Creighton and Kansas State come into Tuesday’s game in similar situations. They’re both led by new coaches, they both struggled in their home opener, and they both had fantastic first halves in game two before being outplayed in the second half by their opponent. But while Creighton eventually figured out a way to win their opener over UMKC, Kansas State did not, losing 68-66 to South Dakota State.
The Wildcats led CSUN by 28 at halftime on Friday, 57-29, and made 11-of-22 from beyond the arc. Then they went nearly six minutes without a basket in the second half, made just 6-of-19 from three, and saw CSUN get as close as 15 before they put the game away.
Sounds an awful lot like Creighton’s win over Le Moyne, doesn’t it? Including the two exhibitions, CU hasn’t lost yet under Alan Huss — but they also haven’t played well for a full 40 minutes yet either.
And it’s gnawing at him.
Late in the first half after they gave up three-pointers on consecutive possessions, allowing Le Moyne to “trim” a 42-9 deficit to 41-15, he burned a timeout to let his players know it was unacceptable.
“It’s always about the standard,” Huss said after the game. “I struggle to make it about anything else, and it’s cute to get a couple wins — it’s nice — but that’s not what it’s about. It’s about us getting ready for the next month. We’re going to play as difficult a stretch as anyone in college basketball, and as I reminded them, we didn’t shy away from it. That’s what we told them in the recruiting process. They were all excited about playing that level of schedule. It comes with a responsibility to the name on the front of the jersey, to the people that come support us financially, support us by coming to the games. They have a responsibility. We have a responsibility as a staff to have these guys ready to compete in this stretch because we’re not going out there for participation trophies. We’re going out to try to win games, and we’re trying to get better. When you deviate from process, you don’t get yourself ready to play the stretch we’re getting ready to start.”
Opposing coaches often talk about their next opponent in terms that make them sound like the #1 team in America, warranted or not, but new K-State coach Casey Alexander seemed convincing in his praise of the Jays on Monday.
“When I think about Creighton, they’re a team without real deficiencies,” he said. “They’ve got great scoring. They’ve got good size. They’ve got good athleticism. They’ve got good balance. They’ve got good depth. They’re well coached, and so it’s a tall order for us. You know, not a game that we don’t think we can win, but we’ll have to play really well on both ends and have to do it for the better part of 40 minutes in order to do so.”
Through two games, Kansas State’s leading scorer has been 6’1” senior guard Brandon Rechsteiner. Like Wes Enis for Creighton, he shoots a lot — he’s taken 34 shots in two games, 26 of them from three-point range. He was 4-of-11 from three in the opener against South Dakota State and 6-of-15 from deep against CSUN. Rechsteiner will hunt shots off high pick-and-rolls and quick kick-outs, but just running him off the line isn’t enough because he’s also an excellent passer who leads the team in assists.
The primary beneficiary has been 6’5” senior Jaden Schutt, who’s made 5-of-12 from three-point range over two games. He’s a proven shooter at the high-major level, starting his career at Duke before shooting 35.6% and 38.5% from three-point range the last two seasons at Virginia Tech. Schutt spaces the floor for them and is the type of shooter that requires constant attention.
Through two games, K-State has taken 59.5% of their shots from three-point range, and gotten 46.6% of their points on threes. In terms of raw numbers, that comes out to 69 three-point attempts and just 47 two-pointers. That’s nothing new for Alexander’s teams, as his Belmont squads routinely took 40% or more of their shots from behind the arc. A year ago, they were the best three-point shooting team in D1, making an absurd 41.0% as a team — the only team better than 40%, and one of just 10 teams to do it since 2020.
In the frontcourt, 6’7” Isaiah Abraham has shot the ball well through two games and is someone CU has seen film on many times before. He started his career at UConn but did not play in any of the three meetings between the Huskies and Jays in 2024-25; after transferring to Georgetown, he played in one of their two matchups last year, scoring three points with four rebounds in 19 minutes of their home win over CU. Abraham was really, really good against South Dakota State, scoring 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting (and 2-of-3 from outside). He came back to Earth on Friday, scoring eight points on 2-of-8 shooting and missed all threes that he attempted.
Anchoring the middle is 7’0” Pape N’Diaye, another player Creighton knows from past schools. He’s a physical low-post player and led the ‘Cats with 18 points and eight rebounds in the season opener (shooting 5-of-8 from the field and 8-of-8 at the line). Like Abraham, he didn’t do much in the second game, scoring two points, taking one shot, and grabbing four rebounds in just 10 minutes. As their biggest rotational piece, he’s the one guy they will try to get deep post touches for and given the number of jump shots the rest of the team takes, will likely lead them in free throw attempts.
N’Diaye scored 10 points and was 2-of-3 from three-point range in Xavier’s loss to Creighton in Cincinnati a year ago; he played just three minutes in the rematch in Omaha. Two years ago, they faced him when N’Diaye was at UNLV — he scored five points with two rebound and a block.
Other players to keep an eye on include Dez Lindsay, a former JuCo who played for Dana Altman a year ago at Oregon and shot 32.8% from three for the Ducks. He’s started both games so far for K-State but has yet to find his shooting stroke (1-of-5 from three, 2-of-6 inside the arc). And former Bluejay Brock Vice started opening night, though the 6’10”, 240 pound forward played better off the bench in their second game (eight points including 2-of-3 from three-point range, with two rebounds and a steal).
