The streaking Bluejays added another win to their record Tuesday night as Creighton men’s basketball took down Butler 89-85 at CHI Health Center Omaha.
The Jays (9-5, 3-0 Big East) used a 12-0 run early in the game to surge ahead and never trailed again, though Butler continued to assert pressure until the final buzzer.
“I was impressed with Butler on film,” Coach Greg McDermott said. “I was more impressed in person. That team’s going to win a lot of games … Obviously, their physicality is off the charts.”
Creighton knocked down 13 3-pointers, connecting on them at a 40.6% clip. It’s the fifth straight game the Jays have hit double-digit 3s, and they’ve shot 37% or better in all five.
Here are three takeaways from the win.
Winning the War
Butler is the best offensive rebounding team in the Big East, corralling 38.5% of its misses heading into Tuesday’s game (20th in the country). Since their return from break, the Bluejays prepared for a war in the paint every time a shot went up, and that’s exactly what they got.
The Bulldogs rebounded 21 of their 46 misses — a 45.7% rebounding rate. To put that in context, Creighton gave up a whopping 51.2% offensive rebounding rate in its loss to Baylor, a 36.1% rate in the following loss to Iowa State and a 37.5% rate in the loss to Kansas State. However, in those games, Creighton allowed 1.22 points per second-chance opportunity. On Saturday, Butler converted those 21 offensive rebounds into just 18 points — just 0.86 per possession.
“They’re going to get some offensive rebounds,” McDermott said. “It’s what they do … We talked about it; you can’t be defeated when they get it. You’ve got to hook it up and be ready to defend, and our guys did that. We stayed physical, and there were some long possessions because of offensive rebounds. But I thought we did a pretty good job of that … You have to keep playing. We preach next play all the time, and an offensive rebound is the next play. It’s a start of a new defensive possession, and we have to get ready.”
On the other end, Creighton turned 10 offensive rebounds into 13 second-chance points, offsetting much of what Butler was able to do in that area. The Bulldogs were only plus-5 in their biggest area of strength, while Creighton finished plus-15 from the 3-point line against a team that had defended the arc well this season.
Twenty-one offensive rebounds is certainly more than the Jays were hoping to give up, but the ability McDermott mentioned of quickly moving on to the next play allowed them to succeed on a night that very easily could have gone the same direction as those earlier losses with less toughness from the Bluejays.
“I feel like it was just us taking it personally that they got that first, initial rebound,” Jasen Green said. “We knew that that’s what they were going to do, and we wanted to eliminate those as much as possible, but it’s going to happen. It’s just the game; sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way. So whenever they would get those, we would just try our hardest to play like it was a first possession defense, just do the same thing that we always do.”
McDermott specifically highlighted the defensive work of Green (more on that below) and Josh Dix after the game as Butler’s top two scorers (the two players with whom Green and Dix were primarily matched up) combined for 26 points on 8-of-25 from the field with three assists and four turnovers.
As much physical toughness as Creighton showed in surviving the offensive rebounding onslaught, it was mental toughness that ultimately allowed the Jays to seal the game. The Bluejays led by seven with just under 30 seconds to play when Evan Haywood — one of Butler’s top 3-pointer shooters who had missed his first six attempts in the game — hit three triples in about 20 seconds of game time.
However, Creighton went 14-for-15 at the foul line in the second half, including 7-for-8 in the final 30 seconds to stave off the comeback. Butler cut it all the way to two with Haywood’s final three, but Graves hit his last two foul shots to seal the victory.
“As I talked to the guys, you never know when crazy stuff’s going to happen at the end of the game, and obviously Haywood hit three incredibly difficult shots at the end, and it’s why we practice our free throws after every practice,” McDermott said. “… We were really good down the stretch from the free-throw line, and that ended up being the difference in the game.”
Game Ball: Jasen Green
McDermott called Butler’s Michael Ajayi a “monster” ahead of Tuesday’s game. The 6-foot-7, 235-pound forward was averaging 16.6 points, 12.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.2 blocks.
Green drew that defensive assignment for the majority of the game and definitively won the matchup. Ajayi finished with 16 points, 13 rebounds and two assists, but he also shot 4-for-12 inside the arc, turned the ball over three times and finished without a steal or a block while fouling out with just under five minutes to play.
