Nebraska Basketball: Huskers land both Brice Williams and Rienk Mast
By Bryan Mauro
Brice Williams
After the commitment of the big man, Nebraska would have been satisfied with the recruiting win, but they were not done yet as they were able to cross off another need. The Huskers were in desperate need of bench scoring and athleticism. They also desperately could use some more shooting outside of Keisei Tominaga and freshman guard Jamarques Lawrence. Brice Williams from Charlotte will provide all of those things.
The Huskers did not have much athleticism on their team a season ago. When I say athleticism, I mean a player who can do multiple different things, create their own shot and can get to the rim with ease. Basketball comes pretty easy to these individuals.
Nebraska was lacking in that department last year and anything they can do to upgrade would be a huge improvement. Williams is a versatile athletic guy who will be one of the leading scorers for the Huskers this season. The wing is a great shooter from deep, can get to the rim and is a fantastic free throw shooter. That is now two players that Nebraska has targeted in the portal who are good free throw shooters and two players who will increase their overall athleticism and effectiveness on offense.
Williams is going to be a guy who Nebraska is going to rely on to do a lot of things and one of those things he is going to provide is great defense. Coach Hoiberg shifted the focus to defense last season, and it paid off with the best team he has had in his tenure at Nebraska. Charlotte, the former team for Williams, was a defense-first team and they played slow grind-it-out games. The 49ers were physical and made it very hard to score. Williams was a key cog to the defense and is a great defender. He will join Juwan Gary and Jamarques Lawrence as great individual defenders.
Williams will improve the Husker offense and their defense. He shoots about 40% from deep and will likely shoot over 80% from the free throw line. He is finally the dominant offensive player that Nebraska needed so badly last year. The wing just like his new teammate Mast will have two years of eligibility remaining.