By Mariana Smithfield

3 23 2024

Two winningest coaches in Creighton history will face off

GAME NOTES

https://gocreighton.com/documents/2024/3/22/34-Oregon-notes.pdf

Game #34: Oregon Ducks (24-11) vs. #11 Creighton Bluejays (24-9)
Saturday, March 23, 2024 • 8:40 p.m. CT  • Pittsburgh, Pa.  • PPG Paints Arena
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• No. 11 Creighton (24-9) seeks its third Sweet 16 in the past four seasons on Saturday, March 23rd, when it faces 11th-seeded Oregon (24-11). Tip-off inside PPG Paints Arena (17,323) in Pittsburgh, Pa., is set for 8:40 p.m. Central (9:40 p.m. Eastern).
The game will be televised on TBS, with Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas and Evan Washburn announcing. It will be Creighton’s 100th straight game to be televised.
The game can be heard on KOZN (1620 The Zone) and KOOO (101.9 FM), with John Bishop and Nick Bahe on the call.
Westwood One will also air the game, with Scott Graham and Jordan Cornette on the broadcast. The game can be heard on SiriusXM (channel 210 or 203), and on the SiriusXM App and at https://sxm.app.link/966. The Westwood One feed will be available over the internet and other mobile devices at http://westwoodonesports.com/madness.  The Westwood One feed is also on the Varsity Network app mentioned above and also available via the free Westwood One Sports skill on Alexa (“Alexa, Open Westwood One Sports”).

With A Win…
• Creighton would advance to next Friday’s Regional Semifinal in Detroit against the winner of Saturday’s  Texas and Tennessee game in Indianapolis.
• Creighton would improve to 20-25 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
• Creighton would improve to 4-10 in its second NCAA Tournament game of an appearance.
• Improve to 3-1 as a No. 3 seed and 2-2 against a No. 11 seed.
• Greg McDermott would improve to 11-8 as Creighton’s head coach in the NCAA Tournament, and 19-12 in the postseason. All other CU coaches are 8-17 in the NCAA Tournament and 17-29 in the postseason.
• Creighton would win multiple games in the postseason for the fourth time in its last five trips, which includes the 2019 NIT.
• Creighton would win its 25th game, its most in one season since 2016-17, and just the seventh time in program history with 25 or more victories.
• Ryan Kalkbrenner would play in his eighth career NCAA Tournament win, extending his own program record.

Milestone Watch
• Creighton has attempted 956 three-pointers this season. The program record is 961, done over the course of 35 games in 2018-19.
• Creighton is also within reach of the program’s single-season record for team free throw percentage. This year’s squad is shooting 78.0 percent (383-491), while last year’s team broke the record at 78.3 percent (481-614).
• Ryan Kalkbrenner is one blocked shot shy of 300 in his career.
• Baylor Scheierman owns 348 career three-pointers, two shy of 350 in his career.
• Steven Ashworth is one steal  away from 100 in his career.

• The following Creighton NCAA Tournament career records are within reach on Saturday.
Ryan Kalkbrenner owns 121 career points in the NCAA Tournament, eight behind Doug McDermott’s 129 from 2012-14.
Baylor Scheierman has made 13 three-pointers, three behind the program record set by Ethan Wragge and Kyle Korver.
Trey Alexander has made 27 free throws, which is eight behind Paul Silas’ 35.
Trey Alexander has 26 career NCAA Tournament assists, four behind Ralph Bobik’s 30.
Trey Alexander owns eight career NCAA Tournament steals, four behind Ryan Sears’ 12.

• Ryan Kalkbrenner added to his many Creighton records in NCAA Tournament play on Thursday. His 47 field goals are two more than the previous mark held by Doug McDermott. His 11 blocked shots are a program record, four more than Chad Gallagher’s seven. His nine games played in are two more than Shereef Mitchell and Trey Alexander. His seven wins played in are two more than both Mitchell and Alexander as well.  He also joined Kyle Korver’s program record by playing in a fourth NCAA Tournament.
Trey Alexander set a program record on Thursday by starting in his seventh career NCAA Tournament game.

• Creighton is 1-3 all-time against Oregon, with the teams last meeting in the best-of-3 finals of the College Basketball Invitational. Creighton won Game 1 84-70 in Omaha before the series shifted to Eugene. The Ducks won game two 71-58, then won the title 71-69 on a basket by E.J. Singler with 2.0 seconds left after Creighton turned the ball over on a backcourt violation made possible by the non-existent half-court line on the Matthew Knight Arena floor.
That CBI final was the first season in Omaha for Greg McDermott and first in Eugene for former Creighton coach Dana Altman.
Prior to the 2011 CBI, Oregon won the only previous meeting with Creighton, 75-64 on Dec. 26, 1974 in Portland, Ore. The Ducks were ranked 19th at the time, and the contest was played as part of the Far West Classic.

• Greg McDermott is 1-2 against Oregon and 3-11 when coaching against Dana Altman. Altman is 2-1 against Creighton.
McDermott is 15-12 in his career against the current members of the Pac-12, and 9-6 as Creighton coach.

