NEBRASKA BASKETBALL: Huskers’ Season Comes To An End in NCAA First Round

Keisei Tominaga in NCAA Tournament First Round 03/22/24. Photo Courtesy of NU Athletics

MEMPHIS, TN(NU Athletics Mar. 22) The Nebraska men’s basketball team saw its season come to an end with a 98-83 loss to Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament First Round at FedExForum on Friday night.

The No. 8 seed Huskers finished the season 23-11, the second most wins in school history. NU was making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2014. No. 9 seed Texas A&M (21-14) will move on to the second round to face the No. 1 Houston.

Brice Williams had a team-high 24 points with four rebounds and four assists. Keisei Tominaga scored 21 points and hit 5-of-11 from 3-point range. Josiah Allick recorded a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Juwan Gary and Rienk Mast chipped in nine and seven points, respectively.

In a fast-paced start to the game, the Huskers jumped out to a 20-13 lead with Tominaga connecting on his first three 3-pointers and Mast and Williams each hitting one. Nebraska hit 11 of its first 17 field goals, but Texas A&M kept pace by hitting 10 of its first 16 from the floor. Wade Taylor IV scored 17 points for Texas A&M before the under-8 media timeout, including 5-of-5 from long distance.

The Huskers led 31-30 with 8:40 left in the half on a dunk by Allick, but the Aggies closed the half on a decisive 28-13 run to take a 58-44 lead into the break. Manny Obaseki scored the Aggies’ last 16 points of the first half, including three 3-pointers. A&M, which ranked 343rd in the country in 3-point percentage entering the game, hit 9-of-15 (60.0 percent) in the first half.

In the second half, the closest the Huskers could get was within 12 points when an Allick layup made it 61-49 with 18:10 to go. But the Aggies pulled away to lead by as many as 22.

A&M finished 35-of-71 (49.3 percent) from the field and 13-of-23 (season-high 56.5 percent) from 3-point range, which was also the best 3-point percentage by a Husker opponent this season.

Nebraska went 27-of-59 (45.8 percent) overall and 7-of-22 (31.8 percent) from long range. The Aggies won the rebounding battle, 40-28. The top offensive rebounding team in the nation, Texas A&M finished with 14 offensive boards.

Taylor led the Aggies with 25 points, while Obaseki finished with 22 and Tyrece Radford had 20 points and 10 rebounds.