Edit: Early Saturday morning Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman broke the bombshell news that Pop Isaacs will have hip surgery and is done the season. Coming off an electric 27-point performance against Kansas, it’s a massive hit to the Jays. The Primer was written and published before that news broke.
After their rousing upset of #1 Kansas on Wednesday, Greg McDermott told his players to enjoy the win. “Walk around campus, stick your chest out, fist pump students as you walk by them and enjoy what you just accomplished,” he recounted on his postgame radio show. “But when we turn the film on at 2:30 on Thursday, we have to be ready to turn the page.”
They should have little trouble turning the page considering the next opponent is UNLV, a team who beat the Jays by 15 last December after coming in as 13-point underdogs. It was an abominable loss where their defense allowed UNLV to score on 12 of their first 19 possessions — and then allowed UNLV to record an assist on 13 of their 17 made baskets in the second half. For the game, the Rebels had 19 assists on 32 baskets, and the Jays’ low energy, disengaged defensive effort led to one of the feistier postgame radio interviews of McDermott’s tenure at Creighton.
“Our defense is not doing what it’s supposed to do,” he told John Bishop that night. “We’re supposed to force them into situations where they have to make plays one-on-one. That’s how our defense works, and if we’re gonna be successful, we better get it back pretty damn quick.”
Reviewing the film of that game on Thursday was probably not fun. The Jays owe them one, and my guess is they’ll be locked in for the Rebels.
As always, the key to Creighton’s defense starts with Ryan Kalkbrenner, who returned from a lower body injury to put up 17 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Kansas — plus locking down Hunter Dickinson defensively — despite being significantly less than 100%. He said after the game that the injured area was still completely numb, which had allowed him to play through it.
“They’re managing how much I do,” Kalkbrenner said. “Obviously I want to be at every practice and be a full participant, and be a full participant in every game. But you know, when you’re dealing with an injury, you’ve got to be smart about it. You have to pick your spots. ‘What do I need to be a part of here? What stuff do I need to just watch and be locked in (mentally)?’ So just that stuff, because it really is just rest and letting the body heal at this point.”
UNLV hasn’t played for eight days after dropping back-to-back games at the Arizona Tip-Off in Tempe over Thanksgiving. They came into that event on a three-game win streak, but lost 80-58 to then-No. 25 Mississippi State and 66-61 to Northwestern.
6’1” sophomore point guard Dedan Thomas Jr. leads the team in points (16.6) and assists (3.9) per game. He sliced up the Jays a year ago, scoring 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in a first half where Steven Ashworth was the primary defender. The Jays switched Trey Alexander onto him into the second half, and while Alexander shut his water off from a scoring perspective — Thomas had just two points in the second half — he created shots for others by dishing out seven assists in the second half alone.
Thomas is adept at drawing contact and getting to the line. Three times in seven games, he’s attempted ten or more free throws. He’s scored 44 points at the line and 42 off two-point baskets.
Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry, their 6’11” 280 pound center, has 13 blocks through seven games and does an excellent job of clearing the glass — he’s rebounded 9.8% of their missed shots and 21.0% of opponent’s misses. Both numbers put him among the top 250 in D1. He’s also an efficient shooter, with a field-goal percentage with 72.0% (5th best in D1).
Transfer guard Julian Rishwain was added to the starting lineup before the Arizona tourney, as forward Rob Whaley Jr. (back), guard Jaden Henley (foot) and guard Jace Whiting (foot) all work their way back from injury. Rishwain is in his sixth year of college hoops at four different schools (Boston College, San Francisco, Florida and now UNLV), and is averaging 12 points, three rebounds and two steals since moving into the starting five. In the loss to Northwestern, he was 3-of-10 from three point range. Prior to that game he had been shooting 14-of-32 (43.7%) from deep; even after that rough game, he’s still north of 40% for the season.
Jailen Bedford, a 6’4” senior transfer from Oral Roberts, is third on the team in scoring at 9.6 points per game. He’s made multiple threes in six of seven games, and shooting 15-of-35 for the year from the perimeter (42.9%).
Fourth in scoring is another sixth-year senior, 6’6” forward Jalen Hill, who comes in averaging 9.4 points per game and 5.0 rebounds. He scored nearly 900 points in four years at Oklahoma, but was hurt seven games into last season at UNLV and was granted an extra year. Creighton saw him in 2019, believe it or not — he played 24 minutes with four rebounds and two assists in the Jays’ 83-73 win on December 17, 2019. Here’s how long ago that was: that game was Denzel Mahoney’s Bluejay debut.
Tip: 3:00pm
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 Taylor Stormberg
Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
Simulcast on SiriusXM channel 111 or 203 as well as on the SiriusXM App
With the Thomas & Mack Center hosting the National Finals Rodeo, the UNLV men’s basketball team has to be out of its home arena. They don’t have a home game over a 28-day period: UNLV’s last game at home was Nov. 23 vs. New Mexico State and their next will be on Dec. 21 vs. UC Riverside
The Runnin’ Rebels went 21-13 overall last season, finishing fourth in the MW standings with a 12-6 league mark. The Runnin’ Rebels are coming off their best season in over a decade as they were invited to the postseason for the first time since 2013 and won a postseason game for the first time in 16 years.
Mountain West Co-Freshman of the Year Dedan Thomas Jr. set the Mountain West’s assists record with
174, also leading the nation in assists among freshmen.
Ryan Kalkbrenner had 17 points and 10 rebounds vs. No. 1 Kansas on Wednesday, making him Creighton’s first player ever with a double-double against a top-ranked team. Kalkbrenner’s 10 rebounds also tied the most ever by a Bluejay against a No.1 squad, as George Morrow also had 10 boards vs. DePaul on Jan. 28.
Creighton is just the fourth unranked Big East school to beat the AP’s No. 1 team by double-digits, joining Louisville over Syracuse (78-68 on March 10, 2006), UConn over Texas (88-74 on Jan. 23, 2010) and Villanova over Syracuse (93-74 on Jan. 6, 1990), which means CU is the second to do so in a regular-season non-conference game.
Pop Isaacs scored 27 points on Wednesday, the third time this season he’s scored 25 or more points. He’s the first player since at least 1996-97 to scored 25 points or more at least three times in his first 10 games with Creighton.
UNLV owns a 3-1 lead in the series against Creighton, though each meeting has taken place in Nevada. Creighton’s lone win in the series came in the first meeting, a 71-70 victory in 1967, but each of the past three meetings have been decided by double-figures. Last season UNLV defeated Creighton 79-64 in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, Nev.
On December 7, 2002, Creighton moved to 6-0 thanks to a 74-64 win over BYU at the Civic. The Bluejays forced 23 turnovers, and had a 25-4 edge on points off turnovers, more than making up for a day where they didn’t shoot particularly well — Kyle Korver went 4-14 from three-point range, and the team was just 8-28 from downtown.
With the game tied at 40 midway early in the second half, Creighton used a 21-6 run to bust the game open. BYU’s 12 possessions during that nearly eight-minute span produced five turnovers, two field goals, and two free throws. Meanwhile, unsung heros for the Jays carried them — sophomore Kellen Milliner scored 8 of his 11 points during the run, and freshman Nate Funk added six. The run was capped by a Korver three at the 8:33 mark, whipping an unusually large (for the time) non-conference crowd of 8,500 into a frenzy.
The Bottom Line:
KenPom predicts a nine-point Bluejay win, and ESPN’s BPI gives Creighton 87.1% odds of victory.
If they can run the Rebels off the perimeter and guard Thomas without fouling, they should win this one.
Jays 77, Rebels 67