Toby Hegner came off the bench early and drained some important shots in the early stretch and in the 2nd half against Nebraska (Spomer/WBR) CLICK TO BUY
Each of the last three years, Greg McDermott and his Creighton basketball team have been an especially hungry bunch going into their annual rivalry game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. In 2013-14, the Bluejays were coming off two losses in their last three games before jumping out to a 44-12 lead in the first half of a game they eventually won 82-67. Last year, Creighton strolled into Lincoln still licking its wounds after a 77-64 setback at Tulsa, and squared off with a Nebraska team that had most of their roster back from a team that earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament the previous season. The Bluejays trailed by as many as 10 points, but battled back to take the lead midway through the second half and secured a 65-55 win.
Fast forward one year and two days later. Creighton came into their clash with the Huskers, sporting a 5-3 overall record after two straight losses. One, that saw them blow a lead at home against Arizona State, then another where they dug themselves too deep of a hole to recover from at Loyola Chicago. But staying true to what they’ve done in each of the last two seasons, the Bluejays got back on track against Nebraska. In front of 17,766 fans at the CenturyLink Center on Wednesday night, they jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they defeated their rivals for a fifth consecutive season, 83-67.
“I’m not sure at any point during my six years — minus postseason obviously, because if you lose and you’re done — did we need a win as bad as we needed it today,” McDermott said. “We were a little fragile after what’s happened to us the last couple games, and how it’s happened. I was pleased we were able to come out with some energy to start the game.”
Creighton won the opening tip and took a 2-0 lead on their first possession after senior center Geoff Groselle converted a running hook shot in the lane. Junior guard Isaiah Zierden added a 3-pointer and a layup on the next two possessions to make it 7-0 after the first minute and a half. Junior center Zach Hanson extended the lead to double digits with a pair of baskets down low, then Zierden stole an inbounds pass, scored, drew a foul, and converted the free throw to put the Bluejays up 18-4 with 13:44 remaining in the first half.
“We just needed to come back and find our way again,” Zierden said of what fueled the hot start. “After two losses we had to find a way to bounce back, and I think we did a pretty good job of that.”
“I wouldn’t say we were fragile, but we had urgency. We felt that need to bounce back and get a win. You can’t have a losing streak. You try to limit every one to one loss, and we happened to let it slide to two, so we had to put a stop to it tonight.”
Nebraska started to chip away at the early deficit. Junior guard Andrew White III scored five straight points as part of a 7-1 run to cut Creighton’s lead to 22-14 with 8:31 to go in the first half. However, on the next Bluejay possession, Nebraska head coach Tim Miles drew a costly technical foul. Zierden stepped to the free throw line and made 1-of-2, then sophomore forward Toby Hegner capped off the extended possession with a 3-pointer from the left wing to push the lead back up to double digits.
“I didn’t curse or anything like that. I thought there were a couple illegal screens that cost us points consecutively that weren’t called, and you just try to get your team going, too,” Miles said of what prompted the technical foul.
The Bluejays pushed the lead back up to 14 points when junior point guard Maurice Watson Jr. hit freshman guard Khyri Thomas with an alley-oop in transition to make it 32-18 with 5:42 left in the opening period. But similar to the Arizona State game, instead of increasing, or at least maintaining the lead at halftime, Creighton let it slip away. The Huskers ended the first half on a 12-4 run to pull within 36-30 at the break.
“It was a very similar feeling to Arizona State, which scared the daylights out of me,” McDermott said. “I think everybody in the locker room felt on that game we should have been up more than we were, and tonight was very similar.”
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See the photo gallery from WBR Photographer Mike Spomer of the win
Unlike in the second half against Arizona State, the Bluejays put the pedal to the floor in the second half on Wednesday night. After White III scored on the opening possession to make it 36-32, Creighton went on a 19-5 run to open the lead back up to 55-37 with 9:15 remaining in the game. The Bluejays fed big man Geoff Groselle and let him go to work against the undersized Huskers. He scored nearly half of the team’s points during the crucial stretch and ended up with 11 of his 15 points after halftime.
“We know what we had to do; move the ball, set screens, and just play Creighton basketball,” Zierden said of the team’s response to Nebraska’s run. “We hit some open shots and started getting the ball into Geoff to start the half, and he got it rolling for us.”
It wasn’t as easy for Groselle as the fifth-year center made it look. In the first half he got tangled up with Nebraska senior guard Benny Parker and rolled his ankle. Though he was obviously limited, he tried to keep it loose enough to still be able to help the team in the second half.
