Tuesday, December 14
Omaha, Neb.
7:00 PM
Creighton University
8-3,0-0Big East
57
vs
58
Arizona State
5-6,1-1Pac-12
1
2
F
Arizona State
26
32
58
Creighton
32
25
57
Arthur Kaluma
Photo by: Catherine Grosdidier
Men's Basketball Suffers 58-57 Defeat to Arizona State
12/14/2021 8:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Last-second shot misses the mark
OMAHA, Neb. -- Trailing 58-57 with just over six seconds remaining, the Creighton men's basketball team's last second shot fell just short as the Bluejays fell to Arizona State on Tuesday, December 14.
The loss moved the Bluejays to 8-3 on the season, while Arizona State climbed to 5-6 overall with its third straight victory.
Early in the game both squads went through feast and famine stretches. The Bluejays opened the game with an uncontested dunk from Alex O'Connell off the opening tip, spurring a 7-0 run. Arizona State quickly responded with seven straight of its own to knot the game at 7-7.
Five of Creighton's first seven made field goals came on dunks, including a pair of slams from O'Connell. The Bluejays' fifth dunk, flushed down by Arthur Kaluma, gave the Bluejays a 15-11 edge with 11:30 remaining. The Sun Devils responded with another 7-0 run to take their first lead at 18-15, but the Creighton answered with its second 7-0 surge to reclaim the advantage at 22-18.
Knotted at 24-24 with 3:48 remaining, the Bluejays closed the opening frame with eight of the final 10 points in the period, getting a three-ball from Ryan Nembhard and three free throws by Trey Alexander to take a 32-26 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Holding a 32-30 edge in the opening moments of the second half, the Bluejays extended their advantage to 40-32 lead. Coming out of a media timeout, Arizona State made an adjustment to attack the basket. The result was 22 second half points in the paint for the Sun Devils as ASU used a 9-0 run to claim a 47-44 lead.
Creighton stayed in striking distance throughout the final minutes, never falling behind by more than four points. Down 56-52 with 2:09 remaining the Bluejays clawed even via the second dunk of the contest from Ryan Kalkbrenner and a pair of free throws by Nembhard.
Arizona State, however, reclaimed the lead with a back cut to the basket by Jay Heath, Creighton had a chance to draw even once more on the next possession but senior Ryan Hawkins split two free throws.
Creighton was forced to foul the Sun Devils, but Heath missed the front-end of one-and-one to give Creighton one final opportunity with 6.4 seconds on the clock. After a timeout CU got the ball to Nembhard, who pushed the ball upcourt but his shot from the top of the key at the buzzer bounced off the side of the rim.
Kalkbrenner led the Bluejays with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting and added nine rebounds and a pair of blocked shots, while O'Connell delivered 11 points in the loss. Creighton shot just 5-of-25 from three-point range and made only 5-of-11 free throws in the second half. CU won the glass battle 39-33.
Arizona State got a team-high 12 points from DJ Horne, while Heath and Marreon Jackson each finished with 10 points. The Sun Devils outscored CU 36-28 in the paint and 22-8 off the bench to post its second one-possession victory over CU in Omaha in as many tries.
The Bluejays return to the court on Friday, Dec. 17 as Creighton hosts No. 9 Villanova at 7 p.m. at CHI Health Center Omaha in the first game of the BIG EAST season.
NOTES: Ryan Nembhard's seven points give him 138 points, the most by any Bluejay freshman through 11 games since at least 1990 ... Creighton had outscored teams by an average of 11.38 points per second half at home this season before being outscored 32-25 on Tuesday ... Creighton had won 26 straight games when making more free throws than its opponents attempted ... For the second straight games, Ryan Kalkbrenner finished one rebound shy of his first career double-double ... Creighton suffered back-to-back non-conference home losses for the first time since December of 2004 ... Creighton fell to 91-8 in non-conference home games under Greg McDermott.
The loss moved the Bluejays to 8-3 on the season, while Arizona State climbed to 5-6 overall with its third straight victory.
Early in the game both squads went through feast and famine stretches. The Bluejays opened the game with an uncontested dunk from Alex O'Connell off the opening tip, spurring a 7-0 run. Arizona State quickly responded with seven straight of its own to knot the game at 7-7.
Five of Creighton's first seven made field goals came on dunks, including a pair of slams from O'Connell. The Bluejays' fifth dunk, flushed down by Arthur Kaluma, gave the Bluejays a 15-11 edge with 11:30 remaining. The Sun Devils responded with another 7-0 run to take their first lead at 18-15, but the Creighton answered with its second 7-0 surge to reclaim the advantage at 22-18.
Knotted at 24-24 with 3:48 remaining, the Bluejays closed the opening frame with eight of the final 10 points in the period, getting a three-ball from Ryan Nembhard and three free throws by Trey Alexander to take a 32-26 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Holding a 32-30 edge in the opening moments of the second half, the Bluejays extended their advantage to 40-32 lead. Coming out of a media timeout, Arizona State made an adjustment to attack the basket. The result was 22 second half points in the paint for the Sun Devils as ASU used a 9-0 run to claim a 47-44 lead.
Creighton stayed in striking distance throughout the final minutes, never falling behind by more than four points. Down 56-52 with 2:09 remaining the Bluejays clawed even via the second dunk of the contest from Ryan Kalkbrenner and a pair of free throws by Nembhard.
Arizona State, however, reclaimed the lead with a back cut to the basket by Jay Heath, Creighton had a chance to draw even once more on the next possession but senior Ryan Hawkins split two free throws.
Creighton was forced to foul the Sun Devils, but Heath missed the front-end of one-and-one to give Creighton one final opportunity with 6.4 seconds on the clock. After a timeout CU got the ball to Nembhard, who pushed the ball upcourt but his shot from the top of the key at the buzzer bounced off the side of the rim.
Kalkbrenner led the Bluejays with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting and added nine rebounds and a pair of blocked shots, while O'Connell delivered 11 points in the loss. Creighton shot just 5-of-25 from three-point range and made only 5-of-11 free throws in the second half. CU won the glass battle 39-33.
Arizona State got a team-high 12 points from DJ Horne, while Heath and Marreon Jackson each finished with 10 points. The Sun Devils outscored CU 36-28 in the paint and 22-8 off the bench to post its second one-possession victory over CU in Omaha in as many tries.
The Bluejays return to the court on Friday, Dec. 17 as Creighton hosts No. 9 Villanova at 7 p.m. at CHI Health Center Omaha in the first game of the BIG EAST season.
NOTES: Ryan Nembhard's seven points give him 138 points, the most by any Bluejay freshman through 11 games since at least 1990 ... Creighton had outscored teams by an average of 11.38 points per second half at home this season before being outscored 32-25 on Tuesday ... Creighton had won 26 straight games when making more free throws than its opponents attempted ... For the second straight games, Ryan Kalkbrenner finished one rebound shy of his first career double-double ... Creighton suffered back-to-back non-conference home losses for the first time since December of 2004 ... Creighton fell to 91-8 in non-conference home games under Greg McDermott.
Team Stats
ASU
CU
FG%
.417
.389
3FG%
.267
.200
FT%
.800
.625
RB
33
39
TO
9
14
STL
5
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
16
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
11
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballC
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
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