Keith Williams has been hired as an assistant coach at the University of Nebraska, completing Coach Mike Riley’s first full-time coaching staff with the Cornhuskers.

Williams will coach the Nebraska wide receivers and joins the Husker program from Tulane University, where he has spent the previous three seasons.

“Keith Williams is a tremendous addition to our Nebraska staff, and brings a great background in coaching wide receivers,” Riley said. “With Keith’s addition, I’m excited about the completion of our full-time staff. It is a mix of quality individuals who bring great skills as teachers, coaches, mentors and recruiters.”

Williams, who had eight former receivers in the National Football League in 2014, is eager to join Riley’s staff at Nebraska.

“I am really excited to join Coach Riley’s staff and thankful for the opportunity he has given me at Nebraska,” Williams said. “I have had a great respect for Coach Riley’s career from afar, and I’m ecstatic to be here at Nebraska and be a part of this program. This is one of those places that if you pay any attention to college football, you know about Nebraska. I have seen that ‘N’ my whole life.”

In his role on the Tulane staff, Williams coached the Green Wave wide receivers the past three seasons, and was also the out-of-state recruiting coordinator in 2014. This past season, the top target in the Green Wave passing game was true freshman Teddy Veal, who led Tulane with 40 receptions in his first season under Williams’ direction.

Williams was instrumental in the success of Tulane wideout Ryan Grant who completed his career in 2013. Grant finished his career with 196 receptions for 2,769 yards. Grant topped 75 receptions in each of his final two seasons, and produced a pair of 1,000-yard receiving campaigns. Grant spent the 2014 season with the Washington Redskins.

In 2013, Williams’ receivers combined for nearly 1,900 receiving yards and 18 receiving touchdowns, helping the Green Wave to a 7-6 record and trip to the New Orleans Bowl.

Before his time at Tulane, Williams served as the receivers coach at Fresno State for three seasons. While with the Bulldogs, Williams coached three All-Western Athletic Conference receivers and helped Fresno State to two bowl appearances.

Williams also has NFL experience, spending the 2008 season with the San Diego Chargers in a minority internship coaching position. He was also an assistant coach at San Jose City College, San Jose State and Solano (Calif.) College.

— NU Sports Information —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The first thing Tim Miles told reporters after his Nebraska team held off Minnesota surely resonated with fans at Pinnacle Bank Arena and folks watching at home.

“Man, I’m glad that clock ran out,” the coach said following a 52-49 victory Tuesday night.

So were connoisseurs of fine basketball. Except for a heart-pounding final 25 seconds that seemed to last an eternity to Miles, this one was hard on the eyes. There were 33 field goals and 31 turnovers, and the teams combined to miss nearly half their free throws.

“Ugly, but it’s a win,” the Huskers’ Terran Petteway said. “A win is a win. Some pretty good things, some bad things in this game. We’ll take it. We’ve got to. Now is the time we have to make our run.”

Shavon Shields scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half and Nebraska survived an eight-minute field-goal drought to end the game. The Cornhuskers (11-7, 3-3 Big Ten) made 11 of their last 12 free throws after starting 3 for 9 from the line and hung on as Minnesota missed what would have been three straight game-tying 3-pointers before the final buzzer.

Minnesota (12-8, 1-6) has lost six of its last seven games. Five of the Gophers’ six conference losses have been by five points or less.

“We’ve lost our fair share of close ones,” Gophers coach Richard Pitino said. “That’s the best we’ve executed. I thought we got open looks. The reality of the situation is when you miss 10 free throws on the road like that in a one- or two-possession games, you’re not going to win.”

Petteway added 11 points for the Huskers in a slog that had 43 fouls called, 25 in the second half.

Andre Hollins had 21 points for the Gophers, who shot a season-low 30.8 percent from the field and made only 9 of 19 free throws. Joey King added 11 points.

Shields’ jumper with 8:01 left was the final field goal for the Huskers, who shot 40.5 percent.

Hollins’ layup and Carlos Morris’ 3-pointer from the corner pulled the Gophers’ within 50-49, but Benny Parker was fouled and made the free throws to make it a three-point game with 25 seconds left.

Hollins, Morris and DeAndre Mathieu each were off with their 3-point tries at the end.

“The initial one Hollins got off I thought was a decent look, and that one worried me. It looked like it had a good line,” Miles said. “The ones after that didn’t have the arc or the line. But when you’re in a scramble situation, and you’re switching on defense and there are long rebounds and they’re desperate… It felt like we were running around there for 18 seconds.”

Minnesota had an eight-minute field-goal drought and shot just 28.6 percent in the second half yet still had a chance to the end.

Pitino praised Nebraska’s defensive effort, which kept the Gophers from getting good looks inside.

“We’re not going to get any sympathy,” Pitino said. “Miles is a good friend of mine. That’s the way it works. We’ll break through. We’ve still got a ways to go here.”

—

TIP-INS

Minnesota: The Gophers came into the game averaging a Big Ten-leading 11.1 steals and finished with nine. … The Gophers have lost three straight to Nebraska.

Nebraska: Terran Petteway reached 1,000 points in his career with an early 3-point basket. The game also marked Petteway’s 50th consecutive start, most on the team besides Shields’ 68 in a row. … The struggling Tai Webster made his best play of the year when he juked Joey King on his way to the hoop for a layup that gave Nebraska a 15-7 lead.

UP NEXT

Minnesota hosts Illinois on Saturday.

Nebraska hosts Michigan State on Saturday.

— Associated Press —