Friday, March 10
New York, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden)
8:00 PM
Creighton University
21-12
60
vs
82
Xavier
25-8
1
2
F
#24 Creighton
26
34
60
#15 Xavier
40
42
82
Ryan Nembhard
Photo by: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
#15 Xavier Eliminates #24 Men's Basketball in BIG EAST Tourney Semifinals
3/10/2023 10:09:00 PM | Men's Basketball
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Bluejays will host public NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Sunday at D.J. Sokol Arena
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The BIG EAST Tournament final will feature the top two seeds for the first time since 2004 after second-seeded Xavier beat third-seeded Creighton, 82-60, on Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
The two teams had split a pair of high-scoring affairs during the regular-season, but on this night it was No. 15 Xavier (25-8) proving to be too much for Creighton (21-12) to overcome.
The Musketeers will play No. 6 Marquette in Saturday's tournament final at 5:30 p.m. on FOX. The Golden Eagles defeated No. 11 Connecticut, 70-68, in the first semifinal of the evening.
Xavier used a 12-1 run that featured eight points from Souley Boum to open up a 29-15 lead The Bluejays had six turnovers and went nearly five minutes without a basket during the drought as Xavier had opened up a 15-3 lead in points off turnovers.
Ryan Kalkbrenner and Trey Alexander would combine for Creighton's final 12 points before intermission but the Jays committed 11 first half turnovers and were outrebounded 24-15 in the opening half to trail 40-26 at the break. That matched CU's largest halftime deficit of the season.
The Xavier lead hovered between 13 and 20 points for the first 17 minutes of the second half as the Jays were unable to make a serious push.
The national leader in field goal percentage, Kalkbrenner made all seven of his field goal attempts and led CU with 18 points. Baylor Scheierman had 15 points and seven rebounds while Trey Alexander tallied a dozen points. Creighton shot 37.5 percent for the evening and 30.4 percent from deep but did sink 11-of-12 free throws.
Boum led the Musketeers with 23 points while Jack Nunge had all but two of his 17 points after the break. Colby Jones contributed a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Also providing a spark off the bench was Desmond Claude, who had 11 points.
Creighton will host an NCAA Tournament Selection Show party this Sunday at D.J. Sokol Arena to learn its postseason fate. Doors open at 4 p.m. in advance of the 5 p.m. show. The event is open to the public and free to attend.
NOTES: Baylor Scheierman tied Ty-Shon Alexander's Creighton record by making a three-pointer in his 33rd straight game. Dating to last season when he was at South Dakota State, he has made a three-pointer in 43 straight games, the fifth-longest active streak nationally ... Creighton has made a three-pointer in 981 straight games, the nation's 13th-longest active streak ... Ryan Nembhard celebrated his birthday on Friday ... Tonight's game marked Creighton's 50th in a full-time NBA arena under Greg McDermott, and 21st at Madison Square Garden. CU is 24-26 in those games and 10-11 at the World's Most Famous Arena ... Creighton fell to 10-9 all-time in nine appearances at the BIG EAST Tournament, falling to 4-1 in the semifinal round .... Creighton is now 2-2 against Xavier in the BIG EAST Tournament ... Creighton is now 5-7 against top-25 teams this season. The 12 games played match the single-season program record first done last year ...Creighton fell to 0-9 when trailing at halftime this season ... Zander Yates, Ben Shtolzberg and Evan Young made their Madison Square Garden and BIG EAST Tournament debuts.
The two teams had split a pair of high-scoring affairs during the regular-season, but on this night it was No. 15 Xavier (25-8) proving to be too much for Creighton (21-12) to overcome.
The Musketeers will play No. 6 Marquette in Saturday's tournament final at 5:30 p.m. on FOX. The Golden Eagles defeated No. 11 Connecticut, 70-68, in the first semifinal of the evening.
Xavier used a 12-1 run that featured eight points from Souley Boum to open up a 29-15 lead The Bluejays had six turnovers and went nearly five minutes without a basket during the drought as Xavier had opened up a 15-3 lead in points off turnovers.
Ryan Kalkbrenner and Trey Alexander would combine for Creighton's final 12 points before intermission but the Jays committed 11 first half turnovers and were outrebounded 24-15 in the opening half to trail 40-26 at the break. That matched CU's largest halftime deficit of the season.
The Xavier lead hovered between 13 and 20 points for the first 17 minutes of the second half as the Jays were unable to make a serious push.
The national leader in field goal percentage, Kalkbrenner made all seven of his field goal attempts and led CU with 18 points. Baylor Scheierman had 15 points and seven rebounds while Trey Alexander tallied a dozen points. Creighton shot 37.5 percent for the evening and 30.4 percent from deep but did sink 11-of-12 free throws.
Boum led the Musketeers with 23 points while Jack Nunge had all but two of his 17 points after the break. Colby Jones contributed a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Also providing a spark off the bench was Desmond Claude, who had 11 points.
Creighton will host an NCAA Tournament Selection Show party this Sunday at D.J. Sokol Arena to learn its postseason fate. Doors open at 4 p.m. in advance of the 5 p.m. show. The event is open to the public and free to attend.
NOTES: Baylor Scheierman tied Ty-Shon Alexander's Creighton record by making a three-pointer in his 33rd straight game. Dating to last season when he was at South Dakota State, he has made a three-pointer in 43 straight games, the fifth-longest active streak nationally ... Creighton has made a three-pointer in 981 straight games, the nation's 13th-longest active streak ... Ryan Nembhard celebrated his birthday on Friday ... Tonight's game marked Creighton's 50th in a full-time NBA arena under Greg McDermott, and 21st at Madison Square Garden. CU is 24-26 in those games and 10-11 at the World's Most Famous Arena ... Creighton fell to 10-9 all-time in nine appearances at the BIG EAST Tournament, falling to 4-1 in the semifinal round .... Creighton is now 2-2 against Xavier in the BIG EAST Tournament ... Creighton is now 5-7 against top-25 teams this season. The 12 games played match the single-season program record first done last year ...Creighton fell to 0-9 when trailing at halftime this season ... Zander Yates, Ben Shtolzberg and Evan Young made their Madison Square Garden and BIG EAST Tournament debuts.
Team Stats
CU
#15XU
FG%
.375
.471
3FG%
.304
.412
FT%
.917
.818
RB
28
45
TO
13
10
STL
7
8
Game Leaders
Pts
18
FGM
7
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
15
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
6
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
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