Juwan Gary scored 16 factors with seven rebounds and helped make Ryan Kalkbrenner a non-factor on offense as visiting Nebraska upset No. 14 Creighton 74-63 on Friday in Omaha, Neb.
Brice Williams additionally completed with 16 factors for Nebraska (4-1). Connor Essegian had a season-high 15 factors, Berke Buyuktuncel added 12 factors and 9 boards and Rollie Worster scored 11.
Within the paint, Nebraska’s frontcourt smothered Kalkbrenner, the Bluejays’ star heart who is taken into account among the best gamers in faculty basketball. He was held to 0-for-1 field-goal capturing in 39 minutes.
The 7-foot-1 senior was held with out a made area purpose for the primary time since Feb. 8, 2022, in opposition to Butler. He completed with 4 factors on 4-of-8 free-throw capturing and had 11 rebounds.
With the within locked down, Creighton (4-1) took 42 of its 52 photographs from 3-point vary. Pop Isaacs led the Bluejays with 25 factors, together with 5-of-12 capturing from deep.
Making issues worse for Creighton, guard Steven Ashworth went down in ache late within the second half and needed to be helped off the court docket, unable to place any weight on his proper foot. Ashworth scored 16 factors and had seven turnovers.
The Cornhuskers opened the sport with a 3-pointer from Gary and by no means trailed the Bluejays. They broke out to a 31-13 lead due to an 11-0 run whereas Creighton went 0-for-6 from the ground with 4 turnovers in the identical span.
Jackson McAndrew hit a 3-pointer and Kalkbrenner added three free throws as Creighton crept inside 9 factors, however Williams hit a jumper within the remaining seconds to present Nebraska a 35-24 halftime edge.
Early within the second half, Jamiya Neal (10 factors for Creighton) stole a lazy Nebraska cross at midcourt and took it in for a dunk, however the house crowd’s optimism was short-lived. The Bluejays bought as shut as seven factors with quarter-hour to play, however Essegian hit three straight shot makes an attempt for Nebraska to reestablish the double-digit margin.
Creighton nonetheless had an opportunity when McAndrew made one other triple to chop it to 59-49 with 6:19 to go. The Huskers held the Bluejays to 0-for-8 capturing for the following 5:18 as Nebraska put the sport away.
Nebraska outshot Creighton 42.1 p.c to 32.7 p.c from the sphere and dedicated 10 fewer turnovers (seven to 17).
–Discipline Stage Media