Ever since losing their electric veteran combo guard Pop Isaacs to a season-ending hip injury in early December, Creighton has put a lot of responsibilities on the shoulders of fifth-year seniors Ryan Kalkbrenner and Steven Ashworth. Much to their credit, that dynamic duo haven risen to the occasion time and time again even under the weight of that pressure. They did so again on Tuesday night, but it was actually the key performances from several of their teammates that helped the Bluejays rebound from Saturday’s blowout loss at Xavier to beat Seton Hall, 79-61, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Kalkbrenner and Ashworth combined for 31 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists in the win, but it was Jasen Green and Jackson McAndrew who took the lid off the basket in the first half by knocking down five 3-pointers between them. It was backup center Fredrick King with timely buckets off the bench and a huge block at the rim in the first half. It was Fedor Zugic coming through with six points after missing the Xavier game with an illness. It was senior wing Jamiya Neal taking only one shot in 38 minutes, but still managing to produce four points, five rebounds, six assists, and two steals while also limiting Seton Hall’s best player Isaiah Coleman to 11 points on 4-of-16 shooting while Neal was in the game chasing him around.
“Defensively, we were connected from the start,” Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said. “We were willing to live with a few shots by a few of their guys, but we wanted to try to take Coleman out of it, and I thought it was the best defensive game Jamiya Neal has played in a Creighton uniform. He was incredible. He was beating him to spots the entire game and without having a field goal, he had his fingerprints all over the ball movement on the offensive end and taking care of the basketball. [I’m] really proud of him and proud of the guys.
“We stepped up and made some shots Jackson knocked some down, and then Fred comes off the bench and gives us some important minutes so we could rest [Kalkbrenner]. You never know when you go on a long road trip like this — especially when you lose the first one — how your team is going to react. But obviously they were very together these last couple days when we stayed in Cincinnati and worked out, and then they really took the game plan and put it into action on the floor.”
The first five minutes of the game were a bit mucky. All Creighton could muster offensively were a pair of finishes inside by Kalkbrenner, while Seton Hall only managed to chuck in an ugly 3-pointer by sophomore guard Garwey Dual and a pair of free throws by Coleman to give the Pirates a 5-4 lead with 15:03 left in the first half.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, came threes by Green and McAndrew and a dunk by King to spurn an 8-2 run and the Bluejays never looked back. At the under-12 media timeout, Creighton led 12-9. From that point on they averaged 1.44 points per possession the rest of the first half to take a 35-22 lead with them into the locker room.
Fredrick King with the flush! 😤@BluejayMBB pic.twitter.com/MXxSWHXNgR
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) March 5, 2025
King met him at the rim 🚫😮💨@BluejayMBB pic.twitter.com/Lg16fjSftK
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) March 5, 2025
With the fuse being lit by their supporting cast in the first half, Ashworth and Kalkbrenner made sure Seton Hall couldn’t stamp it out once the two squads took the court for the final 20 minutes. Creighton’s two veteran leaders combined to score 15 of the team’s 18 points to start the half. In the process, they turned the 13-point halftime lead into a 53-32 advantage with 10:30 to go.
The Jays committed 10 of their 15 turnovers in the second half and gave up eight offensive rebounds that led to 13 second-chance points for Seton Hall over the final 20 minutes, but they shot a blistering 82.4% as a team on the other end of the floor to counteract the slippage in those areas and mostly play keep-away the rest of the game to cruise to an 18-point win.
The victory moves their overall record at 21-9 on the season and 14-5 in Big East play with one regular season game remaining.
Ashworth finished with 11 points, five rebounds, eight assists, and just two turnovers after dealing with Seton Hall’s intense, relentless pressure for 35 minutes. Kalkbrenner ended his evening with 20 points, nine rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and a steal as he continues to be a top contender for both the Big East Player of the Year and Big East Defensive Player of the Year awards in his final season of college hoops.
