In October when FOX picked Saturday’s Creighton/Kansas State game to anchor their first non-football Saturday, it looked a lot better on paper. The Jays were ranked 23rd in the preseason Top 25, and K-State was receiving enough votes to be 31st if the poll went that deep. It’s still a really intriguing matchup, though not in the way everyone figured it would be — Creighton is 5-4 and Kansas State is 6-4, with both teams taking care of business against the lower-tier opponents on their schedules and (mostly) losing to the rest.
The Jays are coming off of a humbling 71-50 loss at Nebraska on Sunday, and the wreckage of that defeat has their season at an early crossroads. It’s not the loss itself — it’s the fact that the problems that led to it are the same problems that have plagued them from the first day of practice.
“I’ve got to hold some guys to higher standards on a few things, and at the end of the day that’s on me. Your team ends up being a reflection of what you allow,” Greg McDermott said pointedly in his press conference after that game. “There’s been some slippage and an inability to take things from the practice floor to the game floor that we have to get fixed. I think we have some guys that are getting better and those guys that are getting better are going to play a little bit more.”
His frustration was palpable as he noted that at this point of the season, it’s too late to still be trying to bring out communication and effort from his team. Saying that they need “guys that wanna fight every single day,” you got the sense that he was contemplating shaking up the rotation — not out of desperation, but to make a point by rewarding the players who are upholding the standards he’s set for Creighton basketball, and taking playing time away from the ones who aren’t. It’s a tricky line to straddle, because while he’s alluded to his concerns in general terms, he’s been reluctant to criticize players by name or make it obvious who he’s referring to by making dramatic lineup changes.
But with 1/3 of the season in the books and Big East play starting this week, the time for experimentation is over even if the answers aren’t satisfactory. McDermott alluded to that after beating Nicholls last week, saying “I’ve got to find the six or seven guys that are going to commit to defense on a daily basis. Because that’s the only way we’re going to beat the teams from here on out.” That sounds an awful lot like a shortening of the rotation, and rolling with the guys who will execute the game plan and give maximum effort, even if they’re not the players you’d expect.
Meanwhile, K-State is coming off a 108-49 demolition of Mississippi Valley State where they led by as many as 61 points. The Delta Devils are dead last in KenPom’s rankings at #365, making them the ideal opponent to “get right” against, and the Wildcats took maximum advantage of that. They had lost four straight after a 5-0 start to KenPom #27 Nebraska (86-85) on a neutral floor, #21 Indiana (86-69) in Bloomington, and at home against #116 Bowling Green (82-66) and #57 Seton Hall (78-67).
Their only true road game was the loss at Indiana, a game where a slow start buried them as they trailed by double-digits by the halfway mark of the first half.
“We didn’t necessarily respond well to the start of the game,” head coach Jerome Tang said this week. “Whether it was the crowd, whether it was the travel, whatever it was, we didn’t handle the whole trip the way it needed to be handled, so I’d expect us to be more businesslike, way more focused and way more ready for the environment that we’re going to see (at Creighton).”
The Wildcats are led by the nation’s leading scorer, PJ Haggerty, who comes in averaging 24.0 points per game, a full point more than the next closest player (Duke’s Cameron Boozer). Playing for his fourth school in as many years, Haggerty averaged 21.7 points per game for Memphis a year ago. He’s the only Division I player to average at least 21 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game in each of the last two seasons — and the first since Ja Morant in 2018-19.
Haggerty can single-handedly take over a game and is a constant threat to create his own shot. He also invites contact and draws a ton of fouls — 7.0 fouls per 40 minutes, which is an absurd number — and as a result, he made 461 free throws on 583 attempts in the past two seasons, averaging nearly seven makes (6.9) on nearly nine attempts (8.8). He’s already attempted 81 free throws this year. To put that in context, Creighton has attempted 144 as a team — and Creighton’s opponents have combined to attempt 121. Haggerty has taken 81 by himself.
With that said, his high usage means his efficiency is vital. He’s taken 31.5% of Kansas State’s shots when he’s been on the floor, and attempted an average of 16.3 shots per game. When opponents have effectively doubled or limited his driving lanes, forcing him into contested jump shots, K-State’s offense often stalls.
Besides Haggerty, their top scorers are David Castillo, Nate Johnson, and Abdi Bashir Jr., who are all averaging double-digit points per game.
Johnson was the MAC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year at Akron a year ago, becoming the first player to win both since Ball State’s Bonzi Wells in 1998. A versatile, high-motor player who contributes on both ends, the 6’3” Johnson averages 12.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game and has scored in double figures in seven of their 10 games. He very nearly had a triple-double in the season opener, scoring 22 points with nine rebounds and nine assists in the win over UNC Greensboro. He’s made 19-of-44 (43.2%) from three-point range so far this year.
Creighton’s seen Johnson before, as he scored six points with two rebounds and two assists in Akron’s 77-60 loss to the Jays in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. That was a very different version than the one they’ll see on Saturday.
6’7” Abdi Bashir, Jr. averages 12.3 points per game and is shooting 35-of-76 (46.1%) from three-point range so far this year. Born in Minnesota and raised in Omaha to Somali parents, his mother was a refugee who escaped the turmoil in Somalia. Bashir played for Bryan High School and began his collegiate career at Monmouth. Last year, he led the CAA in scoring at 20.1 points per game, led the nation in three-point makes per game (3.85) and was second nationally in three-pointers made (127).
