Sunday, February 20
Omaha, Neb.
2:00 PM
Creighton University
18-8,10-5BE
83
vs
82
Marquette
17-10,9-7BE
1
2
F
Marquette
46
36
82
Creighton
46
37
83
Ryan Nembhard
Photo by: Mark Kuhlmann
Men's Basketball Finishes Strong, Edges Marquette 83-82
2/20/2022 4:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball
All five starters score in double-figures
OMAHA, Neb. -- Creighton had all five starters in double-figures and rallied from a five point deficit in the final four minutes to earn an 83-82 win over Marquette on Sunday, Feb. 20th.
The Bluejays won their season-high fifth straight game to improve to 18-8 overall and 10-5 in league play. The Bluejays are tied for third place with UConn and now own a series sweep against Marquette (17-10, 9-7 BIG EAST) this season.
The Bluejays trailed 80-75 with four minutes to play and were without senior starter Alex O'Connell before making its final push. Ryan Hawkins began the comeback with a basket in the lane, then drew an offensive foul. Ryan Nembhard beat the shot clock with a lay-up that just escaped the reach of BIG EAST shot blocking leader Kur Kuath to trim CU's deficit to one at 78-77 with 3:04 to play.
The teams exchanged free throws before CU took the lead for good when Hawkins stole the ball and collected a trailing feed from Nembhard to score in transition with 2:00 remaining that put the Jays up 80-79.
Marquette missed its next three shots but still had a chance to go ahead when defense by Rati Andronikashvili harassed Darryl Morsell into a turnover on the right sideline with 8.0 seconds left. Andronikashvili would be fouled with 5.2 seconds left and split two free throws to put CU up 81-79. Marquette called timeout when he missed his second try but had a turnover with 5.2 ticks left when Greg Elliott stepped over the line on his inbounds pass.
Ryan Kalkbrenner would sink two foul shots with 4.8 left to give CU a four-point cushion, all of which was needed when Kam Jones banked in a three-pointer with 0.6 left. The Bluejays safely inbounded the ball to Hawkins to run out the clock, much to the relief of the sellout crowd of 18,152.
The game was deadlocked at 46 at halftime and featured a season-high 17 lead changes and 16 ties, only fitting after the first matchup of the season on Jan. 1 in Milwaukee went double-overtime (CU won, 75-69).
Kalkbrenner led CU with 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting while also grabbing seven rebounds and blocking three shots. Hawkins had 17 points and nine rebounds to narrowly miss his fourth straight double-double. Nembhard had 18 points and five assists and O'Connell contributed 13 points before being injured with 4:46 to play. Rounding out the Bluejay starters in double-figures was Trey Alexander, who had a career-high 13 points and matched his career-best with eight rebounds.
Creighton shot 53.6 percent for the game and made 8-of-21 three-pointers (38.1 percent) and 15-of-21 free throws (71.4 percent). The Jays collected 11 steals and outscored MU 24-18 off turnovers.
Marquette was paced by 23 points from Morsell and 18 off the bench by Jones. The Golden Eagles shot 54.7 percent from the field and made 6-of-16 three-pointers (37.5 percent) and 6-of-10 free throws (60 percent). MU outscored CU 44-40 in the paint and 28-1 in bench points, with Andronikashvili's free throw accounting for the only point by the Bluejay reserve corps.
Creighton is back in action on Wednesday when it meets St. John's at 5:30 p.m. Central at Carnesecca Arena in Queens, N.Y. The game can be heard on 1620 AM and watched on FS1.
NOTES: Neither team led by more than seven points ... Fifteen of the last 16 meetings between Creighton and Marquette have been decided by eight points or less ... Creighton's five-game win streak is its longest in BIG EAST play since winning six in a row from Dec. 17, 2020 to Jan. 9, 2021 ... Creighton has won 10 or more league games in 23 of the past 26 seasons ... Creighton will finish .500 or better in league play for the 26th time in the last 27 seasons ... Creighton is now 10-3 at home, the 25th time in the last 26 seasons it has won 10 or more home games ... Ryan Hawkins was one rebound shy of becoming the first Bluejay since Doug McDermott in 2011 with four straight double-doubles ... Creighton has won 24 straight games when five or more players score in double-figures ... Creighton has made a three-pointer in 939 straight games and a trey before half in 310 consecutive contests ... Ryan Kalkbrenner owns a blocked shot in each of CU's last 24 games ... Kalkbrenner now owns 72 blocks this season, which ranks behind three seasons from Benoit Benjamin (162, 157, 92) in CU single-season history ... Kalkbrenner has three games of 20 or more points in his career, with two of those coming this season vs. Marquette ... Creighton is now 8-2 in games decided by three points or less since the start of last season ... Two dunks from Kalkbrenner give Creighton 100 dunks this season, with the Bluejay 7-footer accounting for 52 of those ... Creighton is now 6-1 in February ... Creighton is now 3-0 all-time in games that end 83-82, including a 2005 win over Greg McDermott's Northern Iowa team and a 2002 NCAA Tournament win over No. 15 Florida.
