Friday’s news that Jackson McAndrew will miss the rest of the season with a foot injury was tough to stomach even for a Bluejay program that has suffered what seems like more than their share of season-altering injuries to star players. Without the Preseason All-Big East pick, Creighton’s ceiling in 2025-26 is probably lower — how could it not be? — and though it’s tempting to let pessimism creep in, Greg McDermott’s program has shown repeatedly it can navigate moments like this.
That doesn’t make it any less discouraging or frustrating, mind you.
As they go about figuring out how to move forward, the most immediate piece to figure out is who takes the bulk of McAndrew’s minutes. That’s likely to be Jasen Green, who probably both starts and gets consistent minutes at the ‘4.’ That also means there’s a few more minutes than before at the ‘3’ for Hudson Greer and Fedor Zugic, and possibly backup minutes for Greer at the ‘4’.
Green playing the majority of his time at the ‘4’ means he’s at his natural position instead of as an undersized ‘5’. And having Green and Greer on the floor at the same time could conceivably help with what this team has lacked — toughness and grit — as those two are unquestionably the grittiest players on the roster.
Again, the loss of McAndrew is huge. But there’s a world where the team that comes out the other side is, while not as talented offensively, perhaps better suited defensively for the Big East battles that lay ahead.
There’s no time to experiment, though — they’re going to have to figure it out on the fly, during the most important week of the non-conference schedule. Creighton is heading to Las Vegas for the fourth straight season and fifth time in seven years, in search of (remarkably) just their third win out of all those trips.
(You’ve probably tried to black it out, so here’s the list: they split two games against San Diego State and Texas Tech in 2019, lost to BYU and Arizona State in 2022, lost to UNLV in 2023, and lost to San Diego State and Texas A&M last November before finally getting another win when they beat Notre Dame.)
With CU committed to the Players Era Tournament for each of the next four seasons after this one, at minimum (they’re signed to be one of the teams in the field through the 2029 event), they need to figure out how to get over their Vegas slump for more than just this week — it’s going to be their Thanksgiving week home away from home for awhile. Coming back to Omaha from this latest trip with a better result won’t be easy — they’ll face KenPom #22 Baylor on Monday, #8 Iowa State on Tuesday, and a third team from a long list of other powerhouse programs.
First up is Baylor, a team with an entirely new roster from a year ago. No, literally: they return 0.0% of their scoring, rebounding, assists, etc. Scott Drew and staff lost four players to eligibility, nine to the transfer portal and one to the NBA (VJ Edgecombe, who was drafted third overall).
Unsurprisingly, the Bears were unranked in the preseason Top 25 for the first time since 2018-19. They were picked seventh in the preseason Big XII poll, though the teams ahead of them (Houston, Texas Tech, BYU, Arizona, Iowa State and Kansas, in that order) are all Final Four contenders, so there’s no shame in being seventh on that list. And with a totally new roster, the advanced metrics are unsure what to make of them yet — KenPom ranks them 22nd, Torvik has them 40th, Haslametrics has them 24th.
Graduate guard Obi Agbim (Wyoming), senior forward Michael Rataj (Oregon State) and senior forward Dan Skillings Jr. (Cincinnati) headline the incoming transfers. Five-star freshman Tounde Yessoufou, the 14th ranked freshman recruit according to 247Sports’ composite rankings and a projected lottery pick next spring, joins them, alongside Andre Iguodala II. They also add Tennessee transfer Cameron Carr, who joined their practice squad midseason last year.
Another of the prized transfers was Juslin Bodo Bodo, who has yet to play this season due to injury. The 6’11” Bodo Bodo spent the previous two seasons at High Point, earning a pair of Big South Defensive Player of the Year honors and averaging 8.4 rebounds per game. Bodo Bodo’s head coach at High Point? Alan Huss.
