A year ago, Nebraska stunned Creighton at home 63-53, the Huskers’ first regular season win in Omaha in 27 years. It’s a game Jays fans would rather forget. Bluejay players do not feel the same way.
“I’m very, very, very excited for Sunday,” Trey Alexander said after Thursday’s win in Stillwater. “I can’t wait. I’ve been itching for this one. Everybody in the locker room that was here last year knows what it feels like to lose that game, especially at our at our place, so we’re looking to go in to their place and, you know, get a little revenge.”
Steven Ashworth played in several in-state rivalry games against Utah and BYU while he was at Utah State, and is looking forward to this one.
“I’ll be honest, for the listeners at home I’m getting chills right now just thinking about it,” he said on the postgame radio show Thursday night. “Being able to go down there and get our sea of blue on…I can’t wait to see all the all the Bluejays down there in Lincoln. I love the rivalries of college basketball. That’s what it’s all about. And playing meaningful games early in the year? You can’t ask for much more. It’s a big game anytime you play somebody in-state, so it’s gonna be a lot of fun.”
Nebraska brings a perfect 7-0 record into the game, their best mark after seven contests since 1992-93. But they’ve done it against one of the worst schedules in Division 1 — their non-conference schedule to date ranks 351st out of 362 teams according to KenPom. Five of their seven wins are classified as Q4 by the NCAA NET rankings; their best win is a 89-79 Q3 win over Duquesne. Their lone power-conference win is a 84-63 Q3 win over Oregon State on a neutral floor. In other words: it’s too early to know how much of their improvement is actual improvement, and how much is a product of beating up on low-majors at home.
We’ll have a much better sense of where they’re at over the next two weeks; after playing Creighton, they go on the road to Minnesota (#119 in KenPom), host Michigan State (#18) and go to Kansas State (#44).
“This is Coach Hoiberg’s best team, in my estimation, during his time there,” Greg McDermott said after Thursday’s win. “It’s a team playing with a lot of confidence. They seem to be very connected on both ends of the floor. It’s gonna take another great effort to go in there and win.”
Offensively, Nebraska ranks 22nd in adjusted offensive efficiency, scoring 116.1 points per 100 possessions. (Creighton is 19th at 117.4 by comparison, against a much tougher schedule). They’ve scored 80 or more points in six of their first seven games.
The key to this game might very well be three-point shooting, as both teams take a huge number of them. 50.0% of Creighton’s shots have been threes through seven games (7th most in D1), and Nebraska is not far behind at 47.9% (12th most). But Creighton’s been extraordinary at running opponents off the perimeter again this year, much as they were the past two years. CU’s opponents have attempted just 22.3% of their shots from three-point range — second fewest in all of college hoops. The D1 average is 37.3%. And on the three-point shots their opponents do get, they’ve made 35.0%, which while respectable is hardly red-hot.
That’s by design. Creighton’s drop-coverage defense funnels shooters inside the arc, where they have to contend with two-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year Ryan Kalkbrenner. Jays’ opponents are shooting just 43.1% on two-point shots this year, 24th best in D1 and well above the average of 50.2%.
Thursday in Stillwater, just 16 of Oklahoma State’s 62 shots came from outside the arc, a big drop for a team that had taken nearly 45% of their total shots from three-point range coming into the game. And the Jays held the Cowboys to 18-of-46 on two-pointers (39.1%) — shots OSU had made 53.3% of the time before Thursday.
Nebraska has also done a great job of drawing contact and getting to the line. 23.5% of their total points have come on free throws, 46th most in D1. And their free throw/field goal ratio is 44.7%, 27th highest. Meanwhile, Creighton defends without fouling better than almost anyone in America.
So if Creighton is successful at running Nebraska off the perimeter and forcing them to take mid-range jumpers and contested shots at the rim, and they defend without putting Nebraska at the line, can Nebraska score enough points to win? That’s where Creighton’s offense comes into play. A year ago in Omaha, they had a historically bad day in going 10-of-40 from three-point range. Baylor Scheierman was 2-of-9, Trey Alexander was 3-of-8, and Ryan Nembhard and Arthur Kaluma were both 0-of-6. The Huskers clogged up the paint and dared Creighton to beat them with jump shots. They could not. If they try a similar strategy again, can Creighton hit enough of those shots — in a hostile environment to boot — to win, even if their defense is successful? It seems likely that the Huskers will double-team Kalkbrenner every time he gets the ball in the post, so his ability to kick it out to the open shooter will be important. Also important: for CU’s shooters to hit the shots where Nebraska closes out late, and work the ball to someone else when the close out is on time.
6’6″ forward Juwan Gary missed the first three games but has returned to average a team-leading 16.0 points per game off the bench. Gary had 13 points, six rebounds and a pair of steals vs. Cal State Fullerton last week, and a career-high 20 points (nine of them in a 13-0 second-half run) in the win over Duquesne. And in the game before that, he had 12 points and 10 boards against Oregon State. He’s an enviable spark to bring off the bench.
