Georgetown Basketball

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Playing first time opponents back to back isn't common to Georgetown, having happened just twice in past 32 years. The task, on short notice for the staff, is how to address a veteran team from Nebraska in the second round of the College Basketball Crown.

Seven seniors, including three starters, comprise the core of a veteran Cornhuskers team that started its season 12-2, with wins over Creighton, UCLA, and Illinois, but struggled through a pair of losing streaks that kept them outside the NCAA tournament field. An 86-78 win Monday over Arizona State behind 30 points from senior Brice Williams carried Nebraska to the second round where it will face Georgetown for the first time in that school's history.

Williams' ability to carry the Huskers is not in question: a first team all Big Ten selection, he has led the team in scoring 17 times this season, with a career high of 43 versus Ohio State. What is in question: what (or more precisely, who) does Georgetown put up against him?

As was the case with Washington State, Nebraska is down a starting guard, though as a result of injury, not attrition. With 6-5 Rollie Worster unable to play in the Crown, coach Fred Hoiberg's son, Sam, gets his fourth consecutive start Wednesday and is coming off a seven point, seven rebound effort. All eyes will be on Williams, however, who went 8 for 16 from the field and 10-13 from the foul line in the Arizona State game.

Writes Fox Sports: "But through every peak and valley, every high and low, Nebraska could always rely on Williams as its headlining act. He gave them 32 points in the championship game of the Diamond Head Classic, an in-season tournament played in Hawaii during the Christmas break. He gave them 27 points in an overtime win over then No. 18 Illinois on Jan. 30 to ignite a run of four straight wins. He gave them six consecutive 20-point games across the dog days of winter and scored 47 of his team's 111 combined points (42.3%) in narrow, low-scoring losses to then-No. 15 Michigan and Minnesota in the span of a week. That his shooting percentage improved from 44.4% during the 2023-24 campaign to 46.8% this season, all while upping his scoring average by nearly seven points per game, speaks to how impressive Williams' development has been."

Three Nebraska players (Williams, reserve guard Connor Essegian, and starting forward Juwan Gary) accounted for 41 of the Huskers' 61 shots on the evening against ASU and 65 of its 86 points. Essegian was 7-9 versus Arizona State after a 0-11 output (0-8 from three) in the Big Ten tournament versus Iowa. Essegian can be hot and cold in games, which could see the Huskers to look inside from 6-10 forward Andrew Morgan and a rotation of centers including 6-10 Berke Buyuktuncel and 7-1 Braxton Meah, any of which will give a smaller Georgetown team problems inside.

Unlike Washington State, Nebraska is a patient team and is more comfortable with a game in the 60s than the 80s. That's good for Georgetown, but the question marks around its roster make any prediction on GU's output speculative. Mack carried the day and GU got some good second half help, but Washington State will see a game film where it visibly lost interest in the second half and was too comfortable letting Georgetown play its game, which eventually caught up with the Cougars. The team that proactively plays its game will be the one that will lead the charge into the final minutes of play. That's important, in that Nebraska is 16-2 when leading at the 5:00 mark, but 1-12 when trailing.

Some other keys to the game:

1. Option B: If Nebraska didn't put pressure on Malik Mack before Monday's game, they will now. If Mack remains Georgetown's best scoring option, another player must step forward.

2. Second Chances: Georgetown was quite effective in turning second chance points to their favor. Nebraska ranks 52nd in second-chance conversion percentage per Haslametrics and both teams need to extend their possessions.

3. Foul Trouble: After some early calls in the Washington State game, Georgetown's starters stayed out of foul trouble. The roster is too thin to have anyone sitting with four fouls in this one.

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