Men's Basketball Faces No. 11 Baylor With Sweet 16 Bid Up For Grabs

Game #35: Creighton Bluejays (22-12) vs. #11 Baylor Bears (23-10)
Sunday, March 19, 2023 • 6:10 p.m. CST • Denver, Colo. • Ball Arena
| LIVE VIDEO | WESTWOOD ONE AUDIO | CU AUDIO (via Varsity App) |
| LIVE STATS | CU NOTES (PDF) | BU NOTES (PDF) |

- Sixth-seeded Creighton (22-12) seeks its second Sweet 16 appearance in three seasons on Sunday when it faces third-seeded Baylor (23-10).
   Tip-off at Ball Arena (19,149) in Denver, Colo., is set for 6:10 p.m. Central (5:10 p.m. Mountain). The game is the first of the session, with Gonzaga/TCU to follow.
   Creighton will have a closed practice at Ball Arena on Saturday, but the Bluejays will meet the media from 2:20 - 2:40 p.m. MT (student-athletes) and 2:40 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. MT (Greg McDermott).

- John Bishop and former Bluejay Nick Bahe will call the action on 1620 The Zone in Omaha. While KOZN is prevented from streaming the game on its app and website, fans can listen to Bishop & Bahe on The Varsity Network app, which is available for free in your app store on your mobile device.
   Westwood One Sports will also air the game nationwide on more than 500 terrestrial radio stations outside the Omaha market, with Dave Pasch and Fran Fraschilla on the call. The game can be heard on Sirius satellite radio as well, Sirius XM channel 135 or 203, as well as the SXM app 966.
   Lisa Byington, Steve Smith, Avery Johnson and Andy Katz will handle the telecast on TBS.
   Creighton's is 1-3 under Greg McDermott on TBS, with the lone win coming in 2012 over Alabama.
   Streaming video of all NCAA Tournament games is online at http://www.ncaa.com/marchmadnesslive.

- Creighton is 3-2 all-time against Baylor, but owns an 0-1 record against the Bears in the NCAA Tournament.
   The lone NCAA Tournament meeting saw the sixth-seeded Bears defeat third-seeded CU 85-55 in San Antonio in the final game for Bluejays Doug McDermott, Ethan Wragge, Grant Gibbs and Jahenns Manigat.
   The teams last met in November of 2017 when the Bears won 65-59 at the Hall of Fame Classic.
   In the most recent Creighton win (Dec. 4, 1999), the Bluejays trailed 61-47 with three minutes to play in regulation before a Ben Walker runner at the buzzer tied the score at 67 and forced overtime. In the overtime, Creighton took its first lead of the day and held on to win by one.
   Greg McDermott is 2-4 in his career against Baylor (2-2 as Iowa State coach, 0-2 as Creighton coach.

- Since the bracket expanded to 64 or more teams in 1985, No. 6 seeds entered this weekend 29-46 (.387) against No. 3 seeds. In that span, No. 6 seeds are 45-48 in the Second Round against all seeds.

With a win, Creighton would...
- Improve Creighton to 17-24 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
- Creighton would improve to 2-11 in its second NCAA Tournament game of an appearance.
- Advance Creighton to next Friday's Regional semifinal vs. either Princeton or Missouri in a game that would be played in Louisville, Ky.
- Greg McDermott would improve to 8-7 in eight appearances as Creighton's head coach in the NCAA Tournament, building on his victory total that already stands as the most NCAA Tournament wins in program history.
- Improve to 2-2 all-time as a No. 6 seed, with both wins coming this weekend in Denver.
- Improve to 4-2 all-time against Baylor, and 1-1 in the NCAA Tournament.

- The only times Creighton has played among the final 16 teams in the NCAA Tournament came in 1941 (eight teams, lost first game), 1962 (25 teams, won, then lost), 1964 (25 teams, won then lost), 1974 (25 teams, won, then lost) and 2021 (68 teams, won twice, then lost).

- The BIG EAST went 4-1 on Friday in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament, with Marquette, Xavier, UConn and Creighton all advancing. The BIG EAST has had at least one Sweet 16 team in 26 of the past 28 tournaments, and multiple Sweet 16 teams in 15 of the last 20 tournaments.
   Creighton's 67 wins in all games during the last three seasons lead all BIG EAST teams, just ahead of Villanova (65) and Connecticut (64).

- Ryan Kalkbrenner has become the first player in Creighton basketball history to appear in four NCAA Tournament victories. Last week he became the first Bluejay to appear in five BIG EAST Tournament wins.

