At the 18:47 mark of the second half, Creighton trailed 46-40 after a pair of free throws from Blake Harper. 12 minutes and 18 seconds later, they’d scored only eight more points — while giving up 34 to Gonzaga. With 6:29 to go, that 46-40 deficit had ballooned to 80-48.
The problems were too numerous to count.
“The second half was just a total meltdown,” Greg McDermott said on his postgame radio show. “Our decisions with the basketball. Our fight to get open in the right spot so we could run some offense with some flow. Our offense with all these new guys seems a little clunky at times, and we’ve got to try to fix that. Our mistakes on offense fueled their transition game and got the crowd into the game, and then it was lights out.”
On offense, they had stagnant possessions where the ball stuck instead of moving, and they settled for tough shots which were often altered by Gonzaga’s length. The Bulldogs were also able to push CU three or four steps further from the basket than they’re accustomed to, which threw the timing off for a group of inexperienced players who haven’t yet mastered McDermott’s complex offense.
The Jays made just 2-of-15 shots to begin the half and 1-of-8 from three while getting to the line just twice. A scoring drought of 5:33 coincided with Gonzaga scoring 19 unanswered points.
On defense, repeated assignment breakdowns led to easy buckets, and a lack of communication in calling out screens played a big part in Gonzaga outscoring the Jays 28-8 in the paint after halftime. More frustratingly, when they did defend well enough to force a miss, too often they gave up an offensive rebound that led to second-chance points. Of Gonzaga’s 15 missed shots in the second half, they grabbed an offensive rebound on five of them, scoring eight points.
And then there was their ball security. Eight turnovers in the first 12 minutes of the second half, and 12 total after halftime, led to 18 points off turnovers in the second half alone.
It was a complete system failure. And when that happens for as long as it did against a team as good as Gonzaga, you get what we had Tuesday night: a 30-point (well, 27, but you get the point) blowout.
“Frankly, we weren’t good enough,” a clearly frustrated McDermott added. “I knew this game was going to expose some things and it certainly did. We’ve got a lot to work on, but it’s one game, and we’re not going to overreact to it. But as I told the team, there’s some mistakes that are happening on the floor that are also happening in practice, and they’re happening too often. We have to start to grow in some areas where we’re not correcting the same mistakes day after day after day. Our guys have got to take some ownership of that, and as a coaching staff we’ve got to do a better job of getting that point across.”
It felt like a team comprised mostly of players without experience at this level of college basketball, mostly from programs that did not win many games, not understanding how hard they would need to play to win in an environment like this against an opponent like this. Five of the 11 players who saw double-digit minutes were at another school a year ago, and a sixth was playing overseas. All five of their transfer portal additions played on teams who missed the postseason a year ago; Iowa at 17-16 was the only one with a winning record.
The Jays had more than enough talent to compete — and did for for the first 20 minutes — but when Gonzaga hit them with an early haymaker in the second half there wasn’t anyone with veteran experience to draw on and steady the ship. And as McDermott has mentioned for most of the fall, the returning players are lead-by-example types, not vocal leaders.
“I’ve got to find out who’s going to hook it up every single day, and I’ve got to kind of roll with those guys when we figure that out,” McDermott said, perhaps alluding to a shortening of the rotation. “Because it’s been different guys at different times and guys have certainly shown signs of what they’re capable of. But unfortunately, it’s been two steps forward and one step back. We’ve got to reach a point where we’re moving forward as a group. I think — at least I hope — this game will open their eyes. You know, we played well against good Iowa State team. We played well against a good Colorado State team. But sometimes, coaches preach things that we see on film and that we see in practice but as players, until you get your teeth kicked in, you don’t take them to heart. I’m hopeful that we’ll take it to heart now.”
The second half was so horrid, so demoralizing, that it’s easy to forget that if not for a three-point heater by Graham Ike, they would likely have been ahead at halftime. He made his first three 3-pointers, all in the first three minutes, something that was almost certainly not on their scouting report — Ike had never made three in a single game, and had only made two in a game four times in 116 career games.
Creighton repeatedly had answers for every Gonzaga punch. Down 6-2 early, Jackson McAndrew buried a three-pointer.
Quick release 😮💨. Jackson buries his first three of the night! #GoJays pic.twitter.com/DjjSV45JnX
— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) November 12, 2025
A few minutes later, down 15-11 Josh Dix used a jab-step to free up space for a jumper.
