Brice Williams shows the main attraction in the basketball crown of college

<!–>

Las Vegas – out of eight teams who launched college basketball crowns on Monday in four games in four games at MGM Grand Garden Arena, where a new post -season tournament was born, none brought more fans with him to son City but Nebraska. Widely recognized as one of the scariest and most loyal fan bases in collegial athletics, the faithful Cornhuskers climbed the desert despite watching the team coach Fred Hoiberg in the last four games of the regular season and a match in the introductory number at the Big Ten tournament. But for them, every chance is to reciprocate the Nebraska chance that is worth taking advantage of.

So they flew to Las Vegas eager and hoping for at least another virtuoso performance from Star Guard Brice WilliamsThe first -team performer at all conferences that is sixth at the national level in scoring among Power Legues players with an average point of scoring of 20 points per game. They watched Williams pour 43 points against Ohio earlier this month and exceeded 20 points on 17 occasions throughout the season. They knew that he was one of the most talented scorers in the country, and the very fact that Nebraski would give a chance to fight this tournament, where Cornhuskers are among the top two or three teams on paper. Williams, they believed, could be the performer of the event of events in a team that did not win any post -season competition since he captured the title of thread in 1996. He is the type of player who wants to see NBA scouts visiting.

The expectation and expectation that Nebraska fans attached to Williams were heard from the initial minutes against the Arizona state, whenever a veteran from 214 pounds to 214 pounds touched the ball. “Let it cook!” One fan shouted from the seat in the court, while Williams isolated his defender. “Oh, that’s money!” The other shouted when Williams came into 3-poen from the top of the key shortly afterwards. The dialogue continued a better part of two hours due to the effort of Williams in 30 points in which he held Cornhuskers on the surface in the first half and then secured a win in the second by scoring 11 points in the last three minutes. With 86-78 win, Nebraska moved to the quarterfinals and will face Georgetown on Wednesday night.

–>

“Brice was phenomenal the whole game,” Hoiberg said.

True, Williams was phenomenal all season as an unquestionable best player for the team to withstand parabolic waves of emotions: the beginning of 12-2, which included victories over Creighton, Indian and UCLA; In January, a series of six games was lost in January, which sank Tim Hoiberg at 2-7 in a conference game; Victory of victory over Illinois and Oregon, both made the NCAA tournament; Five direct losses from February 19 to March 9, which questioned whether Cornhuskers would play post -season basketball of any kind after reaching a big dance last year.

But through each top and valley, every high and low, Nebraska could always rely on Williams as her main act. He gave them 32 points in the championship game of Diamond Head Classic, a season of tournament in the season he played in Hawaii during a Christmas break. He gave them 27 points in an extended victory over the then. 18 Illinois on January 30 to light a four -straight win. He gave them six consecutive games of 20 points during the winter dogs and scored 47 of the 111 combined points of his team (42.3%) in narrow, low loss results at the time. 15 Michigan and Minnesota for a week. That his percentage of shooting improved from 44.4% during the 2023-24 campaign to 46.8% of this season, while increasing the average of his scoring by nearly seven points per match-he replies how impressive Williams’ development is.

Because of this, it was not surprised on Monday night when Williams, a five -year -old senior who played his last week of college basketball, scored 11 of the 13 points of his team during a particularly tumultuous move in the opening half. His repertoire included a medium -range jumper over the top of the defender and then a great use of the screen and a screen repeated, from a large man Andrew Morgan for 3-poen from the top of the key. He later buried another triple estate and eventually attracted the shooting in the next attempt 3 points after twisting around Pick, collecting 13 points in the opening half even while Nebraska laged for eight. None of his teammates achieved more than six.

“I just didn’t think we were playing with the fire we needed to win in a basketball match against a very talented team,” Hoiberg said, adding: “I give our guys a lot of merit. They answered in a big way.”

Their answer was in line with the Hoiberg team adopted when deciding whether to accept the invitation to the basketball crown. It was in mid -March when Williams allegedly told his teammates that Cornhuskers would only participate in the post -season tournament if everyone on the list agreed to join. He did not want Nebraska to arrive in Las Vegas, or other locality, with a skeletal crew reduced potential seizure and transfers. That scenario would not be suitable for the persecution of a basketball crown and money attached to this event.

But even with a complete list, Nebraska found himself lagging behind the two-core digits at the beginning of the second half before the impressive, extended 32-12 runs that just extinguished the hope of Sun Devils for anxiety. Burra of transitional baskets from a small forward Juwan Gary (18 points) ceded an offensive explosion from the shotgun guards Connor Essegian (17 points), a transfer of Wisconsin, which, in the previous eight games from February 5, Gary and Essegian, scored only double numbers in the previous eight games, scored 17 straight in the range of six minutes to transform a deficit in three points to a four -point event with 4:54.

“That caused us,” Williams told Fox Sports. “It gave us a little energy, it gave us a little encouragement, it showed that we in us (and) injected a little life with a lot of energy.”

Since then, with a renewed momentum, Williams repeated himself as an alpha of Nebraska and one of the better closer in college basketball this season, his 89.4% clip on the free throw line testified. Williams buried seven of the eight attempts by a charity stripe during the last 1:37 once the Arizona state decided to spoil, enhancing the crackle of a clutch with a transitional crash and a cutting schedule that officially dropped the game out of reach.

He was there early, he was too late, he was there when it was most important to ensure that the Neburska season lasts at least a few days longer.

“I think I definitely showed throughout the season that I could free throwing on a high clip, especially in the time of crumbs,” Williams told Fox Sports. “But then my teammates sought me, made sure I had the ball. And then if I couldn’t get the ball, they just played playing and fed different matches. We fed each other.”

Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for Fox Sports. Follow it on Twitter @Michael_cohen13.

Do you want great stories delivered to your inbox? Create or sign up for your Fox Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.

Get more than a college basketball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more