“I came out and started jogging in the hallway trying to get it warm,” Groselle said. “I got it warm, went back out, and tried to let it affect my game as little as possible. I was really struggling at some points to move, to jump, it was definitely hard to get up and block shots and get rebounds, but I was able to push through it.”
Nebraska never recovered from Creighton’s counter punch to start the second half. The closest the Huskers got was within 14 points with after White — who finished with a game-high 28 and 10 rebounds — buried one of his three 3-pointers on the evening to make it cut it to 59-45 with 7:30 remaining.
“I just thought that Creighton made those runs at the beginning of the first half and the beginning of the second half — an 18-4 and a 16-5 run — that were just critical,” Miles said. “We weren’t up to it right away, and then when we warmed to the fight, we got it within six, we scored on the first possession of the second half, and then they go on another run.”
“They got us a little bit of every way. They especially hurt us inside all night, which we knew was a possibility. What was bad about getting hurt inside was we were getting angled, so we were giving up the immediate shot and we couldn’t get a double team there. We got some doubles there in the first half and were able to turn them over, but that was just a frustrating night. Those two runs really hurt us.”
Despite the Nebraska coach’s attempts to extend the game by fouling for the final two and half minutes, the Bluejays converted 13-of-19 at the charity stripe to seal the win and halt their two-game skid.
“This was definitely a very important game,” Groselle said. “Not just because we lost two, but because it’s Nebraska. It’s a huge rivalry game. We really look forward to this game every year. It’s big for the state of Nebraska, big for basketball itself. This was a big win for us.”
For the Bluejays’ senior co-captain it makes him 5-for-5 against the Huskers, a rare feat, but not one he was unaware of as the final seconds ticked away and those remaining in the crowd chanted, “C-U!”
“I was pretty ecstatic to be able to leave Creighton with five wins against Nebraska. That’s kind of what went through my head,” Groselle said. “I was very happy. It’s been a blue state for the whole five years.”
Along with Groselle, two other players finished in double figures. Isaiah Zierden led the team with 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting to go along with six rebounds, three assists, and three steals in 36 minutes, and Maurice Watson Jr. dropped in 14 points, four rebounds, and four assists.
The win gives Creighton a 6-3 record on the season with IUPUI coming to town on Saturday night. Nebraska dropped to 6-4 with the loss. They’ll return to the court on Sunday when they host Rhode Island.
Postgame press conference with Gregg McDermott, Geoffrey Groselle, and Isaiah Zierden.
Postgame press conference with Tim Miles, Shavon Shields, and Andrew White
Khyri Rises to the Occasion
Khyri Thomas was close to a triple-double on Wednesday night against Nebraska (Spomer/WBR) CLICK TO BUY
Getting his first taste of the Creighton-Nebraska rivalry, 19-year-old freshman and Omaha Benson product, Khyri Thomas didn’t shrink in front of the largest and loudest crowd he’s played in front of during his brief college career.
The 6-foot-3 guard needed only 22 minutes to score seven points, grab a team-high nine rebounds, and dish out a game-high seven assists.
“Khyri has been great for us all year,” Zierden said. “He’s been big on our team. He’s really stepped up and tonight is just another example. We know what he can do, and it’s great that he’s starting to show the fans and media obviously what he can do.”
One game removed from scoring a career-high 22 points as he tried to lead a comeback against Loyola (Chicago) on Saturday, Thomas’ nine rebounds and seven assists were both personal bests as a Bluejay. More impressive than what showed up next to his name on the stat sheet was the job he did defensively on Nebraska senior forward Shavon Shields.
Despite giving up four inches and 25 pounds to the Huskers’ second-leading scorer, Thomas helped to frustrate Shields into six-point, five-turnover performance on Wednesday night. The point total was a season-low for Shields through 10 games.
“Their best player had six points. That sums up what he did and how valuable he was,” McDermott said of his true freshman guard. “He’s sniffing a triple-double with nine rebounds, seven points, and seven assists. He’s learning to impact the game in more ways with each passing day. He was outstanding.”
On a night in which he set career-highs in two major categories and helped limit the opposition’s best player to a season-low in scoring, nothing about Thomas’ performance came as a surprise to his teammates.
“He’s very tough-minded,” junior forward Cole Huff said. “Like I always say he plays well beyond his years. He’s a freshman, but you wouldn’t know that if they didn’t announce that before the game in the starting lineup. He’s extremely confident and he buys into what the team needs him to do. He’s fearless. That’s what we love about him, and I know he’s going to keep it up.”
Cole Huff Interview
Listen to the bonus postgame interview with Cole Huff
