Creighton appears to be adding a top game to their 2018-19 non-conference schedule thanks to the Gavitt Games. Late Monday night, Jon Rothstein reported that Creighton will host Ohio State in the fourth installment of the series against the Big 10. Creighton has participated in the Gavitt Games in all four years of the series, while this will be the second appearance for Ohio State.
The Bluejays are 3-5 all-time against Ohio State. Their last meeting was during the 2004-05 season where the Bluejays won the Guardians Classic in Kansas City as Tyler McKinney hit the game winning shot with 4.2 seconds left in a 65-63 victory.
A year ago, Greg McDermott reportedly considered the Ohio State job before deciding to stay at Creighton. Fellow Big East coach, Chris Holtmann eventually left Butler and took the job. The Buckeyes finished second in the Big 10 last season and went 25-9, getting ousted by Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Ohio State finished #17 in the polls to end the season. Last season, Ohio State participated in their first Gavitt Games with a 72-67 home win against Providence.
While the Buckeyes lose the Big 10 Player of the Year, Keita Bates-Diop and three other senior contributors, Ohio State has the potential to be tough again in 2018-19. They return two starters in second leading scorer, CJ Jackson and all Big 10 Freshman team member, Kaleb Wesson. This past week they added graduate transfer Keyshawn Woods from Wake Forest to their roster who is eligible right away and adds scoring punch and assists to Holtmann’s squad.
Creighton has a lot of question marks heading into next season with Marcus Foster and Toby Hegner graduating, Khyri Thomas deciding to stay in the NBA draft, Ronnie Harrell, Jr., deciding to graduate transfer to Denver University, and the recovery of Martin Krampelj from a knee injury suffered last season. The Bluejays will have a lot of youth on the court at this point, but have a decent amount of experience in Mitch Ballock and Ty-Shon Alexander along with returning starter Davion Mintz and the late season emergence of Jacob Epperson. The incoming freshmen have some great talent and will likely be asked to step in and contribute right away.
Creighton’s schedule is getting closer to being filled with potentially four or five games left to schedule. In addition to Ohio State, the Bluejays will also host Gonzaga at the CenturyLink Center next season and go on the road to Nebraska and Oklahoma.
The Bluejays annual exempt tournament will be in the Cayman Islands Classic, Nov. 19-21. The field includes St. Bonaventure, Georgia, Clemson, Georgia State, Akron, Illinois State, and Boise State. Creighton will play 3 of those teams with a potential 4th non-bracket game at home or on the road if the schools agree on a matchup.
On the other end of the spectrum, we are also aware of a matchup at home against Montana and what appears to be an exhibition against former Creighton assistant Todd Eisner and his Winona State team. The Bluejays will likely schedule the four remaining games as “buy” home games against lower D-1 schools. Dates are still yet to be released on all of these games.
Throughout the spring and summer, keep track of Creighton’s schedule on our Creighton future schedule page as well as all of the Big East non-conference schedules on our Future Big East Schedules page.
Here are the other reported Gavitt Games matchups:
- Michigan at Villanova
- Georgetown at Illinois
- Wisconsin at Xavier
- Seton Hall at Nebraska
- St. John’s at Rutgers
- Penn State at DePaul
- Marquette at Indiana
