Huskers rout Murray State, advance to semifinals of Diamond Head Classic

The rout was on as soon as Braxton Meah won the opening tip.

The Nebraska men’s basketball team is in Honolulu, Hawaii, to play in the 2024 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic over the holidays. The Huskers faced the Murray State Racers in a quarterfinal matchup on Sunday night, and it was all Big Red from the jump.

Behind a team-high 15 points and five 3-pointers from Connor Essegian and a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double from Andrew Morgan, NU posted a 66-49 win to improve to 8-2 overall.

Fred Hoiberg’s team (8-2, 1-1 in Big Ten) advances to a semifinal game against the winner of host Hawaii and Charlotte, which will be played late Sunday night. The Huskers’ semifinal is expected to tip off Monday night at 9:30 p.m. central time. MSU dropped to 6-5 on the season.

NU won the game in the first half and coasted to the victory in the second. The Huskers led 34-14 at the break and shot 50% from the field while playing great defense, forcing MSU to 14% shooting. The Racers went just 4-of-28 from the field in the first half.

“I thought we got off to a really good start after a long layoff,” Hoiberg told Huskers Radio Network after the game. “With the guys coming off finals, you always worry about that, plus you have the long travel. We arrived a day later than I think every team here, and had to bounce back and come out with great effort. I thought we did that.”

Seven different Husker players found the scoring column in the first half, which featured a 16-0 run from the Huskers. Essegian came off the bench to score 9 points on three 3s and did his best Keisei Tominaga impression with this near-logo 3:

Juwan Gary set the tone early with physical drives to the hoop that helped him pour in seven first-half points, three of which came at the free-throw line. He finished with nine points and three rebounds.

Both Berke Buyuktuncel and Morgan were problems for the smaller MSU team. Each player added six points in the first half and combined for 14 rebounds (Morgan with eight, Buyuktuncel with six).

Before he left the game late with an injury, Buyuktuncel had six points, nine rebounds (two offensive), one block and one steal.

It was a very strong first half for NU. One thing to nitpick, though: the turnovers. NU had 10 of them in the first 20 minutes and finished with 15. To the Husker defense’s credit, they only allowed the Racers to score seven points off those 15 turnovers.

Part of NU’s first-half domination was its play near the rim, where the Huskers used their larger bodies to gain a 20-2 scoring edge in the paint.

According to ESPN’s broadcast, the 14 first-half points Murray State scored against Nebraska is the fewest in the history of the Diamond Head Classic.

“It just kind of became a little bit of an ugly game in the second half, and we held on. Guys made some big plays down the stretch for us,” Hoiberg said. “But overall, I thought our effort was really good considering the last eight or nine days we had off.”

Morgan’s double-double was his first as a Husker. The 6-foot-10 North Dakota State transfer took advantage of his size and strength against the smaller Racers defenders. He was efficient offensively, shooting 6-of-7 from the field while showing off pretty footwork in the post.

“He was outstanding. I loved his effort on the glass. He was all over the place, he was swallowing rebounds out there,” Hoiberg said of Morgan. “When we needed a basket, he was the guy we went to out there.”

Morgan has now scored in double figures off the bench the last four games and in six games total this season.

At one point early in the second half, NU’s lead was at 23 points, 39-16. But MSU never quite and even cut its deficit to 12 points with 3:33 left in the game. Again, to NU’s credit, the Huskers sealed the win with defense and didn’t allow the Racers to score another point.

NU was without backup point guard Ahron Ulis against MSU. After the game Hoiberg said Ulis sprained his ankle during Saturday’s practice. Ulis was seen on the bench wearing a protective medical boot.

Either Hawaii or Charlotte.

If it’s Charlotte, that will be notable because that’s where Brice Williams spent his first four seasons of college basketball and where his late father, Henry, is the all-time scoring leader.

Which ever team it is, though, Hoiberg said his team will be prepared on short notice.

“Both these teams have shown quite a bit of zone this year, so we have to be ready for that,” Hoiberg said. “We’ll get them (Husker players) up, flush them out, have another film session and hopefully come out and play well again tomorrow.”

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