Creighton University
Nebraska
Men's Basketball Topples Huskers, Improves to 7-0
12/4/2011 4:02:00 PM | Men's Basketball
OMAHA, Neb. -- Doug McDermott had 24 points and 12 rebounds as the Creighton men's basketball team posted a 76-66 win over Nebraska on Sunday. The Bluejays, who now own 12 straight regular-season home wins against teams from the top-six BCS leagues since 1996-97, are 7-0 for the first time since the 2004-05 campaign.
Nebraska lost for the third time in four games and is now 4-3.
Creighton led the entire first half, but allowed a late 8-2 run by the Cornhuskers to see its lead dwindle to 32-29 at intermission. McDermott led CU with seven points and four rebounds at half, while NU was paced by 12 points on 4-for-4 shooting by Bo Spencer.
Nebraska was the aggressor to open the second half and put together a 9-0 run to claim a 42-37 lead with 14:00 to play. But Grant Gibbs teamed with McDermott for all of Creighton's points during a 17-3 run that turned the contest in CU's favor for good.
Creighton held a narrow 46-45 lead with 9:14 left when things fell apart for Nebraska. Moments after Gibbs was fouled by Christopher Niemann, Husker forward Toney McCray was whistled for a technical foul. While officials viewed courtside monitors of the previous play, Nebraska coach Doc Sadler wandered past half-court and took a seat on the scorer's table next to Creighton's bench and Bluejay head coach Greg McDermott. Sadler was whistled for a technical foul himself.
McDermott made 3-of-4 foul shots before Gibbs made his two, and just like that Creighton's lead reached 51-45. Nebraska never got any closer the rest of the way.
McDermott finished with team-highs of 24 points and 12 rebounds while becoming the first Bluejay since Nate King in 1994 with three straight double-doubles. Gibbs had 11 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals while playing 39 minutes. In addition, Nebraska native Antoine Young had 14 points and five assists while sinking 10-of-10 foul shots from the line. Creighton shot 51.0 percent for the game, including 5-of-10 from long-range, and also hit 19-of-22 free throws (86.4 percent). Creighton outrebounded the Huskers 31-28 on the day.
Nebraska was led by 29 points from Spencer, who also added five rebounds, three assists and three steals. McCray had 15 points while Jorge Brian Diaz had 10 points and a team-best seven rebounds. NU shot 42.9 percent for the game and made 14-of-17 foul shots (82.4 percent).
Creighton returns to action on Saturday at Saint Joseph's in an 11 am (Central) contest.
NOTES: The home team has won the last seven meetings between CU and NU ... Creighton has won eight straight regular-season meetings in Omaha vs. Nebraska ... Greg McDermott is now 7-3 against Nebraska ... Before Sunday, Creighton had hosted just one Big Ten team since 1973 (Iowa, 1999) ... Creighton surpassed the 2,000,000 fan mark at CenturyLink Center Omaha in its 141st game at the facility. Sam King was the fan selected as No. 2,000,000 and received a haul of prizes that includes four season tickets for 2012-13 ... Doug McDermott has scored in double-figures in each of CU's first seven games, the first player to do that in consecutive seasons in more than 30 years ... Antoine Young's five assists give him 382 in his career, tied with Duan Cole for seventh-most in CU history ... Young now owns 217 assists at CenturyLink Center Omaha, four more than Josh Dotzler's previous facility record ... Ethan Wragge made a three-pointer for the 13th straight game ... Creighton has won 14 straight home games ... Doug McDermott is CU's first player with six straight games of 20 points or more since Rodney Buford had eight in a row from Jan. 27-Feb. 17, 1997 ... Grant Gibbs played a career-high 39 minutes ... Creighton has won 83 straight home games when scoring 68 points or more and 34 straight regular-season home wins vs. unranked non-conference foes.
