Tuesday, November 5
Omaha, Neb.
8:00 PM
Creighton University
1-0
81
vs
55
Kennesaw State
0-1
1
2
F
Kennesaw State
31
24
55
Creighton
39
42
81
Photo by: Mark Kuhlmann
Men's Basketball Cruises To 81-55 Win Over Kennesaw State In Season Opener
11/5/2019 10:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Christian Bishop scores career-high 12 points
OMAHA, Neb. – The Creighton men's basketball team cruised to an 81-55 win over Kennesaw State to open the 2019-20 season on Tuesday night. A trio of Bluejays scored in double-figures led by junior Ty-Shon Alexander with 19.
The Bluejays move to 1-0 on the year with its 25th straight home-opening victory, while Kennesaw State fell to 0-1 in its first game under new head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim
Creighton jumped out to leads of 9-0 and 15-4, hitting their first five three-pointers led by nine points Alexander. Sophomore Marcus Zegarowski got into the mix adding two from deep, pushing the lead to double-figures for the first time at 15-4.
Kennesaw State battled back into the game getting within five, on a pair of buckets from Denny Lewis midway through the first half. Freshman Jalen Windham hit back-to-back three's extending the Bluejays lead to as many as 14 at 37-23 with 2:36 left in the half. The Owls scored six of the next eight points as the Bluejays took an eight point lead into the break, 39-31.
Creighton shot 50 percent (16-32) from the floor in the first half, including 7-12 from behind the arc. Kennesaw State led the rebounding battle, 20-19, but trailed the Bluejays in assists 8-4.
Creighton opened the second half with a 21-2 run over six and a half minutes to extend the lead to 62-35 with 12:48 remaining in the game. Six different Bluejays contributed on the run, led by eight points from sophomore Christian Bishop, who was making his first career start.
The Bluejay turned up its defense over the next five minutes, forcing the Owls into three turnovers, leading to six points and a 75-46 lead with 4:32 left in the game.
Alexander led all scorers with 19 points, while Zegarowski added 18 and Bishop add a new career-high 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting and seven rebounds. Creighton closed the game shooting 52.4 percent (33-63) from the field and 48 percent (12-25) from behind the arc and 3-8 (37.5 percent) from the free throw line. Creighton outrebounded Kennesaw State 41-34, while collecting seven more assist (16-9) in the game.
Kennesaw State was led by Lewis with 15, with Bryson Lockley adding 12 and Tyler Hooker with 10. Antonio Spencer collected a game-high eight rebounds. KSU went 22-59 (37.3 percent) from the floor, including 3-20 (15 percent) from three and 8-13 from the charity stripe. Creighton forced the Owls into 18 turnovers, leading to 26 points from the Bluejays.
Creighton returns to action next Tuesday, traveling to Michigan at 5:30 pm for the Gavitt Tipoff Games.
NOTES: The November 5 season-opener was Creighton's earliest calendar date ever for a regular-season game ... Creighton has won 22 of its last 23 season openers, improving to 87-15 all-time ... Creighton has won 13 of its last 20 season openers by 20 or more points ... Greg McDermott improved to 18-1 as a Division I head coach with 18 straight wins .. Creighton is now 91-11 in home openers all-time, including 25 straight wins ... Shereef Mitchell became just the third true freshman to start CU's season-opener in the last 20 years, joining Doug McDermott (2010) and Khyri Thomas (2015) ... Creighton has not trailed in its home opener in 10 of the last 20 seasons, and 77 of 277 all-time games at CHI Health Center Omaha ...Creighton shot 52.4 percent for the game. Each of the last nine teams to shoot 50 percent or better in the opener made the postseason, with seven of the last eight reaching the NCAA ... Creighton has won 40 straight home games against winless teams and 111 straight home games against teams that enter the game with a record of .500 or worse ... Creighton has made a three-pointer in 852 straight games, a trey before halftime in 223 straight games and five or more triples in 72 straight games.
The Bluejays move to 1-0 on the year with its 25th straight home-opening victory, while Kennesaw State fell to 0-1 in its first game under new head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim
Creighton jumped out to leads of 9-0 and 15-4, hitting their first five three-pointers led by nine points Alexander. Sophomore Marcus Zegarowski got into the mix adding two from deep, pushing the lead to double-figures for the first time at 15-4.
Kennesaw State battled back into the game getting within five, on a pair of buckets from Denny Lewis midway through the first half. Freshman Jalen Windham hit back-to-back three's extending the Bluejays lead to as many as 14 at 37-23 with 2:36 left in the half. The Owls scored six of the next eight points as the Bluejays took an eight point lead into the break, 39-31.
Creighton shot 50 percent (16-32) from the floor in the first half, including 7-12 from behind the arc. Kennesaw State led the rebounding battle, 20-19, but trailed the Bluejays in assists 8-4.
Creighton opened the second half with a 21-2 run over six and a half minutes to extend the lead to 62-35 with 12:48 remaining in the game. Six different Bluejays contributed on the run, led by eight points from sophomore Christian Bishop, who was making his first career start.
The Bluejay turned up its defense over the next five minutes, forcing the Owls into three turnovers, leading to six points and a 75-46 lead with 4:32 left in the game.
Alexander led all scorers with 19 points, while Zegarowski added 18 and Bishop add a new career-high 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting and seven rebounds. Creighton closed the game shooting 52.4 percent (33-63) from the field and 48 percent (12-25) from behind the arc and 3-8 (37.5 percent) from the free throw line. Creighton outrebounded Kennesaw State 41-34, while collecting seven more assist (16-9) in the game.
Kennesaw State was led by Lewis with 15, with Bryson Lockley adding 12 and Tyler Hooker with 10. Antonio Spencer collected a game-high eight rebounds. KSU went 22-59 (37.3 percent) from the floor, including 3-20 (15 percent) from three and 8-13 from the charity stripe. Creighton forced the Owls into 18 turnovers, leading to 26 points from the Bluejays.
Creighton returns to action next Tuesday, traveling to Michigan at 5:30 pm for the Gavitt Tipoff Games.
NOTES: The November 5 season-opener was Creighton's earliest calendar date ever for a regular-season game ... Creighton has won 22 of its last 23 season openers, improving to 87-15 all-time ... Creighton has won 13 of its last 20 season openers by 20 or more points ... Greg McDermott improved to 18-1 as a Division I head coach with 18 straight wins .. Creighton is now 91-11 in home openers all-time, including 25 straight wins ... Shereef Mitchell became just the third true freshman to start CU's season-opener in the last 20 years, joining Doug McDermott (2010) and Khyri Thomas (2015) ... Creighton has not trailed in its home opener in 10 of the last 20 seasons, and 77 of 277 all-time games at CHI Health Center Omaha ...Creighton shot 52.4 percent for the game. Each of the last nine teams to shoot 50 percent or better in the opener made the postseason, with seven of the last eight reaching the NCAA ... Creighton has won 40 straight home games against winless teams and 111 straight home games against teams that enter the game with a record of .500 or worse ... Creighton has made a three-pointer in 852 straight games, a trey before halftime in 223 straight games and five or more triples in 72 straight games.
Team Stats
KSU
CU
FG%
.373
.524
3FG%
.150
.480
FT%
.615
.375
RB
34
41
TO
18
15
STL
5
9
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
19
FGM
6
3FGM
5
FTM
2
Pts
18
FGM
7
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
12
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
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