Creighton’s 109th season of basketball tips off Monday under new coach Alan Huss. 32 of the prior 108 seasons (29.6%) were led by the two previous coaches, who were responsible for 693 of the program’s 1,738 all-time wins (39.8%) and 17 of their 26 NCAA Tournament berths. It’s a tall task to be the next in line after Dana Altman and Greg McDermott, and Huss is perhaps uniquely qualified to do it, as the only person to have both played for Altman and coached under McDermott at Creighton.
And as his first season nears, you can see parts of both coaches in him. The offensive scheme and approach look a lot like McDermott; this remains a program that will Let It Fly with three-pointers and ball movement. The no-nonsense, all-business seriousness of his communication style sound a lot like Altman.
“I don’t necessarily have a lot of time to think about those sorts of things,” Huss said last week when he was asked what it will feel like to walk out of the tunnel for the first time as the head coach at Creighton. “It’ll be awesome. It’ll feel good to know that I’ve got an opportunity that most people never get a chance to experience, coaching not just a high major basketball program, but at my alma mater — that’s not lost on me. But I’ll be focused solely on what lies ahead and what we need to accomplish.”
Those aren’t just words, either. Look in the background of the preseason video they posted on YouTube last week; his office looks like he hasn’t even moved in yet. No pictures on his desk, no memorabilia on the walls, no decorations anywhere. He’s all business, all focus, all the time.
Fans used to the friendly, conversational tone of McDermott’s press conferences might be concerned by Huss’ comparably blunt tone, because to listen to him talk, you get the impression that his team is going to struggle. And indeed, there’s been some of that concern expressed on social media. Is he hoping to temper expectations, or is the team truly not as ready to compete as they need to be? To me it sounds an awful lot like Altman: perpetually unsatisfied, always focused on what they need to be better at instead of praising what they did well.
It can sound negative. It usually isn’t. It’s just a restless coach always looking for an edge.
“The exhibitions were great, but they’re over. We have a little bit foundationally to be proud of, and we also have a lot of structural things to fix,” Huss said. “Like everyone, we’ve got a list we’re working through, situational things, different defenses we don’t play ourselves. We certainly have our fair share of those things, but more important than anything, we’ve got to get healthy. And we’ve got to get fully bought all the way in to sustained unselfishness. I don’t know that either one of those are going to be solved here before the first game. We’re very much still going to be a work in progress.”
As he noted, the health of his team affected what they were able to do in the two exhibitions. Hudson Greer was limited against Iowa State, and Fred King did not play with his eligibility up in the air. Against Minnesota, Jasen Green did not play at all and Katrelle Harmon was sick with the flu.
To that end, Huss described Green as a “full participant for shorter durations” during practice, and that he’s been upgraded to a day-to-day status rather than week-to-week as he had been for most of the fall. Everyone else is healthy and cleared to play. And King is currently eligible, in better shape than he was when he arrived on campus, and will have a rotational role off the bench.
Through two exhibitions, it was clear “Let It Fly” is still the offense’s M.O. They took 67 threes in two games, making 24 (35.8%). It appears that they have better athleticism than a year ago, better shooters and a freshman point guard poised to steer the ship. Their perimeter defense looks improved. Two really big question marks remain unanswered: can they keep opponents out of the paint defensively, and can they rebound the ball? Those two question marks are two of the main problems that held last year’s team back, and if they don’t have a sufficient answer to them this year, they could once again keep the team from having success.
Their opponent on opening night has a roster and style of play that will provide the Jays with a different look than either Iowa State or Minnesota gave them. UMKC is a program newly committed to raising their profile in men’s basketball, exemplified by hiring Mark Turgeon to take the reins. Turgeon is a native of Topeka, has won 476 games over 24 seasons as a head coach, and has gone to 10 NCAA Tournaments with two Sweet 16 berths. For a UMKC program that has never gone to a single NCAA Tournament, getting a coach of Turgeon’s caliber is quite a statement. Coaxing him out of semi-retirement required a commitment to funding hoops at a level UMKC has not done in the past, and a move back downtown to a newly-renovated Municipal Auditorium.
“I’ve done it for a long time and, everywhere we’ve gone, we’ve won,” Turgeon told media in Kansas City last week. “I understand that it’s a really tough job. We were 358th out of 364 (in last year’s NET ranking). We’ve never done it (gone to an NCAA tourney). But I also believe in the city, I believe in myself, I believe in the people I surround myself with, and so I think we can get it done.”
Interestingly, Dr. Brandon Martin, vice chancellor and director of athletics, pointed to Omaha when talking about their ambitions. “We want to be that next Creighton; we want to be that next Gonzaga,” Martin said. “The time is right because, as I mentioned before, we have an elite coach who has a great system. He has a great coaching staff, so we want to be that premier, top mid-major program.”
Though the talent might not yet be at the level it was when Turgeon coached Wichita State, Texas A&M or Maryland, the style of play will look similar to Jays fans that remember him from his time leading the Shockers. They hope to run the floor, shoot quick, and feed their big men in transition.
“They do a couple different things defensively,” Huss said. “They get out and hard hedge on some ball screens, and they do some switching. Those are two things that we haven’t spent a ton of time working against thus far this season. So it’ll be nice to see a little bit of a different defensive strategy.”
5’11” guard Jaylen Smith led them in scoring with 20 points in an exhibition win over preseason Big Sky favorite Montana State on Oct. 24, and also had four assists. Smith was the SoCon Sixth Man of the Year last season at East Tennessee State, and was named Second Team Preseason All-Summit League this year. Turgeon described him as a physically-strong three-level scorer at UMKC’s media day, and in addition to his success at ETSU, Smith was an all-conference performer in two seasons at North Florida.
