Tuesday, Creighton released their full non-conference schedule for Alan Huss’ first season as head coach of the Jays. It features six home games (vs KC, Le Moyne, Oral Roberts, Nebraska, Gonzaga and Mount St. Mary’s), one true road game (at Kansas State) and five neutral court games (vs Iowa in Des Moines, vs Michigan in Las Vegas, and then three more games at the Players Era 16 against teams yet to be determined).
It seems like a smart schedule for a first year coach. KC and Le Moyne are buy games you should win. At K-State and Iowa ratchet up the level of competition before the Vegas gauntlet, but are still winnable. Then they have two more buy games sandwiched around the biggest week of the non-con (Nebraska and Gonzaga).
Also smart: they have a nine-day break before Michigan, and a week before Gonzaga, to prep and get ready for what are likely to be the two biggest NET opportunities in the non-con.
“We have a desire to be an at large team in the NCAA tournament and in order to accomplish that, we’ve got to play the best people in the country. And I think we’ve we’ve done exactly that,” Huss said on Tuesday. “We’ve got an elite schedule with some opportunities…you never know from year to year exactly who’s going to be Quad 1, Quad 2, Quad 3, but at least on paper it certainly looks like we’ll have a number of opportunities to test ourselves. That’s why we’re doing all this work this summer, to prepare ourselves so hopefully we put our best foot forward in those matchups.”
But it’s not without its quirks. After the opening two games at home, the Jays don’t play another home game for 26 days — with six games away from Omaha between November 5-December 1. Some of that is a response to the Big East being down as a league a year ago, as Huss told NBC Sports’ John Fanta last week.
“When Coach Mac and (former assistant Steve Merfeld) started on the schedule, they knew the Big East was a little bit down a season ago so they added a couple of games for some more Q1 opportunities, like Iowa on a neutral floor coming off their historic season. I mean, that’s what it comes down to at this stage of things in 2026 in college basketball. You’ve got to play the best teams out there. We want to challenge our team. That’s our responsibility as a program is to play the best people we possibly can, and give ourselves opportunities to get better before we get into a really challenging Big East slate. And hopefully, do our best to help the conference as a whole to rise. I think we’ll do just that.”
As you’d expect, Bluejay players are excited by the challenge presented to them. New guard BJ Davis told the media on Tuesday that it’s exactly what you ask for as a competitor. And veteran Jasen Green agreed.
“If you’re a great basketball player, you want to play against other great basketball players, other great teams,” Green said on Tuesday. “We have a great team here, too, so being able to go out on the court against those other really good teams and show that we can compete with them… it’s what everybody dreams about.”
Highlights:
Kansas City (Nov. 2): The Roos are now coached by old Bluejay nemesis Mark Turgeon, who was lured out of retirement this spring by the opportunity to resurrect another program. By hiring the Topeka native and former Wichita State, Texas A&M and Maryland coach, and promising him the resources to succeed in the Summit League, KC is aggressively pursuing their goal of making their first-ever NCAA Tournament. Oh, and their visit is the first regular-season game of the Al Huss Era at CU, too.
at Kansas State (Nov. 10): The Wildcats beat Creighton 83-76 in Omaha last December, and the return game of the home-and-home series finds both programs under new leadership. Jerome Tang was fired in early February after a fiery postgame rant (and a 1-11 start to Big XII play), replaced by Casey Alexander.
“Kansas State obviously is going to be a totally different animal at their place with Coach Alexander,” Huss told NBC’s John Fanta. “He’s been an incredible coach at Belmont for so many years and you know they’re going to be a truly special offensive team. He’s an elite basketball coach.”
vs Michigan (Nov. 24): “Well, the Players Era didn’t exactly ease us into things, did they?” Huss joked to Fanta. “We get the national champs right off the bat.”
The Jays’ opening matchup in Vegas looks slightly different than it did when it was first announced. Coach Dusty May unexpectedly left in late June for the NBA, and the Wolverines are now coached on an interim basis by former assistant Mike Boynton, Jr. He’s kept the roster basically intact after May’s departure, and Michigan seems poised to be able to make another deep run in March.
Nebraska (Dec. 5): A series long-dominated by CU has turned the other way recently, and one of the first barometers of the Huss Era will be whether he can stem the tide against the Huskers.
“Obviously, the folks down the road in Lincoln just had a year for the ages,” Huss told CBS’ Jon Rothstein earlier this month, “and I’m certain that they’re going to be greedy and want some more.”
Gonzaga (Dec. 12): The Bulldogs blew out the Jays a year ago in Spokane, winning 90-63 during the first week of the season in a harbinger of things to come. The rematch of the home-and-home comes right before the start of Big East play in Omaha, when roles are hopefully more defined and they’re better prepared for a challenge that stiff.
“Gonzaga will be as good as anybody in the country with the transfers they’ve added and the freshman returners. It’ll be challenging,” Huss told Rothstein.
Full schedule:
Exhibitions:
10/18 at Iowa State
10/23 vs Minnesota
11/2 vs UMKC
11/5 vs Le Moyne
11/10 at K-State
11/15 vs Iowa (in Des Moines)
11/24 vs Michigan (Players Era)
11/26 vs TCU/Miami (Players Era)
11/27 vs TBD (Players Era)
11/28 vs TBD (Players Era)
12/1 vs Oral Roberts
12/5 vs Nebraska
12/12 vs Gonzaga
12/15 vs Mount St. Mary’s