The Bluejays won their season-high fifth straight game to improve to 18-8 overall and 10-5 in league play. The Bluejays are tied for third place with UConn and now own a series sweep against Marquette (17-10, 9-7 BIG EAST) this season.
The Bluejays trailed 80-75 with four minutes to play and were without senior starter Alex O'Connell before making its final push. Ryan Hawkins began the comeback with a basket in the lane, then drew an offensive foul. Ryan Nembhard beat the shot clock with a lay-up that just escaped the reach of BIG EAST shot blocking leader Kur Kuath to trim CU's deficit to one at 78-77 with 3:04 to play.
The teams exchanged free throws before CU took the lead for good when Hawkins stole the ball and collected a trailing feed from Nembhard to score in transition with 2:00 remaining that put the Jays up 80-79.
Marquette missed its next three shots but still had a chance to go ahead when defense by Rati Andronikashvili harassed Darryl Morsell into a turnover on the right sideline with 8.0 seconds left. Andronikashvili would be fouled with 5.2 seconds left and split two free throws to put CU up 81-79. Marquette called timeout when he missed his second try but had a turnover with 5.2 ticks left when Greg Elliott stepped over the line on his inbounds pass.
Ryan Kalkbrenner would sink two foul shots with 4.8 left to give CU a four-point cushion, all of which was needed when Kam Jones banked in a three-pointer with 0.6 left. The Bluejays safely inbounded the ball to Hawkins to run out the clock, much to the relief of the sellout crowd of 18,152.
The game was deadlocked at 46 at halftime and featured a season-high 17 lead changes and 16 ties, only fitting after the first matchup of the season on Jan. 1 in Milwaukee went double-overtime (CU won, 75-69).
Kalkbrenner led CU with 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting while also grabbing seven rebounds and blocking three shots. Hawkins had 17 points and nine rebounds to narrowly miss his fourth straight double-double. Nembhard had 18 points and five assists and O'Connell contributed 13 points before being injured with 4:46 to play. Rounding out the Bluejay starters in double-figures was Trey Alexander, who had a career-high 13 points and matched his career-best with eight rebounds.
Creighton shot 53.6 percent for the game and made 8-of-21 three-pointers (38.1 percent) and 15-of-21 free throws (71.4 percent). The Jays collected 11 steals and outscored MU 24-18 off turnovers.
Marquette was paced by 23 points from Morsell and 18 off the bench by Jones. The Golden Eagles shot 54.7 percent from the field and made 6-of-16 three-pointers (37.5 percent) and 6-of-10 free throws (60 percent). MU outscored CU 44-40 in the paint and 28-1 in bench points, with Andronikashvili's free throw accounting for the only point by the Bluejay reserve corps.
Creighton is back in action on Wednesday when it meets St. John's at 5:30 p.m. Central at Carnesecca Arena in Queens, N.Y. The game can be heard on 1620 AM and watched on FS1.
NOTES: Neither team led by more than seven points ... Fifteen of the last 16 meetings between Creighton and Marquette have been decided by eight points or less ... Creighton's five-game win streak is its longest in BIG EAST play since winning six in a row from Dec. 17, 2020 to Jan. 9, 2021 ... Creighton has won 10 or more league games in 23 of the past 26 seasons ... Creighton will finish .500 or better in league play for the 26th time in the last 27 seasons ... Creighton is now 10-3 at home, the 25th time in the last 26 seasons it has won 10 or more home games ... Ryan Hawkins was one rebound shy of becoming the first Bluejay since Doug McDermott in 2011 with four straight double-doubles ... Creighton has won 24 straight games when five or more players score in double-figures ... Creighton has made a three-pointer in 939 straight games and a trey before half in 310 consecutive contests ... Ryan Kalkbrenner owns a blocked shot in each of CU's last 24 games ... Kalkbrenner now owns 72 blocks this season, which ranks behind three seasons from Benoit Benjamin (162, 157, 92) in CU single-season history ... Kalkbrenner has three games of 20 or more points in his career, with two of those coming this season vs. Marquette ... Creighton is now 8-2 in games decided by three points or less since the start of last season ... Two dunks from Kalkbrenner give Creighton 100 dunks this season, with the Bluejay 7-footer accounting for 52 of those ... Creighton is now 6-1 in February ... Creighton is now 3-0 all-time in games that end 83-82, including a 2005 win over Greg McDermott's Northern Iowa team and a 2002 NCAA Tournament win over No. 15 Florida.
Team Stats
MARQ
CU
FG%
.547
.536
3FG%
.375
.381
FT%
.600
.714
RB
30
30
TO
16
15
STL
7
11
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
21
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
18
FGM
6
3FGM
4
FTM
2
Pts
17
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Players Mentioned
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