Men's Basketball Blasts Nebraska, 95-76

OMAHA, Neb. -- Marcus Zegarowski had 30 points, nine rebounds and six assists as Creighton men's basketball team never trailed in a 95-76 win over Nebraska on Saturday, Dec. 7.

The Bluejays raced to leads of 10-0, 18-2, 27-4 and 37-7 in shades of a 2013 meeting that saw Creighton take 18-2 and 38-8 leads in an eventual 82-67 win. In today's meeting, Creighton scored the first 10 points of the game as junior Damien Jefferson and junior Ty-Shon Alexander connected from long rang followed by a dunk from sophomore Christian Bishop and a pair of free throws from junior Mitch Ballock. After Nebraska made their first bucket at the 16:41 mark in the first half, the Bluejays went on a 24-5 run over the next 8:54, as Zegarowski scored 12 points in the stretch to take a commanding 37-7 lead.

The Bluejays held a first half lead of as much as 31 points on a free throw from freshman Jalen Windham, which made it 40-9. Nebraska scored 14 of their 22 first half points over the last 4:18 to cut the Bluejays lead to 26 as Creighton took a 48-22 lead at the break. It was the fourth time in Nebraska's last eight trips to CHI Health Center Omaha that Creighton owned a halftime lead of 20 or more points.

The second half saw both team come out on fire, as both team made eight out of their first 10 shots. Nebraska cut the Bluejays lead down to 19 with 12:38 left in the contest before Zegarowski made a layup and a mid-range jumper and Ballock hit a three-pointer pushed the advantage back to 25. The Bluejay lead returned to 30 at 93-63 with 3:18 remaining before the Cornhuskers scored 13 of the game's final 15 points.

Zegarowski led Creighton with 30 points and added a career-high nine rebounds, in addition to six assists. The sophomore made 13-of-19 shots from the floor and 4-of-7 three-point baskets. Ty-Shon Alexander had 22 points and Mitch Ballock added 13 points and blocked three shots. Christian Bishop had 10 points and nine rebounds before fouling out in 16 minutes of work, and Jefferson tallied eight points, eight rebounds and three assists. Jefferson entered the game 1-for-15 from three-point range before making a pair of trifectas in the game's first four minutes.

Creighton shot 53 percent for the game and made 13-of-30 three-pointers (43.3 percent). The Bluejays owned a 43-34 advtange on the glass and outscored NU in transition, 15-8.

Nebraska had five men score in double-figures, led by 14 points from Haanif Cheatham. The Cornhuskers shot 41.5 percent for the game, but just 9-of-27 from three-point range, and were 13-of-24 at the foul stripe.

Creighton returns to the court on Friday at 7 p.m. when it hosts UTRGV.

NOTES: Creighton leads the all-time series, 27-26, including 17 of the past 21 regular-season meetings at all sites, and has won 12 straight regular-season home games in Omaha ... Greg McDermott is now 14-4 in his career against Nebraska, including an 8-2 mark as Creighton coach ... Creighton is now 9-1 all-time when playing Nebraska in the ninth game of the season. This year marked the eighth straight season the teams have played in CU's ninth game of the year ... Creighton is now 14-4 in its last 18 games against the Big 10, including 12 double-figure victories ... Creighton has held Nebraska to 30 first half points or less in 15 of the last 17 regular-season meetings, including the past 10 regular-season meetings in Omaha ... Creighton led by 32 points on three different occasions, its largest lead of the season ... Creighton has won 11 straight home games ... Creighton has won 114 straight home games against teams that enter the day with a record of .500 or worse ... Marcus Zegarowski has made a three-pointer in each of his last 18 games ... Creighton improved to 107-5 all-time at CHI Health Center Omaha when scoring 80 points or more ... Creighton's 95 points were a season-high ... Freshman Nic Zeil scored his first career points, converting a lay-up with 1:45 left for CU's final basket of the game ... Creighton has won eight of the last nine meetings against Nebraska by double-digits.

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Team Stats

Marcus Zegarowski

Ty-Shon Alexander

Mitch Ballock

Christian Bishop

Players Mentioned

Ty-Shon Alexander

Mitch Ballock

Christian Bishop

Damien Jefferson

Jalen Windham

Marcus Zegarowski

Nic Zeil

Players Mentioned

Ty-Shon Alexander

Mitch Ballock

Christian Bishop

Damien Jefferson

Jalen Windham

Marcus Zegarowski

Nic Zeil