The Creighton men’s basketball winning streak continued Wednesday night as the Bluejays took down Providence 80-69 at Amica Mutual Pavilion to complete the season sweep of the Friars.
The Jays (17-6) have won eight straight and sit at 10-2 in conference play, good for sole possession of second place, one game back of St. John’s.
“We’ve had a really hard time here,” Coach Greg McDermott said. “It hasn’t really mattered whether it’s Coach [Ed] Cooley or Coach [Kim] English; we’ve had a hard time winning here. I expected a physical, great game, and that’s what it was. Much like the game in Omaha, it was a close game and then we were able to hit some shots to kind of create some separation. We defended the 3-point line much better the second half, that was the message at halftime. And then we were able to establish Ryan [Kalkbrenner] … He’s an incredible player, and even a better person.”
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Super Seniors Stand Tall
Creighton’s offense was stuck deep in the mud early on Wednesday night. Kalkbrenner missed his first five shots. Steven Ashworth missed five of his first six. As a team, Creighton missed 15 of its first 18 shots, 13 of which came from the 3-point line. The Jays trailed Providence 16-10 at the midway point of the first half.
Then things shifted. First, Ashworth got a 3-pointer to go just inside of the nine-minute mark. Then he connected with Kalkbrenner on an alley-oop, with the 7-footer redirecting the ball into the basket at the 8:15 mark while appearing to take some contact as he finished. The whistle didn’t sound, however, and Kalkbrenner voiced his displeasure on the way back up the floor, resulting in a technical.
The game shifted at that point. Creighton made a more concerted effort to play through Kalkbrenner and he put forth a more focused effort to get the ball through the rim. He made five of his last six in the first half then continued to dominate throughout the second, finishing with a Big East-high 35 points on 13-of-23 from the field (2-of-5 from 3) and 7-of-10 from the foul line, 12 rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
According to former ESPN researcher and current stat-tweeter Jared Berson, Kalkbrenner is the first Big East player since Luke Harangody to drop 35 and 10 with multiple steals and blocks. It was also his second double-double of the season with at least 35 points, making him the only Big East player in the last 15 years with multiple 35-point double-doubles in a single season. The rest of college basketball has produced just three such games this year.
The rest of the team didn’t really have it offensively for most of the night. In the second half in particular, Creighton went 12 and a half minutes between points from players not named Kalkbrenner or Ashworth. Jamiya Neal converted a three-point play at the 14:42 mark, then scored another layup with 2:12 remaining.
Neal added a pair of free throws, giving him nine points in the game, including seven in the second half. Jasen Green hit a 3-pointer early in the half. No one else scored as Kalkbrenner and Ashworth combined for 30 of Creighton’s 40 in the second half, with Kalkbrenner scoring 20.
“It was a good trio tonight, obviously led by number 11,” Ashworth said. “He was an absolute force and was huge for us down the stretch. Not too often you talk about your big man hitting big-time clutch 3s, but he did it for us, and he did everything at the defensive end as well. It was a huge night for him.”
Ashworth only shot 3-for-9 from deep but finished with 20 points on 7-of-15 from the field and 6-of-6 from the line plus six boards and six assists, playing all 40 minutes. Five of his six assists went to Kalkbrenner, four of which were alley-oops.
“He’s just a great player and a high-level thinker,” Kalkbrenner said of Ashworth. “His basketball IQ is off the charts. Every now and then we have to get together and say something, but it’s a quick ‘Hey, you see this, yeah, I see this,’ and then next play we get it. He’s just a high-IQ player and it’s awesome playing with him as the point guard.”
Neal finished with nine points, six assists and five rebounds but didn’t make a 3 and only attempted eight shots. Jackson McAndrew made his first two 3s but didn’t score again. Green hit the 3 early in the second half, Fredrick King threw down a dunk and Isaac Traudt hit a pair of free throws. Creighton’s supporting cast outside of the two fifth-year seniors totaled 22 points on 7-of-27 shooting.
The Jays needed all the offense they could get from the two veterans in order to secure a comfortable win, and they were more than up to the task as they have been so many times this season already.
