Nebraska gains the win over USC Upstate after announcing Essegian's season-ending injury

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Pryce Sandfort scored 20 points, Rienk Mast scored 15 points and Nebraska overcame early bad news by staying undefeated, beating USC Upstate 72-63 on Saturday.

Reserves Cale Jacobsen and Braden Frager each scored 11 points for the Huskers.

Karmani Gregory scored 20 points, Mason Bendinger 13, backup Isaiah Skinner 12 and Carmelo Adkins 11 for the Spartans (4-5).

Nebraska never trailed in the second half. Frager's 3 with 2:17 left gave the Cornhuskers their largest lead, 64-50. The first half was completely different.

The Spartans' Gregory made a 3 with 15:45 before halftime for a 7-6 lead and they proceeded to outscore Nebraska 23-9 over nearly the next eight minutes and built a 27-15 advantage with 7:22 left before halftime.

Despite an almost three-minute scoring drought, the Cornhuskers rallied using a 15-3 outburst in the last 4 1/2 minutes to take a 32-30 halftime lead.

Skinner's 3 for the Spartans with three seconds left before the break ended a more than 7-minute scoring span for USC Upstate.

Before the game, Nebraska (8-0) coach Fred Hoibeg announced that senior guard Connor Essegian will miss the remainder of the season with an ankle injury suffered in Tuesday’s 80-73 win over Winthrop.

Essegian left the game midway through the second half and tests following the game revealed a significant right ankle injury. Last year, he averaged 10.7 points per game and led the Huskers with 78 3-pointers, the most by a Husker since 2019.

Up Next

USC Upstate hosts Coastal Carolina on Wednesday. Nebraska hosts Creighton on Dec. 7.

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