EUGENE, Ore. — Brice Williams scored 28 points and Juwan Gary added 23 as Nebraska held off Oregon for a 77-71 victory Saturday night, dealing the Ducks their third straight loss.
Williams shot 10 of 18 from the field while Gary went 6 of 10, combining to connect on more than half of the Cornhuskers’ field goals. Outside of that duo, Nebraska was a more pedestrian 10 of 23. Still, the Cornhuskers finished at 51% for the game and did just enough to keep the Ducks at bay down the stretch.
Oregon (16-6, 5-6 Big Ten) opened the contest with a dunk from center Nate Bittle and briefly led 2-0, but it would be the Ducks’ last lead of the night. Williams and Gary immediately sparked Nebraska with strong drives and timely perimeter shots to seize control. By the 4:53 mark of the first half, the Cornhuskers had built a 15-point advantage, capped by Williams’ fast-break dunk that made it 32-17.
Though Oregon put together an 11-0 run to trim the deficit late in the period, Nebraska entered halftime leading 34-28 after Williams threw down another dunk in the final seconds. During those first 20 minutes, Williams was a steady force from both mid-range and behind the arc, forcing Oregon’s defense to rotate quickly and opening driving lanes for Gary, who piled up free-throw attempts after absorbing contact inside.
In the second half, Oregon tried to counter with a balanced attack. Guard Jackson Shelstad led the Ducks with 16 points, hitting three 3-pointers, while forward Brandon Angel added 15. TJ Bamba contributed 13 points, including several acrobatic drives in the lane, but neither Bamba nor Shelstad could consistently slow the Cornhuskers’ two-pronged offense. Gary continued to draw fouls in the paint, racking up a 10-for-12 showing at the free-throw line, and Williams drained contested pull-up jumpers that halted each of Oregon’s surges.
The Ducks repeatedly sliced the margin to six or seven points but struggled to get enough defensive stops. They finished shooting 40% (24 of 60) from the floor and 25% (5 of 20) from beyond the arc. Despite an 81.8% mark from the foul line (18 of 22) and outscoring Nebraska 16-12 off turnovers, Oregon never overcame its slow start or the Cornhuskers’ duo at the offensive end.
Nebraska (14-8, 4-7) managed only 4 of 23 from 3-point range, but it balanced that cold perimeter shooting with 34 points in the paint. Forward Rollie Worster gave the Cornhuskers a spark off the bench with 11 points on perfect 4-for-4 shooting, and Andrew Morgan chipped in eight points on 4-for-4 himself, helping Nebraska maintain enough offensive flow whenever Williams or Gary rested.
Oregon’s best chance came in the final minute, after Shelstad sank a pull-up jumper to close within 76-70. However, Gary coolly sank two free throws with 14 seconds left to effectively seal the outcome. The Ducks managed a lone point at the stripe the rest of the way before time ran out.