6’1” David Castillo’s role has grown in his second year at KSU. He made 17 threes all of last season, and has 23 already this year (in just 55 attempts, making him a 41.8% shooter from deep). Johnson, Bashir and Castillo give them three players shooting 40% or better from three to surround Haggerty with — and with them spacing the floor, the attention defenses have to pay to them on the perimeter opens driving lanes for Haggerty. And the Wildcats rank 12th nationally in three-point shooting (40.2% as a team). There’s really not anyone you can cheat off of defensively, making them a difficult guard for most teams.
How in the world is this team 6-4?
The shooting has been inconsistent, to put it mildly; in the loss to Seton Hall they were 6-of-30 from three-point range and 15-of-35 (!!) from the free throw line. That’s not a typo. They missed 20 free throws! In the loss to Bowling Green earlier that week, they were 6-of-23 from three and 12-of-22 from the line. In a one-point win over Tulsa, they were 5-of-24 from three but 19-of-21 on free throws.
Meanwhile in their 86-85 loss to Nebraska, they were 12-of-35 from three (better, but still not great) and 19-of-22 at the line. In their loss at Indiana, they were 8-of-20 from three and 13-of-15 at the line. You get the idea — they can be lethal from both places, but are just as often ice cold.
They’ve also struggled inside. 6’9” Khamari McGriff averages 10.1 points and 4.2 rebounds, but has only played around 20 minutes per game so far this year due to frequent foul trouble (averaging 6.5 fouls per 40 minutes). And there really isn’t much behind him; 6’9” Elias Rapieque is in his first year of college hoops after playing in his native Germany, and 7’2” Dorin Buca has struggled adjusting to college hoops, too, after playing in his native Italy.
The point totals in their games are deceiving — KSU averages 86.7 points per game and allows 77.2 points — because they play faster than almost any other team in D1. Their adjusted tempo is 73.4, 13th fastest in the country, and their average offensive possession lasts just 14.8 seconds, 16th fastest.
Given that, it’s imperative that Creighton keep their live-ball turnovers in check to limit Kansas State’s opportunities to run in transition.
Tip: 2:00pm
Venue: CHI Health Center Omaha
TV: FOX
Announcers: Brandon Gaudin and Donny Marshall
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In Kansas State’s win over MVSU, they shot 57.6% (38-of-66) from the field, the Wildcats made 63.3% (19-of-30) of their 2-point field goals, including a 34-10 edge in the paint, while collecting the third-most 3-point field goals (19) in school history on 52.8% shooting. They also outscored the Delta Devils in points off turnovers (17-4), second-chance points (17-7) and fast-break points (27-11).
The 19 made 3-pointers are only surpassed by the school-record 23 against Fresno State in 1994 and the 21 vs. UAPB in 2024. Six different players had at least one 3-pointers, including 5 each from juniors P.J. Haggerty and Abdi Bashir Jr. and sophomore David Castillo.
Haggerty had 31 points and a career-tying 10 rebounds vs. Tulsa (11/17/25) to become the first Wildcat since Michael Beasley in 2008 to post a rare 30-point, 10-rebound double-double. He scored 27 of his 31 points in the second half, which are the fifth-most in any half.
Creighton doesn’t lose many games by 20 or more points, as it did on Sunday at Nebraska in its last game. Since Jan. 1, 2002, Creighton has answered with a victory in its next game 23 of the last 25 times it has happened, including 12 double-digit victories.
Creighton still has not had a player produce a 20-point game this season, its longest drought to start a season since it didn’t happen in the first 12 games in 2003-04 — the year after Kyle Korver and that stellar senior class departed. Since Greg McDermott’s 2010 arrival, Creighton has had at least one player score 20 points or more in 57.5 percent (304) of its 529 games.
Austin Swartz had a big week. One game after a DNP-CD against Oregon to close out the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas, Swartz scored 11 points last Tuesday in 13 minutes vs. Nicholls, eclipsing his point total (8) in his first eight games of the season combined. Then he scored a career-high 16 points while also adding two steals at Nebraska. He shot 7-of-15 from the field, compared to 9-for-37 by the rest of the Jays.
Creighton and Kansas State have split 16 all-time meetings, with the home team going 11-4. Creighton is 7-3 against the Wildcats in Omaha. The teams last met in the First Round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament in Charlotte, N.C, a game won by K-State 69-59. Incredibly despite the short distance between Manhattan and Omaha, the programs have not met in the regular-season since 1987.
On December 13, 2003, Creighton played a BracketBusters return game on the road at Fresno State. Down 52-44 with five minutes to play, the Jays held the Bulldogs scoreless for over four minutes while they cut into the lead, and trailed 54-51 after two free throws by Fresno’s Mustafa Al-Sayyad. Dana Altman subbed in four guards for the final possession, and drew up a play to get Nate Funk a shot. He used a screen from Kellen Miliner to get open, took a pass from Tyler McKinney near the right corner, and drilled a 21-footer to tie the game at the buzzer.
In overtime, CU outscored the hosts 16-8 and won 70-62. “We played the overtime like I hoped we’d play the entire game,” Altman told the media after the game. “But, oh my gosh, we were a different team. Nate’s shot started a fire. After we hit that first shot in overtime, you could just see the fight and bounce our guys had. The defensive intensity picked up. We were very fortunate to win this one. Hopefully this one shows us you can never give up.”
KenPom predicts a five-point Bluejay win, and ESPN’s BPI gives Creighton 68.2% odds of victory.
It’ll be a shootout, but I think Creighton gets the win in this one.
Bluejays 85, Wildcats 80