The quarterfinals of the new College Basketball Crown began Wednesday with two highly anticipated matchups that followed a similar script.
First up, Boise State took down Butler in a high-scoring 100-93 affair. Despite the Broncos leading most of the way, the Bulldogs hung around all game.
After that, scrappy Georgetown put up a fight against Nebraska but couldn’t complete a comeback like it had in the first round.
The Broncos and Cornhuskers each earned $50K and now advance to play each other in the semifinals.
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The second round will continue Thursday with two more quarterfinal matchups airing on FS1. The winners will advance to the semifinals on Saturday, with the championship game taking place on Sunday, April 6. Those three games will be available on FOX.
Here are the highlights from Wednesday!
Nebraska holds off a short-handed Georgetown team with a lot of fight
The Cornhuskers are off to the semifinals after holding off spirited Georgetown, 81-69.
Brice Williams and Malik Mack lived up to the hype from their first-round games. Williams followed up his 30-point performance with 28 points on Wednesday night, another team high. Mack, who scored 37 points on Monday night despite being under the weather, paced the Hoyas with 25 points.
Mack played every minute of Georgetown’s tournament games. However, he couldn’t lead the Hoyas to another rally against a more balanced and deeper Nebraska team.
At halftime, Nebraska led 34-24, and Williams was the only player on either team in double figures (10 points on 3-of-7 shooting). Mack looked as if he didn’t have his legs with just two points on 1-of-8 shooting at the break, including 0-for-3 from the perimeter.
In the second half, Mack came alive, totaling 23 points and draining four 3-pointers on five attempts.
He helped keep the Hoyas within striking distance. Even after Nebraska built a 19-point lead, Georgetown kept fighting back. The Hoyas got within eight points a couple of times, but Fred Hoiberg’s team was never rattled.
Juwan Gary finished with a double-double for the Huskers (17 points, 10 rebounds), while Connor Essegian had seven points, all in the first half.
On Monday night, the Hoyas played with just five scholarship players. They got one more back on Wednesday when Kayvaun Mulready returned to the lineup. He scored nine points off the bench. Caleb Williams (not the football player) contributed with nine points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals, but he fouled out with 9:33 remaining, another blow to Georgetown’s depth.
Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Georgetown Hoyas The Crown Highlights | CBB on FOX
Boise State puts pesky Butler away to move to semifinals
Boise State entered the Crown as a favorite to win the tournament and with a perfect record when scoring 80 or more points.
Through two games, Boise State is still a favorite to win the whole thing and is now 15-0 when scoring 80 or more points.
The Broncos prevailed over the Bulldogs 100-93 as both teams shot the lights out of the ball. Boise State connected on 60.3% of its field goals and made 11 3-pointers, while Butler was 57.6% from the field and hit 13 treys.
Although Boise State led for most of the game, Butler never quite went away. The Bulldogs trailed by 10 points at the half but cut that deficit in half early in the second half. Yet every time they got close, the Broncos had a response.
For Boise State, Tyson Degenhart recorded his 2,000th career point in a 19-point outing.
Javan Buchanan, who came in off the bench, led the Broncos with 27 points, while Alvaro Cardenas also had 19 points.
Boise State’s Javan Buchanan throws down dunk to extend lead against Butler
The game’s highest scorer, however, was Butler’s Finley Bizjack, who put up a career-high 30 points. He was nearly unstoppable from the 3-point line, going 6-of-9 from behind the arc. He was even 8-for-8 from the free-throw line, despite the best efforts of Utah super fan Corey, who switched his allegiance to Boise State on Wednesday. This time, his screams didn’t bother Butler quite as much.
As Gus Johnson said on the broadcast, “Nobody beats the Biz!”
Well, except for Boise State, who now moves on to the semifinals.
Butler Bulldogs vs. Boise State Broncos The Crown Highlights | CBB on FOX
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