Through three games, the Bears have played just eight players — not an eight-man rotation with a handful of others getting a few minutes here and there, eight players period. Bodo Bodo’s injury is part of that; they’ve played a center-less lineup in all three games so far, featuring 6’3” Agbim, a pair of 6’5” wings in Carr and Yessoufou, 6’6” Skillings Jr. and 6’8” Rataj. All five players are officially listed as guards.
Carr leads the team in scoring at 23.7 points per game, shooting 23-of-34 overall (67.6%) and 9-of-17 from three (52.9%) while also attempting 22 free throws, making 16 (72.7%). He had 28 in their opening night win over UTRGV, scoring from everywhere — he was 6-of-8 on twos, 3-of-6 on threes and 7-of-9 from the line. Oh, and he also had five rebounds, three blocks and two steals. He added 16 points against Washington and 27 against Tarleton State.
Yessoufou is second with 16.3 points per game and is tied for second in rebounds with 5.0 per game. He’s been pretty good inside the arc (14-of-23) and really bad outside of it (3-of-15 from three). If you’re looking for the opposing player who’s most likely to have a career day shooting threes against Creighton because they cheat off of him to focus elsewhere, it’s Yessoufou, for sure. Here’s hoping his cold shooting continues for one more day.
Skillings brings over 100 games of major conference experience with him from Cincinnati, and he’s wasted no time getting comfortable at Baylor. Skillings averages 13.3 points and a team-best 6.0 rebounds per game, both increases from his numbers at UC a year ago (9.3 and 3.8).
Agbim averages 10.7 points and a team-best 17 assists (the only player in double figures to this point of the season). He’s less of a slasher and more of a distributor/jump shooting point guard — seven of his 13 made shots have been threes, and he’s only attempted three free throws all season. That was true a year ago at Wyoming, too; he averaged 17.6 points per game last season, leading the Mountain West in 3-point percentage (43.7%) on 6.3 attempts per game. He also had 100 assists to just 64 turnovers for the Cowboys.
Rataj, the fifth starter, averages 7.3 points and 5.0 rebounds. A senior from Oregon State, he was First Team All-West Coast Conference last season, averaging 16.9 points and 7.2 rebounds while scoring in double figures in 28 of their 32 games.
The bench, such as it is, is led by sophomore Isaac Williams. He’s averaging 10.0 points off the bench and is tied for second on the team with nine assists.
Much like the Jays, Baylor is still figuring their way with a roster full of newcomers and a player expected to be a big contributor out due to injury. Both teams will look very different come January. But who’s further along on November 24?
Tip: 1:00pm Omaha time
Venue: Michelob ULTRA Arena, Las Vegas, NV
TV: TruTV
Announcers: Brian Anderson, Grant Hill and Lauren Jbara
In Omaha: Cox channel 203
Satellite: DirecTV channel 246, Dish Network channel 242
Streaming on HBO Max
Radio: 1620AM, 101.9FM
Announcers: John Bishop and Connor Happer
Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
Simulcast on SiriusXM channel 162 or 201 as well as on the SiriusXM App
Live Stats:
Follow along on Stat Broadcast
Fifth-year guard JJ White rounds out the bench after leading the Summit League in assists per game (4.0) and shooting 44.2% from three for Omaha last year and helping the Mavs reach their first NCAA Tournament.
Baylor is 43-14 in regular season tournaments under Scott Drew, with seven titles (2023 NIT Season Tip-Off, 2021 Battle 4 Atlantis, 2019 Myrtle Beach Invitational, 2017 Hall of Fame Classic, 2016 Battle 4 Atlantis, 2011 Las Vegas Classic and 2007 Paradise Jam.)
At least four Bears have scored in double figures in all three games: UTRGV (6), Washington (4), and Tarleton State (5).
Creighton’s Women’s Basketball team also arrives in Las Vegas on Monday to play in the UNLV Thanksgiving Turkey Tip-Off, with games on Wednesday (at UNLV) and Friday (vs. Northern Arizona).
