Fred Hoiberg bluntly defends Brice Williams passing to Connor Essegian late vs. Michigan

It was clearly a frustrating game for the Nebraska Cornhuskers offense against the Michigan Wolverines on Monday. Only Brice Williams was able to find consistent success. Still, despite his personal success, in a key moment, he passed out of a shot.

After the game, head coach Fred Hoiberg was blunt in his defense of Brice Williams’ decision to pass to Connor Essegian late in the loss to Michigan.

“I mean, you got your best shooter a wide open three,” Fred Hoiberg said.

Nebraska ended up losing the game 49-46. On the play that Hoiberg was being questioned about, Nebraska rebounded a missed free throw with just over 10 seconds to play. Williams was able to bring the ball quickly up court and began to drive before kicking the ball out to Essegian, who missed a three-point shot. Michigan snagged the rebound and by the time the Cornhuskers could foul there were just 2.6 seconds left and the Wolverines would make it a three-point game at the free-throw line.

For the game, Brice Williams was the only Cornhusker to score more than six points. He had 23 points in a game where Nebraska shot 25.8 percent as a team and made just six out of 28 three-point attempts. Connor Essegian, personally, had two points and two rebounds in the loss.

This season, Essegian is shooting 39 percent from three-point range and is averaging 10.5 points per game. That shooting percentage is second on the team to Sam Hoiberg, who is 41.2 percent from deep. Williams, incidentally is third on the team in three-point shooting and first points per game. Notably, Hoiberg has done that on 34 total shots compared to 164 shots taken by Essegian from three-point range.

That missed shot by Connor Essegian was the culmination of a frustrating offensive night for Nebraska. However, the only reason the Cornhuskers were in the game was because of their defensive effort, for which Fred Hoiberg made sure to praise his team.

“I told the guys how proud I was of them for how they played. From playing this game, when the ball is not going in the basket when you are missing shots you make a lot of times, it is not easy to continue to battle and defend and keep yourself in the game on the other end,” Hoiberg said. “But our guys did that. If we have that type of fight these next three games, we’re going to be fine and we’re going to be playing in the postseason, and that can’t change. Offensively, yes, we need to be better. I think we will be better. But that defensive effort and intensity and edge that we had tonight has to be the same for these remaining three games.”

If there was a silver lining for the night, it was the milestone that Brice Williams reached. He became the 32nd Cornhuskers player to surpass 1,000 points in his career with the school.