The beauty of March Madness is how fragile and fleeting the moments are. Every win buys you 40 more minutes (in most cases) with an intimate group of people who have seen you at your highest and lowest. Every loss brings pain, sadness, and a finality that some players have to confront. Creighton experienced the full spectrum over the last nine days. They batted away the jitters that come with every first-round game and blew out a hard-nosed, experienced Akron team. They survived a head-on collision with Dana Altman, the man who rebuilt the program and galvanized a city under the guidance of former athletic director Bruce Rasmussen.
Relief, joy, determination.
They were in position. One game away from returning to the doorstep of the Final Four where their season ended in gut-wrenching fashion last year in Louisville. It wasn’t meant to be, not yet anyway. Tennessee tripped them up on the last hurdle. The Volunteers’ third-ranked defense established a physical presence at all five positions from minute one to minute 40. They bumped, grabbed, and hacked, taking every inch they were given and turning it into two. They also made extra-effort plays and timely shots. More than enough of them to end a dream season and with it, the Bluejay careers of Baylor Scheierman, Francisco Farabello, and possibly Trey Alexander and Ryan Kalkbrenner as well.
“I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished this year to get back on this stage,” head coach Greg McDermott said. “These guys have been selfless every step of the way. They’ve been absolutely a joy to coach. You hate for that to be over, and I hope that once the hurt subsides, they can look in the mirror and understand what they’ve accomplished. Sometimes in sport the hardest thing to do is what you’re supposed to do. Baylor, Trey, Bello, and Kalk have been here two years, Steven this year. We’ve been preseason top 10 both years. We’ve had to carry the weight of that expectation on our shoulders for two straight years, and they’ve handled it like champions. That’s leadership. That’s focus and understanding who we are and staying connected.
These guys have from a leadership standpoint — the four up here and Trey, they’ve been incredible. They’ve been a great example to the young guys in our program. I’ve learned a lot from them and having the opportunity to be around them every day. It’s sad that it’s over, but, man, was it fun while it happened.”
Creighton struggled to handle Tennessee’s pressure for the first 12 minutes. They turned the ball over four times on their first eight possessions, then after getting the ball security under control they had a difficult time creating shots. When they did, they missed them. On the other end of the floor, the Vols were getting contributions from a pair of players not known for taking over games offensively. Junior guard Jordan Gainey got a couple of buckets in the paint, while fifth-year wing Josiah-Jordan James knocked down his first two looks from 3-point range. That gave No. 2 seed Tennessee an 18-14 lead just past the midway point of the first half. That was still the score at the under-8 media timeout. Then the Bluejays found their rhythm. Kalkbrenner got a couple dunk set up by Alexander and Scheierman. Ashworth splashed in a pair of threes, as did Scheierman. And Alexander a slick reverse layup for an old fashioned 3-point play.
It was a tale of two halves within the first half itself. Over the first 12 minutes, Creighton shot 35.3% from the field, had four turnovers, and produced just 14 points. In the final eight minutes before halftime, the Jays had no turnovers, scored 21 points, and shot 58.3% from the field. “Tennessee does a good job of upsetting your rhythm,” McDermott said. “[Zakai] Zeigler is such an elite on-ball defender that it upsets the timing of what you’re trying to do. As you saw, we tried to have some other guys initiate offense. I thought once we settled in, we got some decent shots.”
Creighton was able to maintain that rhythm to start the second half. Ashworth hit a pull-up jumper over Zeigler, then found Scheierman sprinting ahead of the pack in transition for a trip to the free throw line. The wheels fell off one by one after that. The Volunteers forced two turnovers and a mountain of one-and-done possessions one after the other defensively. On offense, they grabbed four offensive rebounds in the first 5:38 of the half and turned them into 10 second-chance points. That was after getting blanked in the column for the entire first half. Tennessee forced Greg McDermott, who is normally very hesitant to disrupt game flow, to burn two timeouts in a span of two minutes and 21 seconds. The first came after an 8-0 run, then another after a 10-0 run that put CU in a 55-39 hole with 13:51 to play.
“We really haven’t had anybody do that to us this year,” McDermott said of Tennessee’s 18-0 Superman punch. “I think it was less than five minutes. It seemed like a long time. But we haven’t had to overcome something like that.”
To Creighton’s credit, they nearly pulled it off on the first try. They scored on 10 of 13 possessions over the next nine minutes to pull all the way back within three at 65-62 with 4:45 to play, but Tennessee locked back in defensively and held the Jays scoreless for over three minutes. On the other end, they got clutch buckets by 2024 SEC Player of the Year Dalton Knecht and sophomore forward Tobe Awaka to stretch out the lead again. Trey Alexander and Steven Ashworth knocked down back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers on CU’s last three possessions, but the Vols 10 for 11 at the free throw line over the final 90 seconds of the game to secure the 82-75 win and advance to Sunday’s Elite Eight matchup against No. 1 seed Purdue.
Knecht led Tennessee with 24 points on 8-of-21 shooting to go along with six rebounds and five assists. Zeigler wasn’t far behind with 18 points, six assists, and only one turnover in 40 minutes. Josiah-Jordan James rounded out the scoring pop for Rocky Top with 17 points on just six field goal attempts and three trips to the free throw line.
For the Bluejays, Baylor Scheierman carried the day with a game-high 25 points. He was 4-of-9 from 3-point range and 5-for-5 at the free throw line while also holding a First Team All-American in Knecht to 16 points on 6-of-17 shooting as his primary defender. Steven Ashworth acquitted himself favorably against Zeigler’s relentless, hounding pressure. His first year as Creighton’s point guard ended with a 16-point performance. He hit four of the six 3-pointers he attempted and finished with four assists versus just one turnover. Trey Alexander missed nine of the 12 shots he put up, but still ended up with 13 points to go along with team-highs in rebounds (7) and assists (6). Senior center Ryan Kalkbrenner capped off the big four’s production with 14 points, seven rebounds, and two blocked shots in 40 minutes.
Beyond the box score lies the disappointment of falling short of a goal. Beyond that, lies the reality that they set a new standard of excellence on the little hilltop in downtown Omaha.
“You go into this tournament with high expectations, and you want to make it as far as you can,” Kalkbrenner said. “After a loss like this, the loss hurts. You wanted to go further, but you take a step back and look at the journey you’ve been able to go on with the team and people you’ve had on your team. It’s hard to do that right now, but the further we get away from this game, the more and more I’ll appreciate it because this is a very, very special group. The players, the staff, everyone involved. It’s just a special, special group to be a part of.
Even though it didn’t end the way we wanted it to, we’re going to look back on this year, team, group, and just for me personally, I’m just grateful to be a part of it.”