- Creighton won at least one NCAA Tournament game in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
   That makes CU one of six teams in the country to have a win in each of the last three NCAA Tournaments, joining Arkansas, Baylor, Gonzaga, Houston and UCLA.
   The only other time that Creighton has won an NCAA Tournament game in consecutive seasons came in 2012, 2013 and 2014, also under Greg McDermott.

- Baylor Scheierman didn't waste any time making history on Friday, sinking a three-pointer just 12 seconds into the win over NC State. It was his 44th straight game with a three-pointer (the nation's 4th-longest active streak), and 34th in a row in a Bluejay uniform. The 34 straight games with a triple is one more than the previous school-record held by Ty-Shon Alexander in 2018-19.

- Speaking of three-point streaks, Creighton and Baylor own two of the nation's longest active streaks with a three-pointer. Baylor has made a three-pointer in 1,029 games in a row (9th-longest), while Creighton's buried a triple in 982 consecutive contests (13th-longest).
   Six of the nation's 13 teams with a streak of 975 or longer qualified for the 2023 NCAA Tournament, and all six won their First Round games of March Madness (Duke's 1,188; Texas' 1,092; Baylor's 1,029; Princeton's 1,017; Gonzaga's 1,016 and Creighton's 982).

- Ryan Kalkbrenner scored a career-high 31 points in Friday's win vs. NC State, eclipsing his previous best of 24. Kalkbrenner's 31 points are the most by a Bluejay in an NCAA Tournament game, surpassing Doug McDermott's 30 vs. Louisiana in 2014.
   Kalkbrenner had 20 of his points after halftime, the first time a Bluejay has scored 20 points in any half since Kalkbrenner himself had 20 points on March 2, 2022 in a win over UConn.
   Kalkbrenner has now scored in double-figures in each of Creighton's last 18 games, and upped his nation-leading field goal percentage to 71.7 percent.
   Creighton's last player to score 30 points in back-to-back games Doug McDermott on March 8 and March 14 of 2014.

- Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 31 points on just 14 field goal attempts on Friday. He's just the fifth Bluejay to score that many points on that few field goal attempts in 13 years under Greg McDermott, joining Mitch Ballock (39 points on 14 shots) vs. DePaul on March 9, 2019, Marcus Zegarowski (32/12) vs. Butler on March 6, 2021, Isaiah Zierden (31/12) on Jan. 17, 2016 at DePaul and Doug McDermott (31/12) vs. Davidson on March 21, 2011.
   Kalkbrenner is just the third player nationwide since 2010 to do it in an NCAA Tournament game, joining Fairleigh Dickinson's Darnell Edge in a First Four game vs. Prairie View in 2019, as well as North Carolina's Tyler Zeller vs. Long Island University in 2011.

- Ryan Kalkbrenner's 31 points were the second-most of any player in a First Round game. The only player with more was NC State's Terquavion Smith, who had 32 against Creighton (on 13 more FG attempts).

- Ryan Kalkbrenner has made 451 of 668 career shots, putting him at 67.28 percent overall. That places the junior center fifth in field goal percentage in NCAA history among players to make 400 or more field goals and at least four field goals per game.
Best Career FG%, NCAA History (min. 400 FG, 4FG/game)
   Pct. (FG-FGA)   Name, School   Years
   .746 (469-629)   Udoka Azubuike, Kansas   2016-20
   .740 (497-672)   Tacko Fall, UCF   2015-19
   .678 (828-1222)   Steve Johnson, Oregon State   1976-81
   .677 (441-651)   Michael Bradley, Kentucky/Villanova   1998-01
   .675 (451-668)   Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton   2020-Pres.
   .668 (566-847)   Murray Brown, Florida State   1976-80
   .667 (740-1109)   Evan Bradds, Belmont   2013-17

- Ryan Kalkbrenner ranks first in the country in field goal percentage (.717) this season. That figure also ranks best in NCAA history among juniors, and sixth-best ever in a single-season by any player regardless of year of eligibility.
Best Season FG%, NCAA History (min. 5 FG/game)
   Pct. (FG-FGA)   Name, School   Years
   .800 (184-230)   Devontae Cacock, UNCW   2016-17
   .770 (211-274)   Udoka Azubuike, Kansas   2017-18
   .748 (181-242)   Udoka Azubuike, Kansas   2019-20
   .746 (235-315)   Steve Johnson, Oregon State   1980-81
   .722 (179-248)   Dwayne Davis, Florida   1988-89
   .7174 (198-276)   Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton   2022-23*
   .7143 (210-294)   Evan Bradds, Belmont   2015-16*
* junior

- Baylor Scheierman owns 282 rebounds this season. In the last 30 seasons, the only Bluejay with more was Doug McDermott with 288 in 2011-12. No Bluejay has secured more than 290 rebounds in a campaign since Benoit Benjamin's 451 in 1984-85, when he snared a whopping 14.1 per contest in 32 games.

