Hoops season has arrived, and fans of Creighton men’s basketball will get their first look at the 2026-27 Bluejays under new head coach Alan Huss on Sunday as they head to Ames, Iowa, for an exhibition game against Iowa State.
Sophomore Hudson Greer said the thing he’s most looking forward to is the atmosphere at Hilton Coliseum.
“I’ve never played there, but being from Texas and talking to some of those guys, they used to play them in the Big 12, and they always said that it was a crazy atmosphere and things like that,” Greer told Hurrdat Sports. “With that being said, just going out there and having a bunch of fun. Even though the game technically doesn’t count for our record, going out there and trying to win.”
Sunday’s game is a return trip after the Cyclones visited Omaha in the preseason a year ago, and it’s the first of two high-major exhibitions for Creighton, with Minnesota set to visit CHI Health Center Omaha on Oct. 23. Why challenge his team with two power conference schools out of the gate?
“Why not?” Huss told reporters Wednesday.
Huss was on staff last year when Creighton handled Iowa State in that exhibition, only for the Cyclones to win 29 games (including one against the Jays in Las Vegas) and reach the Sweet 16, while Creighton finished below .500.
“These things are what they are,” Huss said. “We’ll keep proper perspective and stay to our script and not get too high or too low based on results.”
Sunday won’t be the first time the Jays play against someone other than their own teammates, however. Creighton held a closed scrimmage against Omaha at CHI on Oct. 7. The focus of the Iowa State game will be to act on what the Jays learned against the Mavericks and perform with the added pressure of a crowd in attendance.
“It’s always interesting the first time you do it in front of lights,” Huss said. “I think the first time you do it against an opponent that’s not wearing the same color jersey as you are, that’s interesting. That’s the first step of the progression, and for the most part, we did good things in our scrimmage against Omaha. But there were no people in the stands.
“That creates a whole new set of stimuli that you have to kind of contend with, and so we’ll do our best to jump out there on Sunday with a with a road environment and not sleep in on our own bed and all the things that you have to deal with during the season. It’ll be interesting to see how we do there.”
The Bluejays likely won’t be at full strength as they’ve had a few players in and out of practice. Huss will likely be cautious with them, so determining who will suit up was his first task before formulating a game plan and settling on a rotation.
“We need to play some different combinations,” Huss said. “We’ve got some guys beat up. I’m guessing we’re not going to play everybody, so we’ve got to first figure out who is going to be available, and then from there we’re going to try to script out the first at least 28, 30 minutes of it, and then maybe feel the last 10 out, depending on how it’s going. We’ll try to get a good idea of who we’re going to play, so we get certain combinations on the floor, and more so than anything, just try to feel out the process of playing on the road in front of some fans that maybe aren’t particularly nice to us, and try to create a little adversity for us.”
Among those players who are “beat up” is Jackson McAndrew. Huss said the third-year forward from Minnesota has been the team’s best player over the past month, but he did not participate in practice on Wednesday and was a limited participant on Friday, though he looked to be playing without restrictions.
“He has been a little nicked up the last couple practices, got a foot that’s been bothering him, so he may have to step back for a minute and let that run its course,” Huss said on Wednesday.
Jasen Green has been limited at times, and Hudson Greer has been in and out as well, though he practiced fully on Friday.
Creighton Bluejay Jackson McAndrew waits to shoot during a practice on July 7. Coach Alan Huss said the junior has been the team’s best player in practice during the fall, but foot discomfort has his status up in the air for Sunday’s exhibition at Iowa State. Photo by Brandon Tiedemann.
Additionally, Huss said on Wednesday that Creighton was in “wait and see mode” with Fredrick King and Brody Robinson, who are seeking a fifth year of eligibility.
On Friday, the court in Kentucky granted a temporary injunction making King and other plaintiffs involved in the suit eligible to play once again. Robinson did not receive the same news, however, as the court in Tennessee denied the plaintiffs’ motion to lift the stay on their initial injunction. In the meantime, the two have primarily been participating on the scout team in Creighton’s practices.
On the other side of the matchup, the appellate court in Indiana denied the NCAA’s appeal for a stay of the injunction, granting numerous athletes, including Iowa State point guard Tamin Lipsey, temporary eligibility. The Ames native was a four-year starter for the Cyclones with more than 1,500 points, 600 assists and 300 steals in his career who opted to re-enroll at Iowa State and pursue a fifth season after participating in the NBA Summer League.
Regardless of Lipsey’s status on Sunday, the Cyclones will be without last year’s starting shooting guard, sophomore Killyan Toure. The dynamic defender is recovering from on offseason shoulder injury that will sideline him until January.
Aside from Lipsey and Toure, Iowa State’s top returner is 6-foot-10 forward Blake Buchanan, who averaged 8.5 points on 63.6% shooting and 5.7 rebounds while logging 36 starts as a junior. Jamarion Batemon, a 6-foot-3 guard, is back after averaging 6.6 points and shooting 37% from 3 in 15.6 minutes per game off the bench as a freshman.
Coach TJ Otzelberger signed a five-man transfer class and added three high school recruits to his returning core. Iowa State finished seventh in KenPom last season and heads into 2026-27 ranked sixth thanks to a top-five defense and a top-25 offense.
KenPom has Creighton slotted in 30th to start the season, with the 25th-ranked offensive efficiency and 45th-rated defense, according to Pomeroy’s formula. Bart Torvik’s T-Rank projects the 25th-ranked offense for Creighton as well, though his formula is lower on the defense, ranked 75th to bump Creighton’s overall ranking down to 43rd.
That’s what some of the most-visited college basketball analytics sites think an Alan Huss team will look like. Here’s Huss’ preseason assessment of what the fans will see heading into exhibition season.
“Hopefully, they see a group that’s gritty and grimy, defensively especially, and then a group that’s unselfish on the offensive end,” Huss said. “But I don’t know, basketball’s basketball. I don’t know that it’s going to look completely different than what they’ve grown accustomed to seeing. Right now, we’re not very good at either those ends, which is, I think, the case with most teams this time of year. We’ve got some work to do, but it’s a big couple of weeks for us as we get ready for regular games.”
On Wednesday, Huss identified the two biggest question marks surrounding this team based on what he’s seen to this point. The first is what the team’s defensive identity is going to be. He’s seen some good things and also plenty to work on as the Bluejays shift to a more aggressive style on that end. The other centers on his backcourt and who will step up and grab the reins of the offense.
Based on skill set and playing experience to this point, Katrelle Harmon is the only true point guard currently eligible on the roster, and he’s a true freshman going through all the ups and downs of making the leap to big-time college basketball. The Jays will rely on veteran transfers B.J. Davis and Wes Enis among others to shoulder a lot of the offensive initiating responsibilities, but they’ve played primarily shooting guard throughout their careers. Huss called it a work in progress in that area thus far, and Sunday will provide them an opportunity to prove themselves against one of the best defensive teams in the country.
Tipoff at Hilton Coliseum is set for noon CT. Alex Cohen and former Omaha head coach Derrin Hansen will call the game on ESPN+, while Hurrdat Sports will have on-site coverage before, during and after the game on our social pages and here on the Bluejay Breakdown page.