Dix jabs and knocks down the J. #GoJays pic.twitter.com/BzsgGT0jhB
— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) November 12, 2025
And after a second three from McAndrew tied the game at 17, Jasen Green followed it with a three of his own to give them the lead.
Jasen gets in on the action from deep and the Jays have their first lead!#GoJays pic.twitter.com/4WUrirPeuU
— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) November 12, 2025
Gonzaga pulled back ahead 25-21, and then Harper answered with a banked-in three.
The bank is open late tonight. #GoJays pic.twitter.com/lLzyl2pddG
— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) November 12, 2025
And when Gonzaga again tried to pull away, taking a 39-33, Nik Graves put the ball on the deck and drove to the rim, where he scored on a contested layup.
Nik splits the defense and gets to the cup. #GoJays pic.twitter.com/dcPIcbaDPB
— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) November 12, 2025
But instead of building on that momentum in the second half and perhaps pulling off a win, they squandered it. The question is, which team is closer to their actual level — the one that was tough and physical enough to hang in on the road against a top-10 team, with the ability to repeatedly hit tough shots both from the perimeter and by driving to the rim? Or the one that got pushed around, intimidated, and showed both carelessness with the ball and a lack of situational awareness?
I’d lean toward the team in the first half being the answer to that question, but if it takes them until January to get there consistently, their potential postseason resume will have likely taken a big hit in the meantime.
Recognizing where they went wrong is the first step to fixing it, and Blake Harper says the players do — and is supremely confident they’ll get there.
“Our attention to detail and our execution were the biggest difference. Our ball security wasn’t the best in the second half either,” Blake Harper said. “But we trust the coaches and the coaches trust us to get that right. We’ll fix up the loose ends.”
“A lot of these guys haven’t been in an environment like this. We’ve got to keep growing and working and see what happens,” McDermott added. “We’ve got a couple of home games coming up before we head to Vegas, and we need to get better on the practice floor. Then that needs to show itself on the game floor, because we’re going to play teams very similar to the Zags when we go to Vegas.”
Inside the Box:
Trailing 44-38 at the break, Ike’s three 3’s were the difference. CU had a handful of defensive lapses and a couple of instances where Gonzaga was tougher to the ball, but there wasn’t much to be upset with. Six turnovers led to a 9-5 edge in points off turnovers for Gonzaga, but that’s a manageable amount. Gonzaga had a 20-12 advantage on points in the paint, but Creighton offset it by making nine more free throws than the Zags. The Jays gave up just six offensive rebounds on the Zags’ 18 missed shots, and they led to only one second-chance point.
All of those numbers flipped wildly in the second half.
The 9-5 edge in points off turnovers became 18-0 in the second half. The 20-12 edge on points in the paint became a 28-8 washout. And CU’s advantage at the line mostly went away, too, as they made just four more free throws than the Zags. Combined with allowing Gonzaga to make 16-of-25 inside the arc, and you end up with a six-point halftime deficit turning into a 27-point loss.
Blake Harper scored 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting with three rebounds and an assist, and got to the line by drawing three fouls. He senses the leadership vacuum on this roster, and put it on himself afterward to try and grow into that role.
“I feel like I just really need to focus on becoming a leader on this team, and kind of leading the guys,” Harper said. “I feel like we’re out there with a deer-in-the-headlights look, and even if I am new, I need to take the reins of the horse and help us figure it all out.”
Blake Harper gets the Jays started! #GoJays pic.twitter.com/5DsVCyB61j
— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) November 12, 2025
Nik Graves also had 12, but needed 13 shots to get there and was 0-of-6 from three-point range. Like Harper, he was able to dribble penetrate and draw fouls (four of them), which is a skillset Creighton didn’t have much of a year ago and may need to lean into on nights where their shots aren’t falling.
Inside, Owen Freeman played just 15 minutes and took only two shots, making one. McDermott has stressed how far Freeman is from full strength after his knee injury, and while in the opener against South Dakota he showed signs of the offensive player he is, this game showed how hampered he still is, especially on the defensive end against a mobile big man.
Creighton’s inability to get him the ball is the more concerning outcome from this game. Of their 49 shot attempts, 25 were threes. Of the 24 two-point shots they took, just eight of them came inside the restricted area. Neither of those were from Freeman.