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Nebraska

Dylan Raiola celebrates during Nebraska's win in The Crown

On3 imageby:Sam Gillenwater•04/06/25•

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Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola
Dylan Widger | Imagn Images

Nebraska ended their season by being the first-ever program to win the College Basketball Crown. A notable player of the Cornhuskers got to take in that moment this afternoon in Las Vegas.

QB Dylan Raiola was in attendance for the 77-66 victory for the ‘Huskers over UCF to win the event’s championship on Sunday. He ended up on the broadcast several times as the school clinched the title in Sin City.

With a six-game losing streak early in conference play and after dropping six of their final seven in the league, Nebraska missed the Big Ten Tournament and, therefore, the NCAA Tournament as a bubble team. That left the Cornhuskers to choose to play in the inaugural edition of the College Basketball Crown, a sixteen-team, single-elimination tournament for teams mainly in the Big East, Big Ten, and Big 12 with winnings of $500,000 for NIL as the winner of the bracket would win a total of $300,000.

Over the past week, Nebraska won four games over Arizona State (86-78), Georgetown (81-69), Boise State (79-69), and now UCF to win The Crown. They were down as much as 14 starting off in the second half against the Knights today but went on a 42-17 run to close and win it by eleven.

“I feel like I have residency in Vegas now as long as we’ve been here,” Fred Hoiberg said postgame. “You know, it’s, I just want to say how much I absolutely cherish this time with this team these last three weeks. I’m so happy that we made the decision to play in this event. It was a first-class run event. Our guys showed up and I couldn’t be more proud of how they finished after a tough end of the regular season. And I just, I want to give a special shoutout to ‘Husker Nation for showing up in this tournament.”

This run had contributions by several players for the Cornhuskers. Brice Williams (23.3 points (50% FG, 44.8% 3PT) and Juwan Gary (19 points (51.8% FG, 57.1% 3PT), 8.0 rebounds) led the way in their final collegiate outings while Conner Essegian (13.3 points (52.6% FG, 38.1% 3PT)) and Cale Jacobsen (5.0 points (53.3% FG, 75% 3PT), 4.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.8 steals) also played well. Gary would go on to be the Most Valuable Player of The Crown.

This may not be the same thing as the actual postseason. Still, it clearly mattered to those in Lincoln, including Raiola, with all of their investment over this past week in winning this tournament in Vegas.