Brice Williams said the Nebraska basketball team did not make the trip to Hawaii with the intent of earning only a participation trophy.
The Cornhuskers fulfilled their goal with a 78-66 victory over Oregon State in Wednesday’s championship game of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
“Now we get to hang out,” said Williams, who was named the eight-team tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. “We came out here and completed the mission. A job well done.”
The Cornhuskers managed to solve Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle’s menu of zone and man-to-man schemes. The Beavers opened with their base 1-3-1 zone, then morphed into a 2-3, and then man-to-man, and back to the zone.
“Our message was whatever they ran, keep playing with pace and keep movement,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said.
The Cornhuskers’ offensive flow was stagnant early. “But we handled it well and got the ball to the right guy’s hands and capitalized on it,” Hoiberg said.
Most of the time, the go-to player was the 6-7 Williams, who scored 25 points on 9-for-13 shooting. Williams pulled down seven rebounds, hit all six of his free throws, and guarded OSU point guard Damarco Minor. “He was phenomenal, and we rode him both ends of the floor,” Hoiberg said, adding Williams “was making plays, knocking out shots.”
Williams said OSU presented defensive obstacles. But mental toughness, according to Williams, helped find openings. “They didn’t give it to us,” Williams said. “They’re a tough opponent.”
Charleston 84, Charlotte 81
Ante Brzovic poured in 32 points to lead the Cougars over the 49ers for fifth place. The 6-foot-10 senior was also game-high with 14 rebounds as Charleston improved to 10-3.
Jaehshon Thomas scored 23 points with nine rebounds for Charlotte (7-6).
Charleston never trailed after leading 46-31 at halftime.
Murray St. 71, Loyola Chicago 68
Terence Harcum scored 10 of his 16 points after halftime to lead the Racers past the Ramblers in the seventh-place game. KyeRon Lindsay also scored 16 for Murray State (7-6).
Miles Rubin scored 16 to lead Loyola (9-4). Des Watson added 11 and Sheldon Edwards 10.
