With two minutes to play in Sunday’s exhibition at Iowa State, Creighton’s starting backcourt of BJ Davis and Wes Enis both fouled out on back-to-back possessions. After a pair of free throws, a 19-point second lead had been cut to five. Exhibition or not, it was a precarious moment, made even tougher by the fact that they now had a freshman point guard running the show.
His performance over those two minutes was a bit of a roller coaster, but it was more good than bad, and if he ends up emerging as their PG1 this season, being thrown into the fire on Sunday might well be the launchpad.
On the next trip down the floor after Enis had fouled out, Harmon drove into the teeth of the defense, absorbed contact at the rim, made a tough layup and drew a foul.
AND ONE 💥
#GoJays https://t.co/jBjJcSwpLy
— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) October 18, 2026
After ISU scored a bucket to made it a five-point game again, Harmon once again drove into the paint — but this time when the defense collapsed on him, he tried to thread a pass into the paint to Hudson Greer. It was knocked away by the Cyclones’ Jaquan Johnson, who drove to the other end for a layup to cut the Jays’ lead to three. Right idea, missed execution. In other words, a freshman mistake.
Doin’ Work.
#Cyclones | #C5C | @jaquan1145 https://t.co/4DVOOjB5wR
— Iowa State Men’s Basketball (@CycloneMBB) October 18, 2026
Up three and now on the wrong end of a 28-12 run, coach Alan Huss said that he was more disappointed in how Iowa State came back than the fact that they did. But since it was only an exhibition game, the silver lining was that they had the opportunity to see how the team would respond.
“It was on second chances, it was on run outs because of live ball turnovers, and those were probably the two main things that we were trying to make sure we avoided coming into the game,” Huss said on his postgame radio show. “For the most part, we were able to set our defense. That piece of it was a little disappointing. But it’s always nice in these games… they don’t count. And the experience we gained from being able to play in a tight game late, be able to practice our ‘up-three’ defense late in the game in a live situation where we didn’t know exactly what was organized and coming, that was all really good for us.”
The response was encouraging.
Harmon was not only undeterred by his turnover on the previous possession, he immediately went back to work. He had the assist on a dagger of a shot by Austin Swartz, driving into the paint and kicking it out to Swartz who buried a cold-blooded jumper to push the lead back to five. Good. Then after ISU made two free throws, Harmon drew a foul — but missed two free throws. Bad.
They held on to win because the defense got a stop when they needed it. And Harmon played a key role. Very good.
Huss said that while he tends to be a ‘foul-up three’ coach, he opted not to do that in this game because they had struggled so much to get defensive rebounds off missed free throws. And with ISU’s pressure defense awaiting the inbounds pass had they made a pair of free throws, it doesn’t take much imagination to see how the game could go sideways quickly. So they defended the final possession straight up.
And the defense did an outstanding job. They forced a secondary ballhandler, Leon Bond, to bring the ball up the floor rather than their primary playmaker in the absence of Tamin Lipsey, Johnson. And as Harmon ran stride for stride with Johnson to prevent him from getting the ball back, Jasen Green stopped the dribble near the three-point line. Bond found himself with no real options. Austin Swartz and Hudson Greer blanketed shooters on the perimeter to prevent them from getting a touch. And Jackson McAndrew sealed off the baseline to prevent ISU’s big man, Taj Manning, from breaking to the rim for a potential layup to extend the game.
Even the shot Bond wound up with was defended perfectly: Green was right in front of him, straight up and down, feet on the ground, contesting the shot without any opportunity to have a foul called.
Yes, Harmon’s three missed free throws and the turnover were bad. But he also scored a bucket and drew the and-one, had an assist, drew a second foul, and he didn’t allow the mistakes to carry over to the defensive end of the floor. For the first two-minute drill of his collegiate career, you’d have to call this one a success.
“Well, I don’t know if this is the first test I’d choose for a freshman point guard, but that’s why I love playing these guys. They’re so different than what we are,” Huss said. “That’s the beautiful thing about freshmen. They don’t know that they’re supposed to be intimidated, and he wasn’t.”
Harmon credited his teammates for preparing him to face Iowa State’s pressure defense.
“Shoot, if Wes and BJ weren’t guarding me every day, I feel like it probably would have been way harder,” Harmon said. “The defense wanted me to make my own decisions to see if I could make the right ones, and with the guys I have on the court with me, I feel like it just spaces it for me. You can either see me at the basket or they’re gonna knock down a three. So I fly with their help. It’s easy.”
Creighton built that 19-point lead largely by outscoring Iowa State, as their defense didn’t do much to slow them down. They took an 11-3 lead early on with a pair of threes from Swartz getting them started. Ten of Creighton’s first 13 shots were 3s, and they made six of them; as the first half went on, they continued to score primarily from behind the arc, as 18 of their first 29 shots were threes, making 11.
Most of the defensive miscues appeared to be rotational, as opposed to guys simply getting beat, so there’s a world where the defense looks much better a month from now than it does today purely through repetition and experience. Outscoring teams until that happens might have to be the recipe to winning games.
“I think our half-court defense was OK with the exception of a stretch in the first half where we really did a poor job of executing,” Huss said. “We had about four times in a row where we got stretched out and allowed them to play into the teeth of our defense. That’s where they made their run in the first half. With the exception of that, I really liked our half court execution defensively. There’s no defense for what we did though on the other side, which was to allow run outs because of live ball turnovers. We’ve got to get sharper on that end.”
Inside the Box:
Creighton had 19 turnovers which Iowa State converted into 24 points. They gave up an offensive rebound on 43% of the Cyclones’ missed shots (16 of 37), and ISU turned those into 19 second chance points. That’s a 43-13 advantage in extra-possession points, and it’s not very often you will overcome a 30-point deficit there to win a game.