5’10” sophomore Montana Wheeler is someone to watch because he was a really good shooter for Bradley a year ago both from three (32-of-98, 32.7%) and inside the arc (64-of-131, 48.9%). He’s made just 1-of-8 from three to begin his time at K-State, but that won’t last.
And finally, 6’2” true freshman Jaylen Alexander is their defensive sparkplug off the bench. In just 15 minutes in his debut, Alexander tallied 4 steals and provided high-pressure on-ball defense. He was somewhat less effective against CSUN, but also played fewer minutes as other guards were shooting so well.
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It’s a tough first true road game, and the start of a 32-day stretch that will see Creighton play a neutral-ish game against Iowa in Des Moines, defending national champion Michigan in Las Vegas, and Nebraska and Gonzaga on consecutive Saturdays in Omaha. Ready or not, the level of opposition ratchets up several notches from the teams they struggled to beat a week ago.
“As the guys would say, we didn’t duck any smoke on the schedule,” Huss said. “For the next month we’re going to play as challenging a stretch as there is in college basketball anywhere. We’re going to do so with a team that’s probably not 100% ready for it, so we’ve got to get ourselves completely committed to process.”
Tip: 8:00pm
Venue: Bramlage Coliseum, Manhattan, KS
TV: FS1
Announcers: Jack Kizer and Donny Marshall
In Omaha: Cox channel 78 (SD), 1078 (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: Creighton Bluejay Radio Network
Announcers: John Bishop and Tyler Clement
In Omaha: 1620 AM, 106.9 FM
In Grand Island: 97.7 FM The Zone
Everywhere else: streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
Simulcast on SiriusXM channel 990 as well as on the SiriusXM App
Live Stats:
Follow along on Stat Broadcast
K-State is promoting tonight’s game as “Doom After Dark” with fans being encouraged to wear anthracite with the first 2,000 fans and 1,000 students receiving Lite Up Rally Towels. Anthracite — better known as hard, black coal — is what Nike calls the color of the Wildcats’ black alternate uniforms.
Casey Alexander, who led Belmont to 166 wins and four conference titles in the last seven seasons (2019-26), guided the Bruins to a 26-6 record and their first-ever Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title in 2025-26.
Alexander has led teams to 10 consecutive 20-win season (238-91; 72.3% winning percentage), which includes double-digit conference win totals each season despite navigating three different conferences (Atlantic Sun, Ohio Valley and MVC). He is one of four coaches to win 20 or more games in 10 consecutive seasons, joining Gonzaga’s Mark Few, Houston’s Kelvin Sampson and Kansas’ Bill Self.
K-State knocked down 17 3-point field goals vs. CSUN, which are the program’s fourth-most ever in a single game, while the 41 attempts set a new school record, surpassing the 40 vs. UAPB in 2024.
Through just two games this season, Creighton has already compiled five runs of 10-0 or longer, including four separate times against Le Moyne. Since 2000, there’s been at least four other games where CU has compiled four other 10-0 runs in the same contest (North Carolina A&T, 11/11/2011; Houston Baptist, 12/17/2011; Bemidji State, 2/13/2018; Florida A&M, 11/7/2023).
Creighton scored the first 13 points in Thursday’s victory vs. Le Moyne, as it never trailed in the win. Since 2010, it was the 13th time that Creighton has opened a game by scoring the first 10 points (or more). Creighton’s only better start in that time was when it took a 19-0 lead vs. Georgetown on March 1, 2023.
Creighton has won each of its first two games by 15 points or more for the first time since 2023-24. Since 2000, the only times that Creighton has won each of its first three games by 15 or more points have been 2012-13, 2003-04 and 2002-23.
K-State holds a narrow 9-8 edge in the all-time series, including a 5-0 mark in Manhattan, but this will be the first meeting in Manhattan since 1986. The five wins in Manhattan came in 1940, 1964, 1968, 1971, and 1986.
The series dates to Feb. 17, 1926 when the Bluejays knocked off the Wildcats, 27-23 in Omaha in the first of 5 straight victories in the series. Since losing the first 5 meetings from 1926 to 1938, the Wildcats have won 9 of the last 12 matchups since 1940 including a 69-59 win in the 2018 NCAA Tournament and last season’s 83-76 win in Omaha on Dec. 13, 2025.
On November 10, 2017 Creighton beat Yale 92-76 in the 2017-18 season opener. CU wasted little time settling in. They made eight of their first 12 baskets, including back-to-back threes from Khyri Thomas and Toby Hegner — both assisted by Marcus Foster — to begin the night. The last of those eight made baskets in the opening salvo was this gem from Foster where he was simply stronger than Yale’s defender:
Later in the half, freshman Mitch Ballock started a fast break by grabbing a rebound and feeding it to Mintz in transition, who found Martin Krampelj streaking down the floor; Krampelj slammed home this dunk:
Ballock’s first points in his CU career came next on a three:
And then Thomas scored seven straight points on an array of moves in the paint and beyond the arc to extend the Jays’ lead.
Creighton is favored by 3.5, with 69.5% odds of victory according to ESPN’s BPI. KenPom predicts a five-point win, 79-74.
If CU can defend the perimeter and keep Rechsteiner from getting in a rhythm shooting the three, it will go a long way toward disrupting K-State’s offense — the guess here is they’ll stick BJ Davis on him and hope he can make Rechsteiner uncomfortable. It’s not exactly a stretch. They’re both 6’1” and Davis’ speciality is being an absolute pest defensively.
Do that, keep Schutt from getting hot instead, and the Jays should be able to come home with a win.
Creighton 77, Kansas State 70