After needing a late run in the second half to put away St. Thomas in Monday night’s season-opener, ninth-ranked Creighton looked much sharper throughout Thursday night’s 96-61 thumping of North Dakota.
The Bluejays held the Fighting Hawks to under one point per possession, their guards and wings combined for 19 assists and just five turnovers, and as team they shot 12-of-27 from 3-point territory after struggling from long range in their first outing. They blew open the game with a 32-5 run over a roughly 8-minute span in the first half, led by 31 at the break, and pushed it to as much as 41 in the second half to improve to 2-0 on the season.
“We were able to get some stops and get out in transition and that’s where this team is really dangerous,” Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said. “I knew we were a better shooting team than what we showed the other night, and I think you saw some snapshots of that tonight.”
Ryan Kalkbrenner (WBR/Mike Spomer)
Junior center Ryan Kalkbrenner was a force inside. After battling the flu on Monday, the reigning Big East Defensive Player of the Year shot 10-of-11 from the field and 4-of-4 from the free throw line en route to a career-high 24 points in just 23 minutes of action. Creighton’s facilitators were persistent in getting the ball in his hands in position to score. They found him on flip-ups out of ball screens, off of cuts from the weak side, in transition, and in traditional post-ups.
“Usually when we play teams that are kind of undersized, we always try to get the ball into Ryan because it makes everybody else’s job easier,” sophomore guard Trey Alexander said. “As you could see, he was there on a lot of flip-ups and a lot of situations where he seals early. Like I said in the last press conference, I feel like he’s one of the best sealing bigs I’ve ever played with, and I’ve ever seen in the country. He definitely makes everybody else’s job easier on the court.”
Alexander was a spark in his own right. He dropped 14 points, pulled down five rebounds, didn’t commit a turnover, and added two steals and a block on the defensive end. He also shot 4-for-6 from beyond the arc, one of which came after he stole an inbounds pass and pulled the trigger on a corner three in front of North Dakota’s bench while the two players he stole the ball from watched helplessly as he sank it in between both of them. Alexander, Kalkbrenner, and the rest of Creighton’s starting five each put in a solid, all-around effort against the Fighting Hawks. Senior wing Baylor Scheierman was the only in that group who logged 25 minutes, and while he’s seen better days than his 3-for-11 shooting performance, he still ended his evening with a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with eight points, four assists, and two steals. The Jays were +26 while he was on the floor.
Baylor Scheierman closes out on defense (WBR/Mike Spomer)
“He’s a complete player,” McDermott said of the South Dakota State transfer. “He’s a very intellectual defender. He makes up for maybe what he lacks in quickness with his brain and his positioning, and then he’s got great vision. He missed some of those shots around the basket tonight that he doesn’t normally miss; those are usually pretty golden for him. But he’s a guy that creates stuff for other people. Sometimes it’s with a pass. Sometimes it’s with a screen or a fake screen. A lot of those things don’t show up in the stat sheet, but when you go back and watch the film and you realize why we got those points, often times it’s something that Baylor did to try to create an advantage for us.”
Sophomore wing Arthur Kaluma was solid again as well with 12 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes. He was 1-for-2 from 3-point range. Over his last five games, spanning the Big East Championship game against Villanova, the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament against San Diego State and eventual national champion Kansas, and the first two this season against St. Thomas and North Dakota, Kaluma is averaging 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds. He has stepped up in to help clean the glass for Creighton after Ryan Hawkins and Alex O’Connell were so dependable in that area of the game.
Arthur Kaluma was active offensively, including on the glass (WBR/Mike Spomer)
“Instinctively he’s a really good rebounder on the offensive end,” McDermott said. “He had a couple big time defensive rebounds tonight as well. He has to do that for us. As I’ve mentioned before, Alex O’Connell was a really good defensive rebounder for us from the guard position last year, and Baylor has filled some of that void, but we need Art to fill parts of it as well.”
No. 9 Creighton will be back in action at CHI Health Center Omaha on Monday, November 14 when they take on Holy Cross at 8:00 p.m. The Crusaders are 1-1 on the season with an 85-71 win over Division III Dean College and a 75-68 season-opening loss to Siena on their ledger.