Creighton’s 2024-25 schedule, on paper, is a beast. Entering their opening game, 13 of their 31 games (and five of their 11 non-conference games) are classified as Q1. Eight more are Q2, and five are Q3. Of the five Q4 games on their schedule, four come in the next two weeks (plus DePaul at home on February 26).
If you’re wondering how that compares to the murderous 2022-23 slate, it’s slightly tougher, at least right now — by seasons’ end 11 of 31 games that year were Q1, eight were Q2, seven were Q3 and five were Q4. That schedule was 22nd toughest in the country; the 2024-25 schedule is likely to end up among the top 20.
This two-week stretch, then, might be the only chance they have to go deep into their bench and get rotations sorted out. First up is UT Rio Grande Valley, picked by coaches and staff to finish eighth of 12 teams in the Southland Conference. They come in at 0-1 after an 87-67 loss at Nebraska on Monday. That game featured 10 lead changes in a tight first half, and the Vaqueros trailed by just four late in the second half (67-63) before the Huskers ended the game on a 20-4 run.
UTRGV was 6-25 a year ago and 1-16 in road games, leading them to blow things up and more or less start from scratch. New coach Kahil Fennell brought in 12 new players, including eight D1 transfers, in an effort to quickly remake the roster.
The cupboard wasn’t totally bare, though, as 6’8” senior forward Hasan Abdul-Hakim returns after averaging 13.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game a year ago. He put up good numbers against the top teams on their schedule, too, with 14 points, six rebounds and two steals against Oklahoma and a 21-point, nine rebound performance against NCAA Tournament qualifier Grand Canyon. He struggled at Nebraska earlier this week, though, scoring four points in 29 minutes.
That’s because a large part of Abdul-Hakim’s offense comes from the free throw line. He scored 172 points in 17 games a year ago; 60 of them were on free throws. He had four separate games with eight or more made free throws, including 9-of-9 against Grand Canyon. He attempted zero free throws against Nebraska, and unsurprisingly, struggled to score. It’s not just Abdul-Hakim — last year, UTRGV ranked 20th in the NCAA and third in the WAC in free throw attempts per game (23.5). They finished with 513 free throws made, which ranks fifth most in a single season in program history while attempting 728 free throws, which ranks fifth most in a single season in program history. Obviously, the personnel is mostly different this year, but that DNA persists.
Sophomore guard Jamar “J.J.” Howard Jr. also returns after averaging 10.0 points and 2.6 rebounds per game a year ago, though he did not play on Monday at Nebraska. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because his dad is former Wichita St. standout Jamar Howard. Yeah, that Jamar Howard.
With their 12 newcomers, the Vaqueros set out to recruit shooters. 6’4” guard DK Thorn shot 36% from three-point range last season at Alcorn State. 6’3” KT Raimey shot 36.3% from three at DePaul. 6’2” Cliff Davis shot 39.2% from three at Northwestern State. 6’6” Kwo Agwa shot 40.7% from three at Texas A&M-Commerce. And 6’2” Trey Miller has shot 30.2% from three during a career that includes stops at Incarnate Word and Southern Illinois. Without much size — Abdul-Hakim and his fellow 6’8” forward, Tommy Gankhuyag, are the tallest rotational players — they’re going to focus their offense on three-pointers.
To that end, 41 of their 67 shots at Nebraska were threes; they made 13. But they missed eight of their final nine 3-pointers in Nebraska’s 20-4 run to end the game — prior to that, they were a very respectable 12—of-32 from deep (38%) and in range to pull an upset. But ball security was perhaps the bigger problem, as UTRGV had 20 turnovers (or one on 26% of their possessions). That, plus 11 offensive boards for Nebraska, led to the Huskers getting 20 more shot attempts than the Vaqueros.
Against Creighton, the game plan is likely to be similar, because UTRGV does not have the size to attack Ryan Kalkbrenner at the rim. Likewise, they don’t have the size to defend him on the other end. If Creighton can defend the perimeter and get the ball inside the Kalkbrenner on offense, the Jays should win this one by 25-30 and be able to spend big chunks of the second half getting experience for their newcomers.
