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."
With NU last playing on March 9 in the regular-season finale, Zeigler said he thought the team was a bit rusty in the first half.
"We had an intra-squad scrimmage last week as well just trying to simulate game situations, but until you get back out in the flow, it's a whole different deal," Zeigler said.
Both Hoiberg and Zeigler credited Jacobsen with his defense and boxing out of ASU's Basheer Jihad, a 6-9, 239-pounder. Jihad had 21 points and seven rebounds in the game. He scored 15 points in the first half, but with Jacobsen defending him in the second half, Jihad only had six points.
"I do have a great trust level with Cale when he's on the floor. Jihad was killing us out there," Hoiberg said. "Cale I thought made it a little more difficult, he guarded the iso very well, he sat on the right hand, which was the scouting report, and just made play after play."
Jacobsen said his goal each time his number is called is to help the team in any way possible, whether it's scoring, rebounding, moving the ball, finding the hot hand or fouling.
"It's awesome. We have 17 dudes in that locker room that don't want to be done playing," Jacobsen said. "We have a really tight group that just likes to be around each other. So I want to do whatever I can to keep us together for two more days and hopefully a week."
Hoiberg can see a reality where Jacobsen is a contributor on next season's roster.
NU's offense struggled to score in the half-court, but when the Huskers got in transition, it was a different story. NU held a 24-11 edge in points off turnovers.
ASU, which was without two starters and was playing with a roster depleted by injuries and the transfer portal, just didn't have the bodies to keep up late in the game. NU's bench came through when it needed to, and outscored ASU's bench 20-6.
With ASU's lack of size — the Sun Devils became even smaller when the 7-foot Shawn Phillips Jr. fouled out in the second half — NU took advantage by attacking the paint. The Huskers outscored ASU 44-30 in paint points.
NU trailed 38-30 at the half and watched as the Sun Devils finished the first 20 minutes strong, on a 14-4 run. ASU hit five of its last seven shots of the half while NU made just three of its last 14.
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