No. 14 Creighton men’s basketball and Nebraska will renew their rivalry on Friday night as the Huskers visit CHI Health Center Omaha.
The Bluejays are 4-0 but have yet to face another high-major opponent, while Nebraska is 3-1 coming off a loss to a quality St. Mary’s team at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls. Creighton has won 11 of the past 13 meetings to take a 30-27 lead in the all-time series.
“It’s fun for everybody,” Coach Greg McDermott said. “As I’ve said before, there’s really nobody on the fence when it comes to whether you’re a Creighton basketball fan or a Nebraska basketball fan. That makes it fun, and obviously both teams made the NCAA tournament for last year. So both teams have been successful, and both teams are off to a good start. It should be a lot of fun Friday night.”
The road team has won the last three meetings in the series, with two Creighton wins in Lincoln sandwiching a Nebraska win at CHI Health Center Omaha in 2022-23.
The Jays won 89-60 last season, hitting 14 3-pointers as a team while Baylor Scheierman dropped 24 points including six 3s. Two years ago, Nebraska held Creighton to 55 points in a 10-point victory behind big games from Sam Griesel and Derrick Walker. The Bluejays shot 40% inside the arc and 25% from deep on 40 attempts.
“Last year we beat them at their place, the year before they beat us here,” Jasen Green said. “So I feel like there’s going to be some pretty high tensions and people are going to be excited to see what happens. I’m just really looking forward to it, because I wasn’t able to play here when we played them, so this is my first time playing them at CHI. I’m excited.”
Green, a Millard North product who received an offer from Nebraska before committing to Creighton, redshirted during the 2022-23 season when the Huskers won in Omaha. He said the rivalry means a bit more to him as he grew up in Omaha watching both teams play.
After a productive offseason, Green started at the four in Creighton’s opener before coming off the bench in the past three games. With Pop Isaacs missing the opener and Mason Miller missing the previous two games with minor injuries, the 6-foot-8 forward has seen playing time at the three, four and five positions, though he hasn’t quite found his footing offensively yet.
“It’s been fun for me because I get to play in a couple positions that I haven’t been playing in before too much,” Green said. “It’s been a little bit challenging, just learning all the all the different spots and different principles and what I need to do and when I need to do it. But it’s been really fun because I feel like that little bit of experience could be helpful later on, if something similar were to happen where I need to play a certain position that we’re missing out on in a game, or something like that. So I think it’s been really beneficial for me.”
Miller practiced in a limited fashion on Wednesday and is getting closer to full clearance.
Green and McDermott both highlighted Nebraska’s physicality. The Huskers have started a lineup featuring five players listed at 6-foot-5 or taller, including 6-foot-10 Berke Büyüktuncel at the four and 7-foot-1 Braxton Meah at the five. The Huskers rank 55th nationally in offensive rebounding rate and 17th in free-throw rate. Conversely, Creighton has been solid on the defensive glass and has allowed the lowest free-throw rate in the country.
“They start the two bigs and obviously scoring at the rim has been a challenge for the teams that have played against them,” McDermott said. “They’ve really done a good job of getting to the free-throw line, so we have to do a good job of not fouling, which is really important to us. I think the rebounding piece is something that they’re doing pretty well as well. I think he’s trying to figure out his rotations, just like we’re trying to figure out ours. A couple of their best shooters have been coming off the bench, so we’ve got to be ready for about anything.”
The Huskers have allowed teams to shoot 42.6% inside the arc (38th nationally) and have forced turnovers on nearly a quarter of their defensive possessions (24th).
“You can look at it statistically, and they force a lot of turnovers, and that gets them out in transition and gets their offense really going,” Steven Ashworth said. “I think you saw at the start of the St. Mary’s game, they’re never out of a game. They can definitely have their defense bring them back into things and all of that. So they’re a versatile team.”
Defensively, Nebraska tends to double-team the post and fly around trying to chase shooters off the arc. That more chaotic style can lead to open 3s if opponents can handle the pressure and move the ball, however, as teams have shot over 35% and scored nearly half their points against Nebraska from the 3-point line. Creighton hasn’t shot the ball particularly well as a team this season at 31.5%, but the Jays have several players who can get hot from the perimeter.
“Their defense is really aggressive,” McDermott said. “They’re going to send you to the outside and come and double team. If you can handle that, you can get some good shots. But handling it is easier said than done. They’ve turned teams over at a pretty high rate this year, so our ability to take care of the basketball is really important.”
Creighton will look to play through 7-foot-1 senior Ryan Kalkbrenner (25.8 points per game on 89.1% shooting). How Nebraska chooses to match up with him will be a key factor in the game. Meah, Büyüktuncel and North Dakota State transfer Andrew Morgan have all played the five spot for the Huskers, giving Coach Fred Hoiberg options. While Meah has the size to look Kalkbrenner in the eye, the other two provide more perimeter skill, which could present problems for Creighton’s defensive scheme that prefers to leave Kalkbrenner in the paint to provide rim protection.
“They have different skill sets, so I think it changes maybe what we’re doing defensively more than it will him on the offensive end,” McDermott said. “He’s got to get deep seals and try to catch it close to the rim, otherwise those double-teams are coming. So he’s got to do his work early, and we’ve got to find him on time and on target to get him to basketball, because they’re going to make that difficult. But defensively is where things change, because Morgan shoots it better than the other two. So we’ve got to get to that when that happens.”
Kalkbrenner hasn’t attempted more than nine shots against Nebraska in his career, totaling 12, 10 and 13 points in the past three meetings. When Creighton lost to the Huskers in 2022-23, the Bluejays weren’t able to take advantage of the defensive attention paid to Kalkbrenner. Last season was a different story, with Scheierman going off while Ashworth, Miller and Francisco Farabello all knocked down multiple 3s.
While Kalkbrenner has the advantage inside, Nebraska is bigger in the backcourt with Rollie Worster (6-foot-5, 210 pounds) and Brice Williams (6-foot-7, 214 pounds) at the guard spots. If Creighton opts to have Jamiya Neal defend Williams (18.8 points per game), that will likely leave the 6-foot-2 Isaacs to tangle with 6-foot-6 forward Juwan Gary while the 6-foot Ashworth matches up with Worster. Holding their own on the defensive glass will be key as the Bluejays hope to combat Nebraska’s size with transition play.
“Most teams we’re going to play are going to be bigger than us across the guard court especially, so we have to use our speed,” McDermott said. “That’s a deciding factor for us and I think something that makes us a little different than a lot of teams is our team speed is really good.”
Ashworth and Worster both play the same position, but they approach it in very different ways. Worster plays more bully ball, doing the bulk of his damage in the paint, while Ashworth’s jump shot is his greatest weapon. The two also entered college basketball together at Utah State in 2020-21, spending their freshman year as teammates before Worster followed Coach Craig Smith to Utah the following season.
“It’s fun,” Ashworth said. “Obviously, we’ve followed each other’s careers, and we started off together in the same spot, and then went both our different ways. But a lot of respect for him and his game and excited to see him on Friday.”
The Creighton and Nebraska men will face off at CHI Health Center Omaha at 7 p.m. CT on FS1, part of a Nebraska-Creighton double-header. The women will face off at D.J. Sokol Arena prior, with a 4 p.m. tipoff on FloHoops. Creighton has encouraged fans attending either or both games to participate in a blue out.
“It’s super fun,” Ashworth said. “It’s going to be an exciting day in Omaha to have both games going on. They’re before us, so I hope all the fans make it out to that game and then come out to watch our game as well.”