They did because they shot 48.3% from three (14-of-29) and 51.0% overall (26-of-51).
“The thing with Iowa State is, if you can beat their initial wave, you’re gonna get a good shot. But as you saw today, 19 times we couldn’t beat their initial wave, they won that war,” Huss said on the radio after the game. “For us, if we can get that number down to 11 or 12, then it doesn’t matter if we don’t make 48% (from three). We can make 35% and still win that game. So that’s the key, is not losing that initial war over and over. We’re not going to make 48% all year. We’ve got to be able to close in a different way.”
Giving up 44 points in the paint looks really bad on the surface, though it’s worth noting 18 of those 44 came in transition after turnovers.
Individually, this was the Katrelle Harmon show. He scored 16 points on 5-of-5 shooting, all in the paint. He had six assists, three turnovers, three rebounds, two steals, and two blocks in 27 minutes off the bench in his first collegiate action, and if he continues stuffing the stat sheet like that, he won’t be coming off the bench for long.
“When we recruited Katrelle last year, this is what we talked about,” Huss said. “We talked about putting the ball in his hands, and we had a massive decision to make in the transfer portal as to whether we were going to go grab another point guard or not. We bet heavily on Katrelle being ready. There’s going to be moments where he plays like he does today. There could be some moments where he struggles, but we made that bet and now we’re gonna double down on it.”
Creighton dishes it around and Katrelle Harmon goes for the slam!
#GoJays https://t.co/NUNAWMiPF4
— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) October 18, 2026
As fall practice has progressed, it’s become apparent that the offense flows better when Harmon is running the point, and that was evident on Sunday as well.
“He’s like all freshmen, he has moments where he looks unbelievable and he has moments where, you know, he looks like a freshman,” Huss said. “The key is trying to limit those moments and space them out, make it so we don’t see them every two days, we see them every ten. And once you get into games, if he’s on the floor for 35 or 40 possessions in a game, trying to be able to move on from the inevitable one, two, three bad plays and not let them turn into four, five and six.”
Harmon is also clearly loved by his teammates, as the entire squad stood behind him during a postgame interview on ESPN+. How often do you see that?
Screenshot courtesy ESPN+
Elsewhere in the backcourt, Austin Swartz started and scored 15 points, including 3-of-6 from three. He continued his clutch play from a year ago by hitting perhaps the biggest shot of the game with 38 seconds to play, pushing a three point lead to 83-78.
BJ Davis was a pest defensively, with two steals, two blocks and several deflections. He fouled out in just 23 minutes, which is not unusual for Davis; he was called for 3.9 fouls per 40 minutes a year ago at San Diego State and 4.5 per 40 minutes the year before. It’s part of the package with the aggressive way he attacks opponents, and one the Jays will have to get used to, because it’s been awhile since they had a player like Davis.
Wes Enis scored 15 points, and was 4-of-7 from three-point range, but struggled statistically in other areas. He had zero assists and six turnovers, one rebound, and fouled out in just 21 minutes of action. Unlike Davis, the fouls were a bit unusual — he averaged 2.5 fouls per 40 minutes last year for South Florida and only fouled out once. But like Davis, his biggest impact is not really found in the stat sheet, or at least not in the basic one. Their perimeter and on-ball defense were solid for the most part, and they set an aggressive tone that the rest of the team followed.
“I think both of those guys had some really strong moments,” Huss said. “I mean you saw when they were off the floor, we struggled to guard. That’s the biggest separator right now. BJ is our best perimeter defender. We need the rest of the guys to be kind of at the same level in their perimeter defense, because you notice at the end when BJ was off the floor we had a hard time keeping it in front of us at times.”
In the front court, the foot issues that caused Jackson McAndrew to miss practice time a week ago cleared up enough for him to not just play, but get the start and log 23 minutes. He scored six points on 2-of-6 from three, with two rebounds, two steals and two blocks. Isaac Traudt scored nine off the bench and was 3-of-3 from three. Historically a much better shooter at home than he is on the road, Traudt hitting multiple threes in a road game is a good early sign for his senior season.
Hudson Greer scored 11 points with six rebounds off the bench, and drew four fouls, making 5-of-6 from the line. Then there was Oswin Erhunmwunse, who scored six points with five rebounds in 21 minutes, but continued his trouble defending without fouling, as he picked up four fouls.
“I think it’s a work in progress,” Huss said. “He’s definitely becoming more disciplined. He’s staying on his feet more. I think his conditioning is really improved and I think that’s a big piece as to why he’s being more disciplined is because he’s in a little bit better shape. But he’s still gonna have his moments, and we want to keep pushing the envelope because he can get better and better.”
As for the two fifth-year transfers whose eligibility remains an ongoing concern, neither Fred King nor Brody Robinson saw the court. King is currently eligible, but because that ruling happened Friday, they weren’t ready to put him into the rotation just yet — he’s logged time exclusively with the scout team thus far.
“Fred’s done a nice job of getting his body in shape. He showed up about 30 pounds overweight, and he’s lost about half that back,” Huss said. “I think he’s worked pretty hard at it, which I’m really proud of him for that, especially given the uncertainty of what he’s been dealing with from an eligibility standpoint. The next step is getting him some reps with the first team. He’s been on the scout team, and that’s just a different feel. So it’ll be nice to kind of move him over and get him some first team reps here in the coming weeks.”
Lastly, how long will it take to get used to seeing Greg McDermott sitting in the stands, checking his phone during timeouts like all the other fans? Thankfully it won’t be long before we see him on TV again, as Voice of the Bluejays John Bishop broke the news during the radio broadcast that McDermott will do color commentary for FOX this season, primarily on Big Ten and Big XII games.
Screenshot courtesy ESPN+
Highlights:
Press Conference: