Greg McDermott foreshadowed a busy week upcoming in the player movement department not even an hour after Creighton’s 82-70 season-ending loss to No. 1 overall seed Auburn in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He was on target with his prognostication as not long after the news made the rounds that Pop Isaacs and Mason Miller were entering the transfer portal, the Jays added one through it.
Iowa sophomore center Owen Freeman announced his commitment to Creighton, in effect signing up to be the heir apparent at the five spot with Ryan Kalkbrenner’s legendary career in Omaha finally coming to a close. While Freeman has some large shoes to fill in a Bluejay uniform, his first two seasons in Iowa City indicate he is an ideal fit to occupy them in Creighton’s offensive system. Listed at 6-foot-10 and 245 pounds entering his second year of college hoops, Freeman has been one of the best offensive post players in the country through his freshman and sophomore seasons with the Hawkeyes.
He averaged 10.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, 1.2 assists, and 0.9 steals per game while shooting 62.5% inside the arc as a true freshman in 2023-24. Although his sophomore season was eventually cut short prior to the start of February due to season-ending finger surgery on his right hand, Freeman still put up 16.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, 1.3 assists, and 0.6 steals a night on 66.5% shooting from 2-point range in 19 games. As a freshman, he averaged 1.579 points per possession in transition, good for a fifth nationally ahead of a pair of All-American big men in Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson and Auburn’s Johni Broome. As a sophomore, improved that production in transition to 1.743 points per possession to rank first nationally on that play type. His astronomical 93.1% field goal percentage made him one of only two players this past season to shoot above 85.0% in transition in all of Division I hoops.
Freeman also improved his Post-Up efficiency from 0.872 to 1.165 points per possession from his freshman to sophomore season. He went from ranking 181st nationally on his post-up efficiency as freshman to 6th as a sophomore. For additional context, Kalkbrenner ranked 20th at 1.086 points per possession this past season. From 2023-24 to 2024-25, Freeman improved his shooting on post-ups from 53.8% to 62.9%. Prior to the 2024 Big Ten Tournament, Freeman was named by Big Ten Freshman of the Year by the media in Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Year by the coaches, sharing the honor with Indiana’s Mackenzie Mgbako. He was only the second Iowa player ever to win the award, and the first since Jess Settles in 1993-94. His nine Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors were the second-most in league history.
Against four common Creighton opponents in Florida A&M, Nebraska (twice), and Seton Hall over the last two years, Freeman shot 65.8% from the field while averaging 14.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, and 1.3 assists per game. Iowa went 4-0 in those games with all four wins coming by double digits.
Freeman chose the Bluejays over Auburn, Gonzaga, and Michigan.