Action in the 2019 NIT continued yesterday night as Nebraska hosted Butler in its opening round game. All told, Nebraska was able to edge out Butler in a really close game and advance to the second round of the NIT.

Let’s take a look at what happened.

Game of the Day:

-No. 4 Nebraska Cornhuskers 80, No. 5 Butler Bulldogs 76

Coming into Wednesday night’s NIT debut for the Huskers, the primary question would be about the team’s mindset and motivation for the matchup. Would Nebraska come in with fire and attempt to put on a show, or simply put in the motions to get to the offseason? This was even more complicated with rumors swirling about Tim Miles.

However, Nebraska showed plenty of resolve on Wednesday and thoroughly battled with Butler in a pretty entertaining game. The Bulldogs had the lead early, but the Huskers took control as the second half continued. In the closing minutes, Butler tightened things, but didn’t have enough to get over the hump. As such, Nebraska scored an 80-76 win.

For Nebraska, it was a pretty exciting game, all things considered. The Huskers have a ton of roster issues going on right now, but the players that saw time really left it all on the floor. The squad was determined to get a win for Miles and his staff. The team will now move on and face TCU on the road on Sunday. For many, it will bring back some feelings about when the Huskers were still in the Big 12.

Whether Nebraska can keep things going remains to be seen, but Wednesday night will certainly go down as a nice moment in this season for the Huskers.