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The Huskers staved off an early exit and stayed alive behind an unlikely cast of contributors when all seemed lost in the second half. What promises to be an offseason of change won’t begin for at least two more days as NU turned on the jets in the second half to leave ASU choking on the Las Vegas desert dust, advancing to the Crown’s second round after an 86-78 win.

“I didn’t love our energy, and I give our guys a lot of credit,� Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg told reporters in Las Vegas. “We gotta learn from it. Sometimes in these tournaments you gotta win an ugly one, and hopefully this was that one for us.�

The Huskers will face either Washington State or Georgetown Wednesday night.

NU (18-14) trailed 38-30 at halftime and by as many as 11 points early in the second half before Connor Essegian woke up. The junior shooting guard, hot and cold all season, cashed in on a 3-pointer in the second half after a quiet first. Moments later he finished at the rim in transition, then knocked down another trey in the subsequent minutes.

As shots fell, Essegian’s aggressiveness picked up. He hunted looks from all over the floor, found space in the midrange and provided NU some much-needed relief. All 17 of his points came in the second half.

It was part of Nebraska’s nontraditional path to victory. Little-used guard Cale Jacobsen played 22 minutes in a handful of small-ball lineups and provided a spark, running the offense and making simple plays, getting his hands into passing lanes defensively. He finished the night with two points, five assists and three steals.

“I thought he was player of the game,� Hoiberg said. “I give him a lot of credit. He’s the next guy up a lot, and he’s had an unbelievable couple weeks of practice, and I had to get him out there, and it paid off for us. I’m really proud of him for what he’s all about.�

The Huskers pushed the pace when points were hard to come by in the halfcourt and were rewarded with three finishes from Juwan Gary in the open floor for six of his 18 points. Arizona State lost its main rim protector when center Shawn Phillips Jr. got into foul trouble, and it led to more opportunities on the inside for Nebraska, who took advantage by using smaller quicker lineups without Braxton Meah or Berke Buyuktuncel.

Essegian’s pullup jumper gave NU its first lead of the second half with 7:02 left, part of a 13-2 run that buried the Sun Devils and ended with Jacobsen getting inside the defense, stopping, pivoting and kicking out to Sam Hoiberg for a dagger 3-pointer.

It was a stark turnaround from the Huskers after a sloppy, unfocused first half.

Williams, who finished with 30 points, found his offensive rhythm with little else going well for Nebraska offensively in the first half. He got into the lane and hit the kind of turnaround jumper that became a familiar sight throughout the season for his first points of the evening. He hit three 3-pointers before the end of the first half, one saving NU at the end of a helter-skelter possession and ending a scoring drought of more than four minutes.

For much of the night, Williams didn’t get much help offensively. Huskers outside of the sixth-year senior shot 1-8 from 3-point range in the first half as the offense wobbled under the weight of Nebraska’s miscues.

Meah committed two turnovers, a charge and a bad pass, in one minute on the floor in the first period. The rest of Nebraska followed suit with eight giveaways without any common thread: travels on both the perimeter and the low block, errant passes.

Gary missed an open transition layup in the opening minutes. Twice in the first half, NU committed fouls while Arizona State was shooting 3-pointers. There were blown ball screen coverages that led to ASU layups, pushing the end of Nebraska’s season into sight before the Huskers found themselves on both ends.

“At halftime of this game, what the coaches talked about just really fired us up,� Essegian said. “And that really kind of sparked us and when that happened and everyone’s flowing together it’s a lot easier for shots to go in.