Husker Comeback Falls Short Against Gophers
Brennan Rigsby’s 3-pointer with 4.1 seconds remaining lifted Minnesota to a 67-65 win over Nebraska Saturday afternoon.
Nebraska (17-12, 7-11 Big Ten) had erased a 19-point second-half deficit and took a 65-64 lead on Juwan Gary’s putback with 9.7 seconds left, but the Gophers got the ball up quickly and found Rigsby on the wing for his game winner
Nebraska has one final shot, getting the ball to Andrew Morgan, but his 3-point attempt was off the mark, allowing Minnesota (15-14, 7-11 Big Ten) to pick up its first win in Lincoln since 2012.
Risgby, who had scored just 30 points in 14 Big Ten games, led Minnesota with 20 points off the bench on 7-of-8 shooting, including 5-of-6 from 3-point range, as the Golden Gophers shot 51 percent, including 10-of-21 from 3-point range. Lu’Cre Patterson added 16 points for Minnesota, which has won its last four road games.
Gary and Brice Williams had 21 points apiece for the Huskers, who stormed back from a 47-28 deficit with 15:43 remaining. Connor Essegian finished in double figures with 11 points off the bench.
A basket by Sam Hoiberg started the comeback, as Nebraska outscored Minnesota, 27-7 to erase the deficit and take a 55-54 lead on a pair of Juwan Gary free throws with 6:28 left. Williams had 12 of his 14 second-half points in the spurt, as NU used a 15-2 spurt to regain the lead.
Minnesota would respond, as a Rigsby 3-pointer started an 8-2 Gopher response that put the visitors up 62-57 after Rigsby’s fourth 3-pointer of the game with 2:12 left.
The Huskers would respond, as baskets from Andrew Morgan and Gary cut the lead to 62-61 with 1:11 left. On Minnesota’s next possession, NU forced a miss, but Frank Mitchell’s tip-in made it a three-point game with 41 seconds left. NU would get a Williams’ basket to make it a one-point game and forced a 10-second violation with 18.6 seconds left to set up a wild finish.
Minnesota controlled the pace in the first half, shooting 50 percent from the field and out-rebounded Nebraska, 19-12, in taking a 35-26 halftime lead. Trailing 6-5, a 3-pointer from Connor Essegian and a Juwan Gary basket put the Huskers ahead 10-8, but Minnesota ran off seven straight points, the final five coming from Rigsby to give Minnesota a 15-10 lead with 8:02 left in the first half.
Nebraska was within 17-15 before Minnesota used a 16-3 run to stretch the lead to 33-17 after a Patterson 3-pointer with 3:08 left in the half. Nebraska trailed 35-20 after Patterson’s basket with 1:54 left in the half but four straight points from Williams and a layup by Sam Hoiberg in the final seconds of the half cut the deficit to nine at the break.
Minnesota took control in the opening minutes of the second half, using a 9-0 lead to extend the lead to 18 before Berke Büyüktuncel’s putback ended the Gopher run.
The Big Red will travel to Columbus, Ohio, to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes at 8 p.m. (CT) on Tuesday, March 4. The game will be streamed on Peacock and is free to listen to across the Huskers Radio Network.