- Tip: 8:00pm
- Venue: CHI Health Center Omaha
- TV: FS1
- Announcers: Wayne Randazzo 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 Ross Ferrarini
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- Simulcast on SiriusXM channel xxx as well as on the SiriusXM App
- UTRGV had four players score in double-digits on Monday, led by DePaul transfer KT Raimey, who finished with 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting. Senior Cliff Davis finished the game with 12 points on four three-pointers. Sophomore Tommy Gankhuyag finished with 11 points with three three-pointers made. And graduate student DK Thorn finished also finished with 11 points while making a trio of three-pointers.
- Notably, Raimey had 10 points in two losses to the Jays a year ago, including four points on 1-of-3 shooting in Omaha.
- This is UTRGV’s first season in the Southland Conference after spending 11 seasons in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). The school is the successor to the University of Texas-Pan American, which ceased operations in 2014 and merged with the University of Texas-Brownsville (which also ceased operations) to form a new school named UTRGV, on the campus of the former UT-Pan American. The newly combined institution inherited the UTPA athletic department, but changed mascots from the “Broncs” to the “Vaqueros”.
- Ryan Kalkbrenner owns 1,771 career points, as he became the 45th men’s player in Creighton history to surpass 1,000 on Feb. 25, 2023 at Villanova. The only player in Creighton history to enter a season with more career points than Kalkbrenner’s 1,771 were the 2,216 for Doug McDermott. A distant third were Rodney Buford and Bob Harstad, who each had 1,540 points entering their final campaign.
- Kalkbrenner also ranks second in program history in blocked shots with 306. Kalkbrenner had 107 swats last year and enters this year 105 behind Benoit Benjamin’s once-untouchable CU record of 411 (he had more than twice as many as the next closest player, Chad Gallagher’s 183, prior to Kalkbrenner).
- Creighton owns a sparkling 91-15 record (.856) on opening day, including 14 straight wins and victories in 26 of its last 27 lid-lifters after last year’s 105-54 win vs. Florida A&M. Greg McDermott has won each of the last 22 season openers he’s coached in, and he is 22-1 at the Division I level in season-openers. That includes double-digit victories in 13 of his first 14 openers on the Creighton sideline.
Creighton is 2-0 all-time against UTRGV, winning 75-60 in 2014 and 89-58 in 2019, with both previous games in Omaha. Greg McDermott is 3-0 in his career against the Vaqueros, winning the two aforementioned games on the Creighton sideline while also defeating UTRGV 74-66 on Nov. 29, 2001 as the Northern Iowa head coach.
In that 2019 meeting, a depleted Creighton roster still managed to pull off a 31-point win. They dressed just seven scholarship players, as Kelvin Jones and Davion Mintz were both out with injuries. Then Damien Jefferson strained his calf early in the game and was out. And when Christian Bishop and Shereef Mitchell both picked up two early fouls, they were left to patch a lineup together with four scholarship players — and no big men. 6’8” freshman walk-on Nic Zeil played 13 minutes. Mitch Ballock played center. Greg McDermott had to use dead balls to quickly diagram plays and send them in, to players who were all out of position. Luckily, Ballock, Ty-Shon Alexander, and Marcus Zegarowski were up to the challenge — they scored 54 of the Jays’ 89 points and carried them to victory.
This is tied for the second-earliest start date for a season-opener in Creighton basketball’s 107-year history. The only earlier start in program history came in 2019-20 (Nov. 5), while CU also debuted on Nov. 6 in 2018-19.
By comparison, 32 years ago, Creighton’s season-opener in 1992-93 didn’t take place until Dec. 3rd.
That 2018-19 opener? A 78-67 win over Western Illinois. Damien Jefferson had eight points and 12 rebounds in his Bluejay debut; his 12 rebounds were the most for a Bluejay in his first game since 1975 and the first time a Bluejay recorded 10 or more in his debut since the tough-as-nails Nick Porter did it in 2005. And Mitch Ballock dished out five assists, and Ty-Shon Alexander had four, as the pair of sophomore guards combined for 25 points and 9 assists. Alexander added six boards, a block, and a steal. It was a sign of things to come for three Bluejays who would soon carry the program to new heights.
The Bottom Line:
Creighton is favored by 30.5 in Vegas, and has 98.8% odds of victory according to ESPN’s BPI. KenPom is *slightly* less optimistic, predicting a 28-point win. Either way, provided the Jays don’t suffer from the same opening night jitters that infected many Big East teams on Monday, this should be a comfortable win that is decided early.
Creighton 95, UTRGV 63