- Speaking of Baylor Scheierman, he's become a bit of a unicorn with his statistical oddities. Per Basketball-Reference.com, he's one of 12 players since 1992-93 to have a season with at least 282 rebounds and 79 three-pointers (a group that includes Glenn Robinson, Shane Battier, Kevin Durant, Mike Daum and Brandon Miller).
   None of the men in that group owned more than 84 assists, whereas Scheierman owns 111 helpers.

- Sunday's duel in Denver will feature Baylor's No. 2-rated offense (per KenPom.com) against Creighton's No. 14 defense. Overall in KenPom, Creighton ranks 13th while Baylor ranks 14th.
   When Baylor defeated Creighton in the 2014 NCAA Tournament, it was the Bluejays who boasted the nation's No. 2 offense but were held to a season-low 55 points.

- Creighton has made 47-of-53 free throws in BIG EAST and NCAA Tournament play (88.7 percent) and is now shooting 77.2 percent on the season at the stripe.
   Creighton's records for free throw percentage go back to 1951-52, and CU has never had a team finish better than the 75.9 percent that the 2012-13 squad converted.

- Creighton won Friday's NCAA Tourney opener despite shooting just 3-for-20 (15.0 percent) from three-point range.
   Since the three-point shot was introduced, it was CU's second-fewest three-pointers ever made as well as second-worst three-point percentage in an NCAA Tournament win.
   The only game that was worse in each category was CU's 2-for-14 (14.3 percent) long-range marksmanship vs. San Diego State on March 17, 2022. Two nights later, Creighton drained 12-of-28 three-pointers against eventual national champion Kansas.

- Creighton enters Saturday as one of 12 teams nationally with 10 or more top-25 wins since the start of last season. Baylor was ranked 11th in the final AP poll of the season on Monday.

- Sunday will be Creighton's school-record 13th game of the season against a top-25 foe when it takes on No. 11 Baylor. The previous high is 12, done last season.
   Entering Saturday, Creighton's 12 games played against top-25 teams are tied for eighth-most nationally and top the country among non-Big 12 schools. That list is composed of Texas (15), Oklahoma (14), Kansas (14), Iowa State (14), Oklahoma State (13), TCU (13), Texas Tech (13), Creighton (12), West Virginia (12) and Kansas State (12).

- Creighton's five top-25 victories this year are tied for 11th-most nationally. The leaders are Iowa State (9), Texas (9), Kansas (7), Kansas State (7), Marquette (7), Alabama (7), TCU (6), Xavier (6) and Missouri (6). Others with five besides Creighton include Baylor, Illinois, Maryland, Tennessee, Indiana and Arizona.
   Creighton's most top-25 wins in any season is six, done in 2019-20. Besides this season, Creighton claimed five top-25 victories in 2021-22, as well.
   The last time Creighton faced a team ranked exactly 11th was March 11, 2022, when it walloped No. 11 Providence 85-58 in the BIG EAST Tournament.

- Friday's win over NC State marked the 16th sellout that Creighton has played in front of in 34 games this season, including six home games, four road games and six neutral contests.
   Creighton ranks sixth nationally with 17,163 home fans per game and has more alumni (3,421) in Denver than any city besides Omaha.

- Creighton improved to 4-4 in neutral site games on Friday. Sunday will be CU's ninth neutral site contest this season, tying a school-record set last year.

- Creighton has made 297 three-pointers this season. The Bluejays are three triples away from a seventh all-time season of 300 or more trifectas, but still a long way from the school-record 372 treys in 2018-19. CU has not made 300 there-pointers in any season since the 2019-20 squad finished with 302.

- Creighton owns 144 blocked shots this season, which ranks sixth-most in program history. Since the turn of the century, only CU's 2021-22 team (149) and 2002-03 team (153) have had more. The other three teams with more all featured Benoit Benjamin in the early 1980s.

- Sophomore Ryan Nembhard and Arthur Kaluma both had 10 points on Friday, giving Creighton five players with 400 or more points this season.
   The Bluejays are the nation's only team with five players averaging 11.9 points per game or more this season.

- The winner of Sunday's Creighton/Baylor game will advance to the South Regional semifinal next Friday in Louisville, Ky., and play the winner of Saturday's game between Princeton and Missouri.

Men's Basketball Faces No. 11 Baylor With Sweet 16 Bid Up For Grabs

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Players Mentioned

Ryan Kalkbrenner

Arthur Kaluma

Ryan Nembhard

Baylor Scheierman