In 51 MTE and tournament games under Greg McDermott, the Bluejays have made 505-of-1251 three-point attempts, connecting at a 40.4 percent clip while making 9.90 treys per contest. Creighton made a combined 20-for-49 from deep in their only two games at Michelob ULTRA Arena, a pair of one-possession losses without Ryan Kalkbrenner in 2022.
Nik Graves has made at least one free throw in all 62 games he’s played in since Nov. 25, 2023, the nation’s longest active streak. Since 2005-06, the only longer streak was a 63-gamer by UC Davis’ Ty Johnson from Feb. 25, 2023 to Feb. 20, 2025.
Creighton is 4-2 all-time against Baylor, and have split four meetings with the Bears on a neutral floor. The teams last met in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, when Ryan Nembhard scored 30 points as sixth-seeded Creighton upended the Bears 85-76 in the Second Round of an eventual Elite Eight run.
Their last meeting in a MTE came in Kansas City in 2017, when Baylor beat the Jays 65-59.
Greg McDermott is 3-4 in his career against Baylor (2-2 as Iowa State coach, 1-2 as Creighton coach and Scott Drew.)
This weekend in 2012 (November 23 and 24), Creighton knocked off Wisconsin and Arizona State on consecutive days in the Las Vegas Invitational. Ott recapped the win over the Badgers thusly:
“Creighton’s hard fought win over the Wisconsin Badgers Friday night at the Las Vegas Invitational had all the trappings of an NCAA Tournament game. It took 18 lead changes and 10 ties, but the Jays found a way to pull away from Bucky and take advantage of the opportunity to post what will surely become a signature win come March.
In the second half, Creighton outscored Wisconsin 46-35 behind 62% shooting from the field. Ethan Wragge hit all 3 of this three-point attempts in the second half, pacing the Jays to 83% shooting from behind the arc during the final 20 minutes. And CU hit 15 of 17 free throw attempts, including 15 in a row until Jahenns Manigat missed his two attempts with 45 seconds to play and the Jays up 11.
When the full 40 minutes were up, Doug McDermott once again showed the nation why he’s an All American. Knowing full well that Wisconsin would need to at least contain his output and make the rest of the Bluejays beat them, McDermott instead scored a game-high 30 points while calmly converting 9 of his 10 free throw chances — he shot a perfect 9 of 9 from the line in the second half.”
Meanwhile, the title game against ASU was characterized by chippiness. Again from Ott’s recap:
“Uneven officiating limited the teams’ ability to establish any sort of flow, and action was choppy for most of the game. The two teams combined for 47 personal fouls and 53 free throw attempts. ASU’s Eric Jacobsen fouled out in just 11 minutes, while Bluejays Gregory Echenique fouled out in 12 minutes and Austin Chatman was disqualified after 28 minutes. Grant Gibbs gave up his body for a play near his own bench, and the Bluejay senior’s reward for a fine effort and a great line (8 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 1 steal) was a violent collision with the cement behind the Creighton subs. And Doug McDermott was once again relentless while dealing with hounding pressure from the opposing defense.
There might not be a player in the country who has to work harder for what he takes on the offensive end. Constantly scoring against double and triple teams, McDermott managed to follow his 30-point effort against Wisconsin with 29 points against ASU. He added 9 rebounds, falling just one board short of another double-double. He’s still struggling (compared to last season) from outside the arc, but near the paint he remains nearly unstoppable. And unlike his freshman season, McDermott’s not shying away from contact. He’s attempted 8 or more free throws in four of CU’s six games this season, and he shot 10 against the Badgers and 11 against the Sun Devils. McDermott’s making 88% of his shots at the charity stripe. For his efforts in Vegas McDermott earned the tournament’s MVP honor, and shortly thereafter national pundit and folk hero among hoops junkies Dick Vitale named Doug his national player of the week.”
Baylor is favored by 4.5 by oddsmakers and has a 54.1% chance of victory according to ESPN’s BPI. KenPom predicts a four point Baylor win with 64% odds.
I think the opposite happens: a four point Creighton win in a high-scoring affair.
Jays 82, Bears 78