Saturday, December 20
Omaha, Neb.
7:30 PM
Creighton University
7-5,2-0Big East
84
vs
63
Marquette
5-8,0-2Big East
1
2
F
Marquette
32
31
63
Creighton
46
38
84
Men's Basketball Opens BIG EAST Play 2-0 After 84-63 Win vs. Marquette
12/20/2025 10:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Jays pull away with 25-2 run
OMAHA, Neb. -- Nik Graves had all 17 of his points in a torrid seven-minute span in the first half as Creighton men's basketball improved to 2-0 in BIG EAST play with an 84-63 win over visiting Marquette on Saturday night in Omaha. The 21-point win, combined with a 98-57 victory at Xavier on Wednesday, gives Creighton a league-record 62-point margin through two BIG EAST contests.
Graves made 6-of-7 shots on the night, adding six rebounds and six assists, to finish as one of three Creighton (7-5, 2-0 BIG EAST) players in double-figures. He was joined by Isaac Traudt (14) and Josh Dix (10).
Nigel James Jr. led Marquette (5-8, 0-2 BIG EAST) with 23 points. The Golden Eagles shot 34.4 percent from the floor and made just 13-of-32 layups and dunks.
Marquette forced a shot clock violation on CU's first possession and opened up a 7-0 lead in the opening minutes before Creighton adjusted to the Golden Eagles pressure and inserted Graves. Down 15-9 a short time later, Creighton unleashed a 25-2 run to bury Marquette. Graves opened that run with a transition assist leading to a three-pointer by Josh Dix, his 24th straight game with a trey.
Graves followed that back-to-back baskets as CU took its first lead at 16-15. Owen Freeman tipped in a miss before a step-back triple from Nik Graves made it 21-15 and forced a Marquette timeout. Freeman finished off a traditional three-point play before a Graves trey grew the Bluejay advantage to 27-17. Graves hit another three before finishing off a personal 10-0 run in 40 seconds with a four-point play, and just like that it was 34-17. The Bluejay lead remained 12 or more the rest of the night, including 46-32 at the half.
Creighton opened the second half with Graves assisting a lay-up and a dunk to Jasen Green before an Isaac Traudt trifecta stretched the margin to 53-32 with 18:03 to play. Creighton's lead expanded to as large as 68-37 after another Traudt trey with 14:15 left as CU closed out a second straight BIG EAST win by 20 or more points.
Creighton shot 46.8 percent from the floor (29-62) and sank 10-of-27 three-pointers on the evening while winning the rebound battle 44-37. Creighton outscored MU 41-20 off the bench, 11-6 in transition, 34-28 in the paint and 14-8 off turnovers.
The Bluejays close out their non-conference schedule on Monday at 7 p.m. against Utah Tech.
NOTES: The previous league record for point differential over the first two BIG EAST games was +50 by the 1988-89 Providence team ... Josh Dix made a three-pointer for the 24th straight game and CU made a three-ball for the 1,068th straight game ... Creighton improved to 159-7 all-time at CHI Health Center Omaha when scoring 80 or more points, but just 4-4 in those games vs. Marquette ... Creighton has won a league-high 23 straight games when scoring 80 points or more ... Creighton's 15-0 scoring run in the first half was its longest run of the regular-season ... Nik Graves finished the game +40 in plus/minus ... Creighton has now played Marquette 102 times, its second-most frequent opponent behind only Drake (153) ... Creighton is 2-0 in BIG EAST play for the third time ever, joining 2013-14 (5-0) and 2021-22 (2-0) ... Creighton owns 84 BIG EAST wins since 2019-20, 13 more than Marquette and Villanova for the most in the BIG EAST ... This is the eighth straight season that one of Creighton's first four league games was against Marquette.
Graves made 6-of-7 shots on the night, adding six rebounds and six assists, to finish as one of three Creighton (7-5, 2-0 BIG EAST) players in double-figures. He was joined by Isaac Traudt (14) and Josh Dix (10).
Nigel James Jr. led Marquette (5-8, 0-2 BIG EAST) with 23 points. The Golden Eagles shot 34.4 percent from the floor and made just 13-of-32 layups and dunks.
Marquette forced a shot clock violation on CU's first possession and opened up a 7-0 lead in the opening minutes before Creighton adjusted to the Golden Eagles pressure and inserted Graves. Down 15-9 a short time later, Creighton unleashed a 25-2 run to bury Marquette. Graves opened that run with a transition assist leading to a three-pointer by Josh Dix, his 24th straight game with a trey.
Graves followed that back-to-back baskets as CU took its first lead at 16-15. Owen Freeman tipped in a miss before a step-back triple from Nik Graves made it 21-15 and forced a Marquette timeout. Freeman finished off a traditional three-point play before a Graves trey grew the Bluejay advantage to 27-17. Graves hit another three before finishing off a personal 10-0 run in 40 seconds with a four-point play, and just like that it was 34-17. The Bluejay lead remained 12 or more the rest of the night, including 46-32 at the half.
Creighton opened the second half with Graves assisting a lay-up and a dunk to Jasen Green before an Isaac Traudt trifecta stretched the margin to 53-32 with 18:03 to play. Creighton's lead expanded to as large as 68-37 after another Traudt trey with 14:15 left as CU closed out a second straight BIG EAST win by 20 or more points.
Creighton shot 46.8 percent from the floor (29-62) and sank 10-of-27 three-pointers on the evening while winning the rebound battle 44-37. Creighton outscored MU 41-20 off the bench, 11-6 in transition, 34-28 in the paint and 14-8 off turnovers.
The Bluejays close out their non-conference schedule on Monday at 7 p.m. against Utah Tech.
NOTES: The previous league record for point differential over the first two BIG EAST games was +50 by the 1988-89 Providence team ... Josh Dix made a three-pointer for the 24th straight game and CU made a three-ball for the 1,068th straight game ... Creighton improved to 159-7 all-time at CHI Health Center Omaha when scoring 80 or more points, but just 4-4 in those games vs. Marquette ... Creighton has won a league-high 23 straight games when scoring 80 points or more ... Creighton's 15-0 scoring run in the first half was its longest run of the regular-season ... Nik Graves finished the game +40 in plus/minus ... Creighton has now played Marquette 102 times, its second-most frequent opponent behind only Drake (153) ... Creighton is 2-0 in BIG EAST play for the third time ever, joining 2013-14 (5-0) and 2021-22 (2-0) ... Creighton owns 84 BIG EAST wins since 2019-20, 13 more than Marquette and Villanova for the most in the BIG EAST ... This is the eighth straight season that one of Creighton's first four league games was against Marquette.
Team Stats
Marq
CU
FG%
.344
.468
3FG%
.333
.370
FT%
.550
.800
RB
37
44
TO
12
12
STL
8
7
Game Leaders
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
4
FTM
1
Pts
14
FGM
4
3FGM
3
FTM
3
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballF
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