LINCOLN – Nebraska senior guard Brice Williams became the first Husker men’s basketball player since 2018 to earn first-team all-conference honors as the Big Ten Conference announced its All-Big Ten teams on Tuesday.
Williams, a 6-foot-7 guard from Huntersville, N.C., earned first-team All-Big Ten honors from the coaches and the media, as he averaged a league-high 20.7 points per game along with 4.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game in Big Ten play. The senior became the first Husker since 2014 to lead the conference in scoring in conference play and just the sixth Husker in more than a century to lead a conference in scoring in conference play.
Williams not only led NU in scoring but ranked among the conference leaders in free throw percentage (.875, sixth), minutes played (36.3, fifth and free throws made (4.9, third) and attempted (5.6, sixth) per game. Williams led Nebraska in assists and 3-pointers (38) and was second in steals (22) and rebounds (88) in conference games. He had a conference-leading 12 games with 20-or-more points, highlighted by a school-record 43-point effort at Ohio State on March 4.
Prior to this season, James Palmer Jr. was NU’s most recent first-team All-Big Ten selection, as he honored in 2018. Williams, Braden Smith (Purdue), Trey Kaufman-Renn (Purdue) and John Tonje (Wisconsin were first-team picks by both the conference coaches and media, while the other first-team spot was split between Maryland’s Derik Queen (coaches) and Michigan’s Vladislav Goldin (media).
In addition to the coaches and media, Williams was also selected as first-team All-Big Ten by the Associated Press on Tuesday.
Rollie Worster was the other Husker honored Tuesday, as he was Nebraska’s Sportsmanship Award nominee for his efforts on and off the court. Worster has appeared in 31 games, including 25 starts, and averaged 7.0 points, and 2.6 assists per game. He was second on the team in assists and had a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
