It appears the Creighton men’s basketball team will participate once again in the Gavitt Games for the 2017-18 season. The Bluejays will travel to the Chicago metro to take on Northwestern on November 14th, according to a report by Jon Rothstein on Saturday afternoon.
The Wildcats made the NCAA Tournament last season for the first time and also notched their first NCAA Tournament win in a first round game against Vanderbilt before falling to eventual National finalist Gonzaga in the round of 32. Northwestern should be strong again in 2017-18 with only two senior role players coming off a team led by head coach Chris Collins, who has revitalized the program with a school record 24 wins last season.
Creighton and Northwestern last played each other in a home-and-home series during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons with each team taking a victory at home during head coach Greg McDermott’s first two season on the Hilltop.
The Bluejays are coming off of a 25-10 season with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament themselves last season, falling to Rhode Island in the opening round 84-72, after starting the season 18-1. Creighton should be in the top of the Big East next season with the return of Big East Defensive Player of the year Khyri Thomas, and All Big East First teamer, Marcus Foster to lead the way in 2017-18.
With Northwestern having the Welsh-Ryan Arena undergoing renovations during the 2017-18 season, the game will be played at the Wildcats temporary home, Allstate Arena. The Bluejays were looking to not play in the previous home of DePaul, who is moving into Wintrust Arena this winter, anymore as it has cause some of the more freakish season ending injuries that derailed promising seasons for Creighton.
Creighton has played in all three seasons of the Gavitt Games so far, while this is Northwestern’s second appearance in the Big East vs. Big 10 series that goes through 2022. In other matchups announced in the report:
- Nov. 13th: Minnesota at Providence
- Nov. 14th: Purdue at Marquette
- Nov. 15th: Butler at Maryland,
- Nov. 15th: Indiana at Seton Hall
- Nov. 16th: Xavier at Wisconsin
- Nov. 16th: Nebraska at St. John’s
- Nov. 17th: DePaul at Illinois
Villanova and Georgetown will not be participating from the Big East this season. Notable on the Big 10 side is the absence of Michigan St. once again. The Spartans have yet to play in the Gavitt Games and many were projecting that this was the year that Villanova would play them in the series with Michigan St. working around the Champions Classic.
St. John’s, DePaul, and Providence are the other teams that have participated in all three seasons. On the Big 10 side, Maryland has participated in all three seasons while Penn St., Michigan, and Ohio St. have been in it once. The rest of the Big 10 has played in two of the three years of the series.
In addition to the Gavitt Games, Creighton has a few other known games on their schedule. They will be in Kansas City before Thanksgiving to play two of Wisconsin, UCLA, or Baylor in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic. They will also play their annual matchup with Nebraska and additional home contests against Yale (part of the CBE Classic) and UT-Arlington. The full schedule will likely be announced in the fall.
For more information on Creighton’s schedule for 2017-18 as well as the rest of the Big East, keep track of things on our Non-Conference Schedule page.
