Men's Basketball Unveils Uniform Numbers For 2022-23 Roster

OMAHA, Neb. – The uniform numbers for the 2022-23 Creighton men's basketball team were unveiled on Thursday.

All 11 returnees will be back in the same uniform from a year ago, including freshmen redshirts Zander Yates (No. 10) and Mason Miller (No. 13). However, the Bluejay faithful will have five numbers to get adjusted to this winter. The No. 1 jersey will now be donned by incoming freshman guard Ben Shtolzberg, with center KeyShawn Feazell having graduated and recently signing to play in Finland. The No. 5 uniform will transition to TCU transfer Francisco Farabello, rather than Alex O'Connell, who has stayed busy working out with NBA franchises during the past six weeks. The No. 55 will now be seen on the back of South Dakota State transfer Baylor Scheierman after the departure of Modestas Kancleris.

Freshman forward Jasen Green can be found wearing No. 0, a jersey last worn by Antwann Jones during the 2020-21 campaign. The biggest surprise of them all? That'd be the No. 33 that freshman Fredrick King will wear, becoming the first Bluejay in that number since Bob Portman was smashing scoring records more than 50 years ago during the 1968-69 campaign.

It's an interesting story of how that came to be. After all, Portman's jersey is one of five that hangs in the rafters on the west side of CHI Health Center Omaha, alongside No. 25 (Kyle Korver), No. 30 (Bob Harstad), No. 35 (Paul Silas) and No. 45 (Bob Gibson). Portman scored 1,876 career points from 1966-69 for CU and still owns single-game program records for points (51), field goals (19) and free throws (19) made in a game.

"Coach Mac talked to me about him and he said Fredrick wanted to wear the same number he had in high school," explained Portman. "It's one of those things where to me, hanging onto the past is not that big a deal.

"I had multiple thoughts but one of them was my gosh, that was 53 years ago," continued Portman. "I shared with him that my only concern was what happens if this guy has a great career, which hopefully he does, and then his jersey gets retired? Coach Mac assured me that I'm sure we can work that out."

McDermott detailed more on his conversation with the Bluejay great.

"It was really important to Fredrick and his family, so before I said 'no' I decided to contact Bob to get his thoughts, and certainly it was 100 percent his call," said the 13^th-year Bluejay head coach. "After thinking about it, while he's invested a lot of blood, sweat and tears into that number and it's pretty cool to see it hanging in the rafters, he also thought it'd be pretty special to see it back on the floor. Hopefully Fredrick wearing the number will allow us to retell the Bob Portman story, which is an incredible story in itself.

"I've gotten to know Bob, and that's why I felt so comfortable calling him and having the conversation. What he accomplished at Creighton was incredible, and one of the things that Bob wanted is the opportunity to get to meet Fredrick and get to know him, and we're going to make sure that happens. I think it's a great way to honor one of the all-time great players that's ever worn a Bluejay uniform."

Portman last played at CU in 1969 before playing four years in the NBA. He was inducted into the Creighton Athletics Hall of Fame in 1982 and into the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame in 2013. Now 75 years old and a resident of North Carolina, Portman remains a fan and closely follows his alma mater.

"I watched all the games last year," said Portman. "It was quite an exciting year and was going gangbusters until two very important players got hurt. I was just so impressed in the game against Kansas, we're down two without those two players and how are they going to pull this out? And they were within a couple points with a minute left and I was like 'wow', these kids are tough and play together well. So I was very impressed."

Creighton finished the 2021-22 season with a 23-12 record, advancing to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. The Bluejays are scheduled to return three starters to the court in 2022-23 and most projections consider CU a top-15 team in the nation in their preseason rankings.

Men's Basketball Unveils Uniform Numbers For 2022-23 Roster

Players Mentioned

KeyShawn Feazell

Antwann Jones

Modestas Kancleris

Mason Miller

Alex O'Connell

Zander Yates

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