio State.
“It’s different things where you have to come out and throw the first punch, whether you are up five or 10, whether you are down five or 10, which in the last two games we were down 10 in Washington and five tonight,” Hoiberg said. “You have to come out and be the aggressor in the second half because it can turn. In Wisconsin, it turned; we were down 12 at half and that thing got to 20 in a matter of three or four possessions. You have to come out, whatever it is, if you are up double digits, you can’t let a team come out and get back and get confident.”
In the second half, Nebraska played much better defense without fouling, or at least they weren’t called as often. Ohio State was quicker to loose balls and got to most of the 50-50 balls first in the first half. The second half, particularly early in the final 20 minutes and during Nebraska’s 11-0 run, the Huskers flipped it.
They drew plenty of Buckeye fouls and were in the bonus for the last 10 minutes of the game. Nebraska doubled up Ohio State in free-throw makes, finishing 18-of-21 from the line while Ohio State went 9-for-15.
Ohio State out-toughed Nebraska in the second stanza of the second half, but then Williams took over, and Nebraska was the tougher team in the last 12 minutes of the game.
Nebraska scored 11 straight from 12:39 to 8:08 in the second half to take an 11-point lead. Morgan likely made the play of the game in that stanza when he dove to secure a loose ball, got up and ran to the rim for a fast-break bucket.
“It’s definitely something we talked about at halftime,” Hoiberg said. “We felt like we weren’t winning the 50/50 balls,” Morgan said. “Coming out of the locker room, I felt like I was pretty fresh, I kind of sat most of the first half; I could dive on the floor, I could sacrifice my body in the second half too. I really wanted to get out there and make a play and obviously try and make a play in any way.”
Worster, who was only 2-of-3 from the field and scored five points in the game, stepped up and hit just his ninth 3-pointer of the season to give the Huskers a 65-60 lead with 3:29 left in the game.
Büyüktuncel likely had his best overall game in a Nebraska uniform, finishing with 15 points, six rebounds and three assists while shooting 5-of-9 from the field including 3-of-6 from deep and 2-of-2 from the foul line. That was hampered by an ankle injury that Hoiberg said will likely keep him out for a while, but they will know more in the morning.
“They are playing some high-level basketball right now,” Ohio State coach Jake Diebler said after the game.
Before the win, Nebraska was 0-5 in games played on Super Bowl Sunday.
