Halfway into the first half of Thursday’s quarterfinal of the College Basketball Crown, the potential final game of Greg McDermott’s coaching career was shaping up to be a forgettable one. The Jays trailed 22-12, were shooting less than 25% from the field, and had no answers defensively. A normally-poor shooting Rutgers team had made 9-of-14 to start the game, and the result was an early double-digit deficit.
During a timeout, McDermott changed up their ball screen coverage, backing off a bit from the more-aggressive style they tried to employ early.
“Their guards are really tough, really quick and we had to adjust after seeing them in person,” McDermott said on his postgame radio show. “After the first 10 or 12 minutes, we were really good defensively. It allowed us to get out and dictate the tempo and pace of the game.”
After the switch, Creighton held Rutgers to 7-of-39 shooting over the next 23 minutes, spanning the rest of the first half and the first 12:15 of the second. And then their two seniors took over.
Josh Dix hit three 3-pointers in the first half, including one in a 12-2 run that tied the game at 24. He ignited the burst at the end of the half that gave them the lead, first by stealing the ball with 1:17 left and starting a fastbreak that led to an alley-oop for Hudson Greer and a 28-26 lead. And after Rutgers tied it on a pair of free throws, he buried a three to put them back ahead 31-28.
Rutgers briefly took the lead 32-31 early in the second half, during an ugly four-minute stretch that saw as many fouls (10) as shot attempts (10). Two of those were called on Dix, and with three for the game he had to sit out for a bit.
And that’s when Nik Graves put the team on his back. He scored 25 points after halftime, with 20 of them coming during a decisive run that saw Creighton turn a 35-34 edge into a 67-50 cushion. He drew seven fouls in the second half alone, making 11-of-12 from the line.
“He was special, he didn’t wanna lose this game. I could tell,” Dix said of his teammate. “This could have been our last college game possibly, and I mean, he played like it. He played incredible, especially in the second half. He kinda just took over.”
Graves said they talked at halftime about pushing tempo and doing a better job of moving the ball around in the halfcourt. “There was definitely a little bit of rust at the the beginning first half,” Graves added, “but coming into that second half, I think we got going.”
Graves is the perfect player for a game officiated the way this one was, as he repeatedly drove into contact, absorbed it, and turned it into points in the paint or at the line — and sometimes both. And it gave CU fans a brief glimpse of the type of player he might have been for the Jays in an era where freedom of movement for offensive players was more of an emphasis.
“We wanted him to get a piece of the paint every time, and I thought he did a good job of that,” McDermott said. “He used his shot fakes and his head fakes in the paint, which he’s really good at, and on top of the 28 points, he gets eight assists as well. So he’s still distributing, creating opportunities for his teammates.”
From there, Dix carried them across the finish line. He hit a three when Rutgers had pulled to within single digits to push the lead back to 12, and in the final minute, he put an exclamation point on the win with a breakaway dunk off an inbounds pass.
With the win, Dix and Graves extended their collegiate careers to at least one more game, and held off McDermott’s retirement for another day.
“We want to send Mac out the right way,” Dix said. “We kind of had a talk about it as a team. It’s important to us to do that.”
Among the people in attendance to honor McDermott were former athletic director Bruce Rasmussen, new Utah State coach (and longtime Northern Iowa coach) Ben Jacobson, Drake coach Eric Henderson, Big East commissioner Val Ackerman, and Big East associate commissioner Mike Coyne. Doug McDermott surprised him by flying in for the game, as he told FS1 during an in-game interview.
“Really special for our family.”
Doug surprised @cucoachmac before tonight’s matchup at @CBBCrown 💙#GoJays // 📺 @CBBonFOXpic.twitter.com/yUld6GJblO
— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) April 3, 2026
“Doug really surprised me — he was in Toronto last night.” @BluejayMBB HC Greg McDermott shares what the moment meant with @AllisonW_Sports. pic.twitter.com/dT5JS74wP6
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) April 3, 2026
The win also gives the team a couple more days together after a season that became kind of a slog.
“Like I told the guys when we decided to do this, we’re going to have some fun with this,” McDermott said. “We did a lot of workouts. We had a few practices, but we wanted them to enjoy this experience. We’re going to be around for the weekend now, at least for a couple more days, so we’re going to have fun together. This has been a very enjoyable group to coach and be around, and I think they really enjoy each other’s company. Sometimes in a tournament like this, who really wants to play? I think our guys showed that they wanted to play, they wanted to continue the season.”
Inside the Box:
Any analysis has to start with Graves, who had the best game of his lone season at Creighton in this one. In the first half, he had six assists and either scored or created 17 points. In the second, he scored 25 and created four more with assists, giving him a hand in 46 of their 82 points.
“We coming for the cheese.” 🧀@AllisonW_Sports and @BluejayMBB guard Nik Graves talk about how Creighton was able to move ahead to come out victorious. @CBBCrown pic.twitter.com/93OAg4ik2H
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) April 3, 2026
Josh Dix had 14 points and six rebounds, making 4-of-8 from three point range to become the fourth Bluejay during the McDermott era to make four or more 3-pointers in four straight games. Of the other three to do it, two were in attendance (Doug McDermott and Mitch Ballock), while the third was almost assuredly watching from home (Ethan Wragge).
He was the primary defender on Rutgers’ leading scorer Tariq Francis, who scored 19 points but did almost all of his damage at the free throw line. Francis made just 3-of-15 from the field, including 1-of-5 from three. He drew seven fouls and was a perfect 12-of-12 at the line.
“I thought Josh really made him work for it,” McDermott said. “I thought he got bailed out on a couple shots, but Nik probably got bailed out on a few too. And then [Lino] Mark, he had 14 points but needed 14 shots to get it. We knew those guys were the high-volume guys, and we wanted them to take the shots we wanted them to take, rather the shots that they wanted.”
And Jasen Green added 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field with nine rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal. Three weeks off was clearly beneficial to Green, as he played without the huge shoulder brace that limited his mobility the last two months of the season.
Most importantly, the McDermott Era will continue for at least a couple more days.
“We didn’t have as good of a season as we wanted to have and we dealt with a lot of adversity, but that doesn’t taint how I feel about my career and all the great things that have transpired,” McDermott said. “There’s a lot of great memories that I’ll take from this year’s team even though we didn’t win quite as much. Tonight being one of them. I’m just glad I get to coach (Nik) another couple days, for sure.”
More time on the sideline for Creighton HC Greg McDermott 👑 @BluejayMBB pic.twitter.com/M86VntA0Dg
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) April 3, 2026