Creighton earns 2 wins in less than a year against #1s, Jayhawks last to lose in Omaha
OMAHA, Neb. — Creighton has faced eight No. 1 teams in its basketball history, and the first six of those games haven’t been close. It was all a loss.
The last two? Bluejays breakouts at CHI Health Center.
Creighton beat top-ranked Kansas 76-63 In Wednesday night’s game, the unseeded Bluejays never trailed and trailed by 17 points.
Ten months ago, they knocked off No. 1 Connecticut 85-66. It was UConn’s last loss before reeling off 13 straight wins to capture its second straight national championship.
Five of the Creighton players on the field against the Jayhawks also played against the Huskies, including 7-foot-1 center Ryan Kalkbrenner. The Big East preseason player of the year returned from injury to score 17 points and outplay Kansas big man Hunter Dickinson. Kalkbrenner had 15 points against UConn last February.
“Both feel good, obviously,” Kalkbrenner said. “These two teams, UConn and Kansas, are elite, high-level programs. We were able to execute the game plan in both games and played at a high level. You feel good after these wins.
A raucous crowd was involved from the first tip against KU, with the noise level increasing every time Pop Isaacs swung one of his six 3-pointers and Kalkbrenner threw lob passes for dunks. At the final buzzer, students rushed out of the end zone seats onto the field as flames burst from the goal posts.
“I didn’t really experience a moment like that in college,” Isaacs said. “I didn’t play against the No. 1 team in the country. I played against No. 2 and No. 3. It was very publicized. The students arrived and it was electric there. This was not the first field assault I had participated in. It was the most important. »
Isaacs was familiar with the way Kansas plays defense from the two seasons he played at Texas Tech, and he said that was an advantage. He scored a season-high 27 points.
“I saw the ball go through the basket,” he said. “The first shot was fired. It felt good to get out of my hands. I felt like I looked really good tonight. Like coach says, I’m a really good shooter when I take the right shots, and I took the right shots tonight for the most part.
Isaacs and point guard Steven Ashworth missed practice due to illness this week, Ashworth was still dealing with a sprained ankle from two weeks ago and Kalkbrenner missed the Bluejays’ win over Notre Dame on Saturday due to injury. a lower body injury.
When asked if he thought his team would be up to the task against the Jayhawks, coach Greg McDermott mentioned that he called his 90-year-old father before the game to give him some words of wisdom.
“He said pack your bags and go home,” McDermott said. “He wasn’t very confident after watching us play and after watching Kansas play.”
McDermott said beating Kansas meant a little more to him than beating UConn even though the Huskies are a Big East opponent. McDermott grew up in Iowa paying attention to the Jayhawks, and he coached for four seasons at Iowa State and could never beat Bill Self and the Jayhawks. In fact, he was 0-10 against KU before Wednesday.
“I’ve been watching Kansas basketball forever,” McDermott said. “Back to Coach Williams and then Coach Self, they’re some of the best. We had some mistakes at the Hilton when I was at Iowa State where we walked out of the Hilton (Coliseum) disappointed that we couldn’t make the job against a good Kansas team to finally beat them when they had a great team and they’re ranked No. 1 in the country, it’s great for our guys and great for our fans.
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