Brennan Rigsby's late 3-pointer gets Minnesota past Nebraska

Field Level Media|published: Sat 1st March, 16:32 2025

Mar 1, 2025; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers guard Brennan Rigsby (24) signals after making a three point attempt against the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the first half at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images

Brennan Rigsby knocked down a 3-pointer with 4.1 seconds left Saturday and visiting Minnesota earned a 67-65 Big Ten Conference win over Nebraska at Lincoln, Neb.

The Cornhuskers grabbed a 65-64 lead with 10 seconds left on Juwan Gary's layup. The Golden Gophers opted not to use their final timeout and Lu'Cye Patterson found Rigsby open on the right wing where he made a 23-footer for the last of his team-high 20 points.

Nebraska squeezed off a final shot from just past half court but it banged off the backboard and rim as time expired, sending the Cornhuskers to their third straight loss and fourth in five games.

Gary and Brice Williams each scored 21 points for Nebraska, while Connor Essegian added 11.

Patterson finished with 16 points for Minnesota (15-14, 7-11 Big Ten), which won despite getting only nine points from leading scorer Dawson Garcia, leaving him three shy of 2,000 for his career.

The Gophers went 50.9 percent from the field, including 10 of 21 (47.6 percent) on 3-pointers, and led by as many as 19 points early in the second half.

The Cornhuskers (17-12, 7-11) rallied by forcing nine second-half turnovers and turning them into 13 points. But ultimately, their 11 of 20 foul shooting in the game proved too much to overcome.

The first half was pretty much all Minnesota in a game where Nebraska needed a win to help its chances for an NCAA at-large bid. The Golden Gophers took it to the Cornhuskers on both ends of the floor in the early going.

And that was even with Garcia (19.6 points per game) missing all four of his first-half shots to go scoreless in the opening 20 minutes. Yet the Gophers ran their offense well, going 50 percent from the field before halftime, while limiting Nebraska to 43.5 percent.

Minnesota owned a 35-20 lead after Patterson canned a foul-line jumper with 1:54 remaining before halftime before the Cornhuskers showed scored the last six points. Sam Hoiberg's layup with six seconds left cut the halftime margin to 35-26.

--Field Level Media

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