6’6”, 210 pound senior Sebastian Hartmann missed most of last season due to injury at UT-Chattanooga, but averaged 7.0 points and 5.0 rebounds before that. A native of Munich, Turgeon describes him as a tough, smart player who’s already one of the team’s leaders.
Their bigs are what jump out, though. Assane Diop is a 6’9” senior from Segegal who played for Colorado and San Diego before transferring to UMKC. He had 11 rebounds to lead the Roos against Montana State, and a year ago at USD he averaged 5.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. Diop can stretch the floor, as he made 41.7% from three a year ago (17-of-42); he’s also a versatile player that had a triple-double in a January win (11 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists).
7’0” freshman Atuka Bakhtadze leads a strong freshman group drawn to Turgeon’s vision of what UMKC can become. He played on the Nike EYBL Scholastic circuit last season, and is expected to carve out a big role. Another freshman, Lincoln Goodwin, sustained an injury in that game and is unlikely to play Monday night.
While Huss has been low-key in his assessments heading into the season, his players have not. Wes Enis told the media last week that he’s “super super ready,” and went into more detail about the standard they’re striving to meet.
“It’s the things that don’t take any type of talent and the things that you can control every single day, in every single moment,” Enis said. “You know, if you can control your attitude, effort, and energy, every single play and every single second of the game, that’s how you stack up those things. Once you let up off those things, it shows.”
“But simply put, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Great things take time, and if there’s something quick, it’s probably not good,” Enis added. ”You just got to believe in that and believe in the process every day.”
They’ll have two opportunities this week to keep building that process against opponents they’ll be favored to beat handily, and then the schedule gets real in a hurry. After UMKC and LeMoyne, they play a true road game at Kansas State and a neutral court game against Iowa next week.
Tip: 7:00pm
Venue: CHI Health Center Omaha
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Summit League coaches and media are not optimistic about Turgeon’s first UMKC team, picking them eighth (out of eight) in the preseason poll.
The Roos feature players from across the globe, including Sebastian Hartmann from Germany, Jibbe Sicking from the Netherlands, Dovydas Jencius from Lithuania, Matija Samar from Slovenia and Assane Diop from Senegal.
Turgeon is 4-12 against Creighton, including an 0-7 mark against the Bluejays in Omaha as his Shocker teams never beat CU here.
In both exhibition games Creighton built a big lead early in the second half before withstanding a missed three-pointer in the final seconds of its win. Their top five scorers were all guards, with Wes Enis (17.5 ppg.), Austin Swartz (16.5 ppg.), Katrelle Harmon (11.0 ppg., 6.0 apg., 2.5 spg.), BJ Davis (11.0 ppg., 6.0 rpg.) and Hudson Greer (9.0 ppg.) accounting for 75.6 percent of the Bluejay offense. Creighton made 24 three-pointers in the two games, held foes to 26.7% shooting from deep, and forced 30 turnovers. Of greater concern is that CU was outrebounded in both contests by a combined 22 boards (95-73) and allowed 31 offensive rebounds.
Alan Huss is the 17th head coach in Creighton men’s basketball history, and he’s seeking to become the 14th of those men to win his debut on the Bluejay sideline. The only three to lose their debut were Arthur Schabinger (29-7 to Kansas in 1923), Willis Reed (57-51 to UW-Stevens Point in 1981) and Rick Johnson (92-75 to Iowa State in 1991).
Creighton has won each of its last 31 home openers since dropping a 1994 game to SMU in Dana Altman’s home debut (his CU debut came on the road at Oral Roberts, a game they won 68-64). Overall, Creighton is 97-11 in home openers and 74-6 in the previous 80 seasons.
Creighton is 11-3 all-time against Kansas City, including a perfect 9-0 mark in Omaha, in a series that dates back to 1988. The Bluejays have won each of the past seven meetings by an average of 19.6 points, scoring 79 points or more in each contest.
Alan Huss has never faced Kansas City as a head coach, but was 2-0 against the Roos as a Creighton student-athlete.
Huss has never coached against Mark Turgeon, but as a player Huss’ Creighton teams went 2-0 against Turgeon’s Wichita State team in 2000-01.
How’s this for coincidences? Huss’ first game as head coach is against the same team that Creighton faced in his first game as a player at Creighton 30 seasons ago. Huss made his collegiate debut on Nov. 14, 1997 in an 81-59 victory over Kansas City. Huss played in four minutes off the bench, finishing with two points, two blocks and a steal while making his only field goal attempt.
Monday’s game is the earliest start date for a season-opener in Creighton basketball history. The previous earliest start was on Nov. 5 in both 2019 (beat Kennesaw State 81-55) and in 2025 (beat South Dakota 92-76). By comparison, 34 years ago, Creighton’s season-opener in 1992-93 didn’t take place until Dec. 3rd. Go back to Alan Huss’ senior season in 2000-01 and the opener came on Nov. 20th.
They have played a pair of exhibition on November 2, however. In 2006, they defeated EA Sports 80-76 in overtime behind 24 points and eight rebounds from Anthony Tolliver. The Jays’ big man blocked a potential game-winning three-pointer with less than five seconds remaining in OT, then sank two free throws on the other end to seal the win. And in 2012, they had significantly less trouble with the University of Mary, winning 89-51 behind 18 points from Doug McDermott, who made 6-of-9 shots in just 16 minutes.
Creighton is favored by 26.5 in Vegas, and KenPom predicts a 24-point win with 98% probability of victory. ESPN’s BPI similarly gives CU 97.7% odds of winning. After a pair of exhibitions where they built huge leads only to allow their opponent back into the game, the key in this one is seeing what happens if and when they get a big lead.
CU 90, UMKC 65