Las Vegas – Among the eight teams that started the basketball crown in the college on Monday through four games in MGM Garden Arena, where a new championship was born after the season, none of them were born more supporters to Sin City Nebraska. It was widely recognized as one of the most passionate and delusional fans in the group athletics, the believers in Cornhuskes flocked to the desert despite watching the coach Fred Hoiberg team, which falls the last four games of the regular season and the opening round match in the Big Ten Championship. But for them, any opportunity to support Nebraska is an opportunity that deserves to be seized.
Therefore, they flew to Las Vegas keen and hope for at least one performance of the talented performance from a guard star Price WilliamsPerforming the first conference in the team, which is ranked sixth at the national level in registration between the players from the authority championships with an average of 20 points for each game. They saw Williams in the school record 43 points against Ohio earlier this month and exceeds 20 points in 17 occasions throughout the season. They knew that it was one of the most talented scorers in the country, and that this fact would give Nebraska a fight to win in this tournament, as the Cornhuskers team was among the two best or three teams on paper. They believe that Williams can be a leading event in a team that has not won the post -season competition of any kind since the NIT title in 1996. It is the type of player that the scouts want in the American Professional League in the attendance.
The expectation and expectation was that the fans of Nebraska, associated with Pollyams, were heard from the opening minutes against Arizona, whenever the 6 -foot and 214 -length of the ball touched the ball. “Let him cook!” One of the fans shouted from a stadium seat, as Williams was removed from his defender. “Oh, this money!” Another shouted when Williams entered the 3 -time index from the top of the key. The dialogue continued in the best part of two hours amid an effort from 30 points from Williams, where Cornehskarz kept standing on his feet in the first half, then he won the victory in the second by scoring 11 points in the last three minutes. With the victory of 86-78, Nebraska moved to the quarter-finals and will face George Town on Wednesday evening.
“Price was a huge game the whole game,” said Huyberg.
In fact, Williams was enormous throughout the season as the best indisputable player for a team that carries equivalent emotional waves: the beginning of 12-2 that included the victory over Cretton, Indiana and UCLA; Six loss matches in January, when the Huiberg team sank to 2-7 in playing conferences; Successive victories over Illinois and Oregon, both of which made the NCAA championship; The five consecutive losses from February 19 to March 9, which overlooks whether Cornehnhoskar will play basketball in the post -season of any kind after reaching the big dance last year.
But through every summit and valley, every height and low, Nebraska can always rely on Williams as its addresses. He gave them 32 points in the tournament game in Diamond Head Classic, a championship in the season played in Hawaii during the Christmas holiday. He gave them 27 points in winning additional work at that time. 18 Illinois on January 30 to ignite four consecutive victories. He gave them six consecutive matches from 20 points over winter days dogs and scored 47 out of 111 points combined in his team (42.3 %) in narrow low -grade losses at the time. 15 Michigan and Minnesota within a week. His shooting rate improved from 44.4 % during the 2023-24 campaign to 46.8 % this season-all with an average score by about seven points for each game-talks about the impressive development of Williams.
This is why the matter was not surprising Monday evening when Williams, a fifth elderly woman in the last week of university basketball, scored 11 points from his 13th team during a special repetition in the first half. Its average flying flying on the top of the defender was followed by the elegant use of the screen, the re -screen, from Big Man Andrew Morgan For an indicator 3 of the top of the key. He was buried two other triple properties at a later time, and in the end he extinguished shooting at a later attempt of 3 points after he wandered around a choice, as he achieved 13 points in the first half even when Nebraska fell eight. None of his colleagues registered more than six.
“I didn’t think we were playing with the fire that we needed to win the basketball game against a very talented team,” Hoyberg said.
Their response was in line with the Hoiberg mental team, which was adopted when a decision if an invitation would be accepted to the total basketball crown. In the middle of March, when Williams told his teammates that Cornehnhoskars would only participate in the post -season championship if everyone agrees to join. Nebraska did not want to reach Las Vegas, or some other regions, with a skeleton crew that is diminished by withdrawal and possible transfers. This scenario did not lead to chasing both the total basketball crown and the money associated with this event.
But even with a full list, Nebraska found herself late with dual numbers early in the second half before she started an impressive race 32-12 who turned off everything except his hope for demons of discomfort. A wave of transitional baskets from the small front Joan Gary (18 points) gave the road to an offensive explosion from the shooting guard Conor Eisigian (17 points), Wimskonsen, which only reached double numbers three times in the previous eight games since February 5. Between them, Gary and Esigian 17 scored in a row for six minutes to convert a three -point deficit to four points progressing with 4:54.
“This has caused us,” Williams told Fox Sports. “This gave us a little energy, gave us a little encouragement, and showed that we have a little life in us [and] The crowd injection with a lot of energy. “
Since then, with his renewed momentum, Williams has re -included himself as alpha in Nebraska and one of the best associates in the university basketball this season, it is clear from his clip of 89.4 % in the free throw line. Williams was buried seven attempts by eight attempts by the charitable tape during the final 1:37 once Arizona decided to authorize, which strengthened the shooting of his clutch with a transitional throw and the game that puts the game was removed from a long -standing.
There was early, and there was late, and there was when it was more important to ensure the Nebraska season continued at least a few days.
“I definitely showed that I can definitely show free throws in a high section, especially at the time of Crunch,” Williams told Fox Sports. “But then it was a kind of my colleagues who searched for me, and they made sure that I got the ball. After that I could not get the ball, they just played the matches and fed a different competition. We overcame each other.”
Michael Cohen covers university football and university basketball for Fox Sports. Follow it on Twitter @michael_cohen13.
Do you want great stories that have been delivered directly to your inbox? Create or log in to your Fox SPORTS account, and follow the championships, teams and players to receive a daily dedicated news message.
Get more total basketball Follow your preferences to get information about games, news and more