6’10”, 248-pound junior Rienk Mast transferred from Bradley where he was a two-time All-MVC selection, and has more or less picked up where he left off with the Braves. He’s averaging 14.7 points and 10.1 rebounds per game, with his ability to stretch the floor causing headaches for opposing defenses. A 35% shooter from three-point range, he hit three of them in the win over Cal State Fullerton last week; he had 19 points and nine boards in that game. How Creighton defends him will be fascinating; if he pulls Kalkbrenner out with him, it will leave the rim unprotected, and if the Jays guard him with someone like Mason Miller or Isaac Traudt they’ll be at a size disadvantage.
6’7″ Brice Williams, a graduate transfer from Charlotte, isn’t far behind at 14.7 points per game. He’s scored in double figures in six of seven games, with a season-high 25 against Oregon State. He’s 13-of-31 (41.9%) from three-point range, and has attempted the most free throws of anyone on the team, making 29-of-32 (90.6%) from the line.
And then there’s last year’s star, 6’2″ guard Keisei Tominaga, who comes in averaging 14.6 points per game. A year ago, he captivated fans in Lincoln with his three-point shooting prowess (66-of-165, 40.0%) and was rewarded with preseason All-Big Ten honors this fall. In four games since returning from an ankle injury, he’s averaging 16.0 points, shooting 62% from the floor and 40% from three. His versatility is what’s most impressive about his game. He scored 23 in the win over Duquesne, highlighted by going 9-of-10 from the line. In scoring 17 against Cal State Fullerton, he was 5-of-5 from the floor and 3-of-3 from long range. In scoring 16 against Stony Brook, he did his damage inside the arc, going 5-of-5 on two-point shots.
Rounding out their top six rotational players is 6’8″ senior Josiah Allick, who’s averaging 7.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game and has scored in double figures three times. Playing last season at New Mexico, he averaged 8.4 points and 7.3 boards and was second in the Mountain West in rebounding. And 6’3″ guard Jamarques Lawrence is coming off his best game, scoring 11 points with six assists against Cal State Fullerton.
- Tip: 3:00pm
- Venue: Pinnacle Bank Arena, Lincoln, NE
- TV: FS1
- Announcers: Matt Schumacker and Nick Bahe
- In Omaha: Cox channel 78 (SD), 1078 (HD); CenturyLink Prism channel 620 (SD), 1620 (HD)
- Outside Omaha: FS1 Channel Finder
- Satellite: DirecTV channel 219, Dish Network channel 150
- Cable Cutters: Available on all major streaming platforms
- Streaming on the Fox Sports app and website
- Radio: 1620AM, 101.9FM
- Announcers: John Bishop and Taylor Stormberg
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- Simulcast on SiriusXM channel 106 or 201, as well as on the app and website
Nebraska is 20-4 under Hoiberg when scoring at least 80 points including 15-1 over the last three seasons. The only loss was a 104-100 quadruple overtime game at North Carolina State on Dec. 1, 2021. NU has won its last 13 games when reaching the 80-point plateau.
Nebraska has won its first seven games by 10 or more points. It is just the second time in over 100 years – the other was in 1991-92 – that the Huskers won seven straight games by double figures.
Creighton won on Thursday at Oklahoma State and will turn around to play on Sunday afternoon at Nebraska. Believe it or not, Creighton hasn’t won consecutive non-conference road games in a four-day span in 25 seasons, last doing so on Dec. 1 and Dec. 4 in 1999 with road victories at Georgia State and Baylor respectively.
Creighton is 17-5 in its last 22 games against teams from the Big Ten. Creighton has outscored foes by an average of 7.09 points in those 22 games, which include 13 double-figure victories. Greg McDermott is 30-17 in his career against teams that are currently in the Big Ten.
Creighton is 3-1 inside Pinnacle Bank Arena since the facility opened a decade ago. Creighton is the only non-conference team with multiple wins against the Cornhuskers inside “The Vault”.
Creighton has won 19 of the past 24 regular-season match-ups, and leads the all-time series (including postseason) 29-27. Creighton has won nine of the last 11 meetings, with eight of those wins coming by double-digits.
Last year Nebraska upset No. 7 Creighton 63-53 in Omaha, snapping the Bluejays’ 13-game regular-season home win streak against the Cornhuskers that dated to 1995. Greg McDermott is 16-5 all-time vs. Nebraska (10-3 as Creighton head coach) and 3-2 against Fred Hoiberg.
On December 3, 2013, Creighton won at Long Beach State, 78-61, following up a disappointing holiday tournament with a solid road win. The Jays lept out to a 48-28 lead at halftime, thanks to making 10-17 three-pointers to stun the home crowd. It was the first start for Ethan Wragge, as the Jays looked to get his offense into the game earlier, and he rewarded his coach with 15 points including back-to-back threes during the early moments of the second half.
Of course, that’s not the memory most people have of the Long Beach State game. It’s of the Big West Conference’s failed webcast and LBSU’s live stats working only sporadically, and of Creighton fans entertaining themselves on Twitter while listening to the game on the radio.
The Bottom Line:
Creighton is favored by just two points on KenPom, though ESPN’s BPI is slightly more bullish and gives them 65.2% odds of victory. Vegas oddsmakers have the Jays as 3.5 point favorites.
Creighton 80, Nebraska 74