Creighton men’s basketball escaped the blizzard back in Omaha to hold its open practice at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky, ahead of its NCAA Tournament matchup with AP No. 10 Louisville.
Coach Greg McDermott said he was excited to be there on stage Wednesday alongside his senior leaders.
“You can’t ever take the NCAA Tournament for granted, especially this day and age with rebuilding teams every year; it’s much more difficult to build a program than it used to be,” McDermott said. “The fact that we’ve got some new pieces and went through some adversity in November and December with some injuries and really had to reinvent ourselves makes me even more proud that we’re sitting here today with an opportunity to keep playing in the pinnacle of our sport.
“It really has been a very rewarding group to coach this year, and we look forward to going on the court against a very good Louisville team tomorrow.”
Many of the seedings and inclusions for this year’s tournament raised some eyebrows on Selection Sunday, with Louisville (23rd in KenPom) as a No. 8 seed being one of them. Landing on the 9-seed line is a bit lower than many on the Creighton side expected as well, but Ryan Kalkbrenner said he tries not to think much about seeding.
“I think you definitely can get a little riled up for it,” Kalkbrenner said. “For me personally, I know once you get to March, all you have to do is get in, and then it’s anyone’s game. So it didn’t rile me up too much. What is Louisville now in the AP poll? Ten? So that was a little confusing to me how they ended up an 8 seed and they’re 10th in the AP poll. But once you get to this time of year, every team is really good anyway. At this point it doesn’t matter who you play. You’ve got to go out there and win or go home.”
While Louisville appears to be under-seeded according to many metrics, the tradeoff is the opportunity to spend the first weekend close to home — about 75 miles from campus. However, Creighton (24-10) is no stranger to playing in intimidating atmospheres at supposed neutral sites after its run to the Big East Tournament championship game.
“We essentially played a road game Friday night against UConn in the Garden and then Saturday against St. John’s, so we just did it twice,” McDermott said. “We fully expect to have a similar experience tomorrow. We’ve been in that environment. We were successful Friday night. We played great for about 30 minutes, 32 minutes against St. John’s and then let it get away.
“But you have to stick together. Your team unity is so critical when you are in a building where everybody is against you, and that’s going to be the case. We’ve got a blizzard going on in Omaha right now, so I don’t know how many people are going to get here, but hopefully we will have some folks in blue tomorrow.”
Coach Pat Kelsey has the Cardinals in the top 10 of the AP Poll and in the NCAA Tournament with a 27-7 record in his first year at the helm at Louisville after the Cardinals went 12-52 in the previous two seasons under Kenny Payne. Kelsey has navigated season-ending injuries to double-digit scorer Kasean Pryor and back-up guard Koren Johnson, and BYU transfer big man Alky Khalifa is also redshirting this season. Even so, the Cardinals went 18-2 in ACC player.
“Coach Kelsey has done an unbelievable job,” McDermott said. “Like us, they have had to reinvent their roster because of injuries early. You can see it from watching them in December and January to how they are playing recently, how much they have improved and how guys have embraced their roles. He’s very creative offensively, defensively. They do a great job trying to take away what teams are trying to do, and they look like they’re having a blast. That’s a credit to Coach Kelsey and his staff that they have created a culture where they really, truly look like they’re enjoying playing the game of basketball.
“It’s one of the best stories in college basketball from what he did last year to where the team is today, outside of the fact that the No. 10 team is playing in the 8-9 game; that’s probably a pretty big story, too. But we’re the recipient of that, I guess. He’s done an unbelievable job. It’s easier to turn around programs quickly than it has ever been, but it’s not that easy. You have to do a lot of research to make sure the pieces fit. They’ve done a masterful job of putting that roster together that looks like they’ve been playing together forever.”
The centerpiece of that roster rebuild is a familiar face for basketball fans in Omaha. Point guard Chucky Hepburn, a four-year starter and state champion at Bellevue West, earned first-team All-ACC, ACC Defensive Player of the Year and AP honorable mention All-America honors in his first year at Louisville after spending his first three seasons at Wisconsin.
Hepburn is averaging 16.2 points, 5.8 assists and 2.5 steals this year. Steven Ashworth said he played pick-up basketball with Hepburn while he was in back in Omaha during the offseason and knows what kind of a player he is.
“Very talented guard; most Omaha guards are,” Ashworth said. “He’s going to be a lot of fun to go up against tomorrow, both offensively and defensively. ACC Defensive Player of the Year and has similar feel to what Zakai Zeigler is able to do on defense. We matched up with them in the tournament last year. Definitely a great opportunity to be going up against a defender like that. And then offensively really efficient at getting to his spots and running the offense in a really well-oiled manner.”
Louisville’s leading scorer narrowly ahead of Hepburn is Terrance Edwards Jr., a 6-foot-6 transfer from James Madison. He’s averaging 16.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists while playing a key role defensively.
J’Vonne Hadley, a 6-foot-6 forward, and Reyne Smith, a 6-foot-2 guard, are both double-digit scorers as well. Smith is scoring 13.4 points per game while shooting 38.3% on 9.3 3-point attempts per game. He missed Louisville’s previous four games with an injury but is expected back for the tournament opener.
“Watching his film, he’s electric behind the 3-point line, and similar numbers [to me],” Ashworth said. “And I think he’s even missed a few games lately, so his 3-point numbers would be higher if he played in those games.”
Louisville’s offense is ranked 29th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency on KenPom, and the Cardinals feature one of the better pick-and-roll attacks in the country with Hepburn driving it. The Cardinals are only shooting 33% from 3 (216th in the country, with 48.1% of their attempts coming from beyond the arc) but are converting at a 57% clip inside the arc (19th).
“We have to [defend] without fouling,” McDermott said. “That’s really important and has been to us all season. Chucky is playing as well as any guard in the country. His ability to navigate those screening activities is elite, because you have to respect him as a shooter and a scorer, but he might be a better passer than he is both of those, which is saying a lot because he’s always been a good scorer. Every time you make a mistake, he makes you pay for it. So our ability to really follow our rules and stay on point with the scouting report is going to be really critical.”
The Cardinals have been even better on defense, ranking 21st nationally in adjusted efficiency on that end. They don’t feature much in the way of rim protection but can be disruptive (93rd in forcing turnovers) and aggressive on the offensive glass (56th). They aren’t particularly adept at taking away 3-point opportunities but have held teams to 48.3% shooting inside the arc and 33.7% from deep.
“They have kind of a sense of nastiness on them, especially on defense, in terms of how they play, being able to rake and speed teams up,” Jamiya Neal said. “On offense I would say their guards are patient. They have a lot of complex offense where it has a lot of flares and screens. And it’s definitely going to be a challenge, but I think the strength of our schedule has kind of prepared us for things like this, and now it’s time to just go out there and perform.”
On the injury front for Creighton, Fedor Žugić was mostly a non-participant in Creighton’s open practice on Wednesday, though he did tell Hurrdat Sports’ Ana Bellinghausen that he practiced with the team for the first time since the injury Wednesday morning. McDermott said a lot depends on how Žugić’s ankle reacts to Wednesday’s activity, but he expects the Montenegrin guard will be available Thursday.
Creighton and Villanova will face off in the first game of the first round on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 11:15 a.m. CT on CBS with Brian Anderson, Jim Jackson and Allie LaForce on the call.
“We’re going to have to have our A game.”@cucoachmac joins @AnaBellMedia ahead of the First Round of the NCAA Tournament against Louisville. McDermott says he expects Fedor Žugić to be available after an ankle injury on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/taWVL205by
— Hurrdat Sports (@HurrdatSports) March 19, 2025