Most days, those performances are good enough to tell the story of a Creighton win. Tuesday night wasn’t most nights.
In just eight total minutes off the bench, third-year backup center Fredrick King produced 12 points, one rebound, and one blocked shot. He was 4-for-5 from the field and even sank all four of the free throw attempts as well. His performance during his first stint off the bench coincided with Creighton finding its rhythm against the scrappy, always-in-your-face Pirates.
We 👀 you, Fred!
Creighton 57, Seton Hall 36
📺 @FS1#GoJays pic.twitter.com/eiojsHuBr8
— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) March 5, 2025
“I liked what he was doing on both ends of the floor,” McDermott said. “He was really sealing the rim really well, and defensively he made a couple good plays and a couple good reads with his hands being very active. He earned the right to be there.
“The reality of it is, Fred would play a lot of minutes on a lot of teams across the country. He just happens to be backing up one of the best centers in the country. He’s played an unbelievable role for us. A very difficult role, to be honest, but he does it with a smile on his face. Good things happen to good people, and Fred had that one coming.”
Since going 4-for-7 from 3-point range in a win at Butler, freshman forward Jackson McAndrew was shooting just 28.1% from beyond the arc over his subsequent 13 games entering Tuesday night’s matchup with the Pirates. In 27 minutes of action, he snapped out of that slump in a major way, finishing with a career-high 17 points to go along with six rebounds and an assist, a steal, and a block. He also tied his career-high with five makes on eight attempts from long distance.
The Jackson 5 (three pointers)
Jackson McAndrew ties his career high with 5 threes tonight vs. Seton Hall 🔥
Creighton 71, Seton Hall 50
📺 @FS1#GoJays x @JacksonMcAndrew pic.twitter.com/kjPxbEZXUa
— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) March 5, 2025
It wasn’t just a slump-busting game for the freshman sharpshooter, but the entire team as well. Over the previous eight games, Creighton was shooting 28.6% from three as a team and had only shot above 35% in one of those games. Against Seton Hall, the Jays finished 11-of-21 from downtown. It’s only the third time this season that they’ve finished with double-digit makes as a team while also eclipsing the 50.0% mark.
“We know we’re all great shooters,” McAndrew said. “We know we have all put in the work. We are all in the gym after practice, before practice, getting extra shots up. We’re not worried about bad shooting nights or anything like that, because we know it’ll all fix itself and the nights like this will happen.”
The head ball coach expressed similar feelings about his team breaking through their recent perimeter shooting woes.
“Obviously we’ve been working at it,” McDermott said. “Basketball is a weird game. It’s hard to explain why you shoot 40% one game and 20% the next. If you take the right shots, you hope in the end that it’s going to pay off. We had some guys step up and really shoot the basketball tonight, which opens up everything inside for our offense.”
Up next for Creighton is a rematch with a Butler team that they beat 80-76 at Hinkle Fieldhouse back on January 11 to kick off a 9-game winning streak. It’ll be the final home game in the careers of Ryan Kalkbrenner, Steven Ashworth, Jamiya Neal, and Sami Osmani, who will all be honored on the court after the game. It also may have Big East Tournament seeding ramifications. The Jays can lock up the No. 2 seed in New York City with a win over the Bulldogs, and with that comes a better chance at wearing white jerseys in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“I think Butler’s played much better since the first time we played them,” McDermott said. “Obviously, offensively, they have a ton of weapons and are very difficult to guard in that regard. It’s a bittersweet day on Saturday with Steven, Sami, Jamiya, and Kalk all playing in their last home game. I know our students are on spring break. I hope a few of them hang around and watch the game Saturday afternoon before they take off. We need that place rocking, and we need to show the appreciation for these seniors and what they’ve done for this program.”
Highlights:
Interviews:
“This has been an awesome group to coach.”
Coach McDermott talks after the win.#GoJays x @cucoachmac pic.twitter.com/wzQxZGScOu
— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) March 5, 2025