Newcomers are on campus and summer workouts have begun for Creighton men’s basketball.
Among the new faces is Josh Dix, the former Iowa Hawkeye who chose to transfer to Creighton for his senior season — a decision that brought the Council Bluffs native close to home.
After a couple weeks of home-cooked meals, Dix dove into Creighton’s offseason program and began workouts with his new teammates. He’s one of six newcomers who have already arrived, five transfers and one freshman who have joined the group of returners in Omaha.
“It’s been great, just getting to know the guys, hanging out with them a lot,” Dix said. “It’s a lot of fun being out there on the court … Everyone’s pretty outgoing, a lot of jokes being made and stuff. But when it’s time, we’re pretty serious, and everyone’s good. I feel like we have a really good roster and a lot of guys that will be able to play.”
Dix is the headliner for Creighton’s well-regarded transfer haul. The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie and CJ Moore ranked him 10th in their top 100 transfers list after he averaged 14.4 points with a 61.1 true shooting percentage for the Hawkeyes as a junior. The unselfish playing style and “one more pass” mentality of Coach Greg McDermott’s system appealed to Dix. His career 41.9 3-point percentage makes him a great fit for the let it Fly Bluejays, but beyond his individual skill, Dix said he’s looking forward to bringing experience to a relatively young team.
“Being a senior, playing three years of college basketball, [I’ll bring] leadership, but also experience,” Dix said. “I feel like we’ve got a lot of young guys and stuff. So just bringing experience and kind of helping them as well.”
Making the transition smoother is the fact that Dix isn’t a complete stranger. He grew up competing against redshirt juniors Jasen Green and Isaac Traudt and said it’s going to be fun being on the same team with them this season. He also transferred in alongside another former Hawkeye in center Owen Freeman.
“He’s a super talented player, but he’s also really cool off the court,” Dix said of Freeman. “I like hanging out with him and we already have some chemistry.”
Dix, Freeman and the rest of the Bluejays spent Friday morning as counselors at Creighton’s annual Abilities Camp for kids with special needs. Among the campers was Dix’s brother. He said he’s never participated in anything like it before but was grateful for the opportunity.
“It’s important,” Dix said. “I’m from here, so I know Omaha’s a great city, and there’s great fan support for Creighton. A lot of these people are fans of Creighton, so just engaging with them is cool.”
Dix wasn’t the only Bluejay with a family member at the camp. Sophomore point guard Ty Davis’s cousin attended the camp for a second time. Davis also played a big part on helping bring the transfer class together as he and fellow sophomore Jackson McAndrew played host to the transfer targets and gave their own recruiting pitch.
“I’d say we had about five or six visits, and I’d say we went six-for-six,” Davis said. “That was pretty fun. Coming out of last season, Coach Mac and Trey [Zeigler] and [Derek Kellogg] and some of those assistant coaches told us this is kind of our deal. They wanted us to take the lead and help them kind of start building relationships with the guys that we’re about to get. I think we got some very fun guys and some really good players.”
Point guard Nik Graves (17.5 points per game as a junior at Charlotte), shooting guard Austin Swartz (5.9 points per game as a freshman at Miami) and wing Blake harper (19.5 points per game as a freshman at Howard) have also arrived on campus along with freshman Hudson Greer, a four-star recruit.
The Bluejays also have a new coach in Alan Huss, who returned this spring as associate head coach and coach-in-waiting.
“It’s fun seeing Coach Huss and how much energy he has,” Davis said. “He’s such a good coach, and I’m eager to learn more from him every day.”
While McDermott did not give a firm timetable for his retirement when announcing Huss’ return, Davis said the team is motivated to make the most of however much time he has left in charge of the program.
“Obviously we want to send Coach Mac out with a bang,” Davis said. “Hopefully it’s through my time here, but whenever that is, we want him to go out with, hopefully, a Final Four, something like that.”
March is a long way off, but the path to that Final Four goal has already begun at the McDermott Center with newcomers and returners alike hard at work.
Basketball things are happening.#GoJays pic.twitter.com/rkYI3I7Dx5
— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) June 6, 2025