Another Defensive Masterpiece
Kalkbrenner and Ashworth had to carry the load largely because it was a tough offensive day for the Jays as a whole. While they ended up with 80 points, they also shot 41.5% from the field including 25.8% from 3.
Creighton pulled away in the second half thanks to another defensive masterclass with Kalkbrenner leading the way and everyone else doing their job around him.
The Friars went 7-for-12 from deep in the first half but cooled off in the second, going 4-for-14 from deep and totaling just 30 points on 33 shots plus one trip to the foul line.
“We had to be more physical on defense and especially limit second-chance points,” Ashworth said. “They had a few too many in the second half as well that kept their possessions alive and kept them in the game longer than we hoped for. So in that second half, I feel like we did a better job defensively, just with our physicality at pickup points and off the ball on some of their staggers and pin-downs and different type of actions. And then at the end of the day, you funnel it to number 11, and he’ll take care of the rest, and he did that in the second half for us.”
While the Friars hit 11 3-pointers, they also shot 7-for-21 inside the lane but outside the restricted area, which is where Creighton’s defense is designed to funnel shooters. Pierre Joseph, Providence’s leading scorer, finished with 14 points on 13 shooting possessions and only attempted one 3-pointer in the second half. Bensley Joseph, the Friars’ other main offensive option, only played 19 minutes because of foul trouble and scored eight points on nine shots.
“I still thought we did a good job on Pierre and Joseph,” McDermott said. “They take 21 shots to get 22 points, so we made them work. I think the job that Stephen and Jamiya did on those two, it wears into you, because you’re just used to catching it, and they had to work every time to catch it. We took good care of the basketball. We stuck to our plan.
“As I told the team, a totally different lineup out there. We came into this game thinking I was going to have to play Mason [Miller] a bunch, and then one of their shooters is out and now we needed physicality. While Fedor [Žugić] wasn’t making shots, I thought defensively he did a really good job. And then our two seniors, they were terrific. Jamiya defensively was terrific. He didn’t have his best offensive night, but six assists and two turnovers again. Just really proud of the group. This is a hard place to win. It’s been a house of horrors for us, so to be able to come in here and get a victory in front of a great crowd is a feather in our cap.”
During this eight-game winning streak, Creighton’s defense ranks ninth nationally in adjusted efficiency according to BartTorvik.com.
Road Warriors
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Jays at Providence. Their last win came in 2021, when Providence was playing its home games at Alumni Hall without fans. Creighton’s last win at Providence’s main facility with fans in attendance was Dec. 31, 2018, when Amica Mutual Pavillion was still called the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
“It’s not easy for any team,” Ashworth said of the AMP. “This team’s been competing with the best teams in the Big East. They lost on the game-winner at St. John’s just the other night, took UConn down to the wire at their place. And so to be able to go 2-0 against Providence is a really big deal. Especially to come in here, the place is rowdy, the fans are awesome and it’s a fun place to play.”
Creighton has now won five straight road games, a stat that would have been hard to believe possible after a middle-of-the-pack Georgetown team ran Creighton off the floor in the Jays’ Big East opener back on Dec. 18.
Creighton is the fifth team in the past 20 years to secure a road win at Villanova, at UConn and at Providence in the same season. Ashworth attributed much of their road success to their faith in each other.
“When you have that type of faith in each other, there are incredible things that can happen,” Ashworth said. “You see it with just the celebrations that every guy has. Every single game it seems like a different lineup plays the majority of the game, and you go to the locker room the next day or the facility the next day, nobody’s head is down. That’s a huge thing when it comes to the fact that you can’t play more than five guys at a time, and everybody’s staying ready for their moment. It’s a super fun team to be a part of, and the job is definitely not finished. There’s a lot of work to be done, but we’re trending in the right direction.”
Seven of Creighton’s first 12 Big East games have come on the road, which means a home-heavy finish to the season with five games remaining at CHI Health Center Omaha, starting with the next two against league contenders Marquette and UConn.
However, Creighton has shown it can win anywhere, at any time.