“It was a really tough matchup,” Green said. “He’s probably one of the best rebounders I’ve ever played against. He had 13 against us, eight offensive rebounds, which is just kind of insane. That’s what he’s really good at, and he gives them a lot of second-chance opportunities. But it’s a real battle every time — offensive rebounds, defensive rebounding, and even just guarding him in the post. It’s really tough, but I feel like did a pretty solid job on him.”
In addition to his defensive work, Green led everyone in scoring with a career-high 23 points on 8-of-11 from the field (1-of-2 from 3) and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. He also had a career-high five assists with only one turnover, grabbed six rebounds and added a steal and a block in 37 minutes. Green’s previous high in scoring was 19 points in Madison Square Garden against UConn in the 2025 Big East Tournament. He passed that point with a two-handed slam with just over four minutes to play.
JASEN GREEN WITH AUTHORITY. #GoJays // 📺 FS1 pic.twitter.com/1equEr70um
— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) December 31, 2025
“That’s amazing,” Green said. “Really big thanks to my teammates and my coaches for putting trust in me, but it’s just a great experience. I didn’t really look at the scoreboard at all during the game; I didn’t know how many points I had until the game was over. But I just played as hard as I could and ended up with a lot of points, so it’s pretty awesome.”
Green also hit two big free throws with 12.6 to play — after Haywood’s second 3 made it a four-point game and right before his third cut it to two. However, it was the motor that most impressed his teammates.
“Just how hard he played,” Graves said. “Obviously, he had a real big task guarding [Ajayi], and obviously he did his job tonight on the defensive end, and then I think that that’s a big reason why the points showed as well. He played hard, got a lot of second-chance points and just ran the court hard.”
Isaac Traudt Has Leveled Up
I’ve written plenty about Austin Swartz’s rise, and he continued his ascension with 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting (5-of-10 from 3) against the Bulldogs. He went 1-for-2 at the foul line (his first free-throw attempts of the season) and added five rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block with no turnovers in 32 minutes.
However, the sophomore isn’t the only one who has taken off since McDermott changed up his starting lineup. Isaac Traudt finished with 16 points on 6-of-12 from the field, including 4-of-10 from 3, in a career-high 35 minutes against Butler. It was the fourth time since he joined the starting lineup that he’s scored in double figures and the fourth time he’s hit three or more triples.
In his last five starts, Traudt is averaging 13.8 points and 4.0 rebounds in 28.8 minutes per game while shooting 46% from the field and 38.5% from 3. He’s leading the team in 3-pointers and is second in percentage behind only Hudson Greer, who’s only played in four games, and his presence on the floor in an expanded role has had a big impact on the overall effectiveness of Creighton’s offense.
“It’s done a lot,” Graves said. “Isaac’s been able to help us space out the floor a lot, and he has such a gravity towards him, whether he’s setting the screen and popping or coming off a screen. The defense has to chase him, they have to pay a lot of attention to him. Just the gravity he pulls opens up a lot of stuff and a lot of space for everyone else.”
The 3-point shot will always be the 6-foot-10 Traudt’s biggest weapon, but he’s expanded his scoring arsenal beyond just perimeter shots since entering the starting lineup. In his first eight games this season, Traudt attempted just five shots inside the arc, making one of them. In the last five, he’s gone 8-for-11 on 2-pointers — making himself available for his teammates on cuts to the rim or attacking the offensive glass.
After going on a heater from 3 in the first half, Traudt missed all three of his attempts in the second, but he still ran the floor for a fast break layup then later cut to the rim for another bunny to continue putting points on the board.
“He’s done it some in practice too,” McDermott said of his work beyond 3-point shooting. “He’s been a little bit more aggressive off the dribble. In high school, Isaac handled the ball a lot when he was playing at Grand Island High and made good decisions with the basketball. He had a very nice play where he drove and dished tonight. He’s strong, he’s athletic, and they’re going to run him off the line with vengeance, so he’s got to be able to turn that into something, get some dominoes going for our team.
“Isaac’s playing great basketball, and his defensive improvement from the day he arrived on campus is absolutely incredible.”
