There wasn’t much more that hadn’t already been said about Brice Williams’s significance to Nebraska basketball over the past two seasons.
But when the first-team All-Big Ten senior knocked down a pair of free throws with 1:10 left in the College Basketball Crown championship, another round of praise was necessary.
Those free throws made Williams the school’s all-time single-season scoring leader, placing him atop yet another column in the NU record books. That and his team-high 21 points helped the Huskers clinch their first postseason title since 1996.
It also solidified Williams’s place among the best players in Nebraska basketball history.
The former sixth man at Charlotte had one of the most productive two-year stretches the program has ever seen. Along with breaking James Palmer Jr.’s season points mark, he also passed Eric Piatkowski’s 31-year-old single-game scoring record (42 in 1994) with 43 at Ohio State.
Last season, he helped lead Nebraska to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2014. This year, he guided the Huskers to their first postseason title since the 1996 NIT.
“It’s a special, special two years that Brice had,” head coach Fred Hoiberg said. “To score over 1,000 points (as a Husker), that’s not easy to do, especially when you jump up a level. That’s one thing you have to understand: in today’s age of the portal, most times, when players jump up a level, their production goes down.
“For Brice, it was a perfect fit for him with everything he did, and he played his role to perfection… Obviously, we’re going to miss him.”
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Williams’s leadership equaled his production
While breaking yet another of the program’s most prestigious records, Williams said winning was his only focus throughout Sunday’s championship. However, his teammates tracked how many more points he needed for the record throughout.
Junior guard Connor Essegian could only marvel at what Williams had accomplished in his short Husker career.
“Brice and the records he set this year is unbelievable,” Essegian said. “He’s so tough.”
Beyond his natural scoring talent, some of Williams’s best attributes are his consistency and humility. Essegian said he learned plenty of his lone season playing alongside Williams and fellow senior Juwan Gary.
Essegian said their daily approach to the game and steady work ethic would stick with him above all else.
“Their leadership this year was really good,” Essegian said. “The way that our year went up and down, for them to just stay level-headed and be able to come back and work every single day; for them to say yes to this (tournament) when they have futures playing professional basketball and to be in with us like that, that just shows who they are.”
Williams knows records are made to be broken
As he spoke at the championship postgame podium, Williams still hadn’t had enough time to truly reflect upon his achievements.
That reflection will come in time. For now, the Huntersville, N.C., native will simply celebrate ending his college career on a high note with a Crown title.
He’ll enjoy the records he broke along the way, at least until the next Husker comes along and passes him up.
“It was a blessing to be able to achieve that,” Williams said. “It’s something that I hope lasts a long time, but it might not with the way Fred coaches and the way he wants us to get up threes. You never know who’s going to come in and break that record.
“But, yeah, it’s a great achievement. It’s special.”
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