Brice Williams and Keisei Tominaga poured in 23 points apiece as Nebraska drilled 12 3-pointers in the first half to roll to a 93-66 victory over Indiana on Friday in a Big Ten tournament quarterfinal at Minneapolis.
Jamarques Lawrence contributed 15 points while Juwan Gary added 11 points and six rebounds as the third-seeded Cornhuskers (23-9) tied their season high with 14 3-pointers. Nebraska reached the Big Ten tournament semifinals for the first time since joining the conference prior to the 2011-12 season.
Backup guard CJ Gunn scored all of his career-high 17 points in the second half while Mackenzie Mgbako added 16 for sixth-seeded Indiana (19-14). The Hoosiers shot just 35.3 percent from the field to see their season-best five-game winning streak come to a close.
Leading scorer Kel’el Ware, who entered the night with a 16.2 scoring average, didn’t score in the first half and finished with eight points and seven rebounds.
While Indiana awaits its postseason fate, Nebraska gets to face second-seeded and 13th-ranked Illinois (24-8) in Saturday’s second semifinal. In the teams’ only regular-season meeting, the Illini claimed an 87-84 overtime home win on Feb. 4 despite Tominaga’s career-high 31 points thanks to 5-of-7 3-point shooting.
Tominaga also enjoyed success in Nebraska’s two regular-season wins over Indiana — logging a total of 48 points and eight 3-pointers — so the Hoosiers set out Friday to prevent a repeat. They glued Gabe Cupps to him while providing help from their bigs.
Williams took advantage by sticking two 3-pointers in the first two minutes, but Mgbako scored eight early points to give the Hoosiers a 17-16 edge. Williams responded with two more 3-pointers for a 22-17 lead, which gave Tominaga a chance to find open space.
The lefty cut backdoor for a layup, then swished a 3-pointer and a 20-foot fadeaway from the corner to give Nebraska a 29-19 lead. After a quick break on the bench, Tominaga returned and drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to trigger a 17-0 run to conclude the half.
Tominaga scored 16 points in the final eight minutes of the half and set up two other 3-pointers as the Huskers owned a 50-27 lead at the break.
Indiana never got closer than 18 in the second half as Nebraska converted layup after layup. Hoosiers coach Mike Woodson picked up a technical foul with 8:34 to play, then received a second with 5:20 left to earn an ejection.
–Field Level Media