• Greg McDermott‘s 324 wins at Creighton rank second-most in program history and are just three behind the 327 accrued by Dana Altman from 1994-2010 while patrolling the Bluejay sideline. They are more than double the next-closest CU coach in wins, as Arthur A. Schabinger had 165 victories from 1922-1935.
The only Power 6 schools to currently have a coach with 300+ wins at a school, whose predecessor also had 300+ wins at the same school, are Kansas (Roy Williams/Bill Self), Michigan state (Jud Heathcote/Tom Izzo) and Purdue (Gene Keady/Matt Painter).
Of the 53 head coaches hired in the 2010-11 offseason, McDermott and Altman are two of the 11 men who are still in the same position. Altman’s 345 victories lead that group, while McDermott’s nine NCAA trips are best among those hires. Other notable coaches hired that offseason still in their current roles are Tad Boyle (Colorado), Leon Rice (Boise State), Fran McCaffrey (Iowa) and Brad Brownell (Clemson).

• Dana Altman isn’t the only person on the Oregon sideline with Creighton ties.
Oregon assistant coach Brian Fish spent two seasons at Creighton as a film coordinator (1994-96) and six more as an assistant coach (2004-10).
Oregon Director of Player Development Kevin McKenna was a 1998 inductee into the Creighton Hall of Fame as one of the top players in school history. He was an assistant at Creighton for nine seasons (1994-2001 and 2005-07). He earned his undergraduate degree from Creighton in 1993 and his Master’s in 1997.

• Creighton had no steals on Thursday vs. Akron, just the fourth time in 14 seasons under Greg McDermott it did not record a steal. The last time that happened was Jan. 17, 2015 vs. Providence.
Oddly, Creighton has not recorded a steal in either of its two NCAA Tournament wins in program history as a No. 3 seed, as that was also true exactly 10 years earlier on March 21, 2014 when the Jays beat Louisiana-Lafayette.

• Per Elias Sports, Creighton’s game vs. Oregon will be the first time the Jays have faced a Pac-12 school in the NCAA Tournament since it  met Washington State in the West Regional Semifinals, 83 years ago Thursday.  Back then, the Pac-12 was referred to as the Pacific Coast Conference

• Thursday was the first time since at least 2005-06 that Creighton had all five starters score 10+ points and make at least one three-pointer. The last time they had five players do this, regardless of starting status was Jan. 9, 2021 vs St. John’s. That quintet was Denzel Mahoney, Alex O’Connell, Mitch Ballock, Damien Jefferson and Shereef Mitchell.

• Creighton has won at least one NCAA Tournament game in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Through games of Thursday, the only other teams that can say that were Gonzaga and Kansas, with Baylor and Houston both eligible to join that group with a victory on Friday.
This is the first time that Creighton has won an NCAA Tournament game in four straight years.

• Entering this season, Creighton is one of just eight teams to have reached at least two of the last three Sweet 16s. Gonzaga, Houston and UCLA have done it each of the last three seasons, while Alabama, Creighton, Michigan and Villanova have done it twice each. UCLA, Michigan and Villanova all missed this year’s Big Dance.
Of last year’s Elite Eight, Creighton, Texas and Gonzaga all won on Thursday, while San Diego State, UConn and FAU play on Friday. Both Miami (Fla.) and Kansas State missed the Big Dance this winter.

• Thursday was also just the fourth time over the last 10 seasons a team in the NCAA Tournament got 10+ points and at least one three-pointer from each of their starters…
R64    03/21/2024    Creighton vs Akron
PIN    03/15/2023    Fairleigh Dickinson vs Texas Southern
SEM    03/31/2018    Villanova vs Kansas
R64    03/15/2018    Villanova vs Radford

• Creighton’s 77-60 win on Thursday was its largest margin of victory ever in an NCAA Tournament game, eclipsing a near-identical 77-61 win over Texas on March 9, 1974 in the Round of 32.

• Thursday was Creighton’s second 77-60 win of the season (also Jan. 2 at Georgetown), a game that was also broadcast by Steve Lappas.  Before this year, Creighton’s last 77-60 win was the victory over Seton Hall to end the 2019-20 season and clinch a BIG EAST regular-season title.

• Creighton made its first five three-pointers on Thursday and finished the game 10-for-17 from downtown for a sparkling 58.8 percent rate.
It’s the first time Creighton has ever shot better than 50 percent in an NCAA Tournament game, and the 58.8 percent marksmanship was its best rate of the season for any game. Creighton’s 17 attempts were a season-low.

• Creighton scored 77 points on Thursday, all from its starters. The last team to score that many points in an NCAA Tournament game despite having zero from its bench was Rutgers (87 points) in a Play-In Round loss to Notre Dame in 2022. The last team to score 77+ with zero bench points in a WIN, was Minnesota (86 vs Louisville) in the 2019 Round of 64. The last Big East school to do this (regardless of result) was Providence in the a 1997 Elite-8 loss to Arizona (92 points).
Creighton is now 3-0 this season when it gets zero bench points, having also beaten No. 23 Providence (69-60 on Jan. 6) and Butler (79-57 on Feb. 17).

• Creighton played its 52nd straight game without a player fouling out, on Thursday, the nation’s longest streak by any team since at least 2005-06.
Creighton owns a nation-low 11.3 fouls per game this season and has put just two of 33 opponents in the bonus in the first half this season.

• Ryan Kalkbrenner, Baylor Scheierman and Trey Alexander all recorded 15+ points and 5+ rebounds in today’s win. They’re just second BIG EAST trio to do this in a NCAA Tournament game over the last 10 years, the other being Xavier’s J.P. Macura, Trevon Bluiett and Kerem Kanter in the 2018 Round of 64 vs Texas Southern.

• Baylor Scheierman, Trey Alexander and Ryan Kalkbrenner have each picked up national recognition since the start of the week.
Scheierman was named Third Team All-American by the Associated Press, USBWA and NABC and First Team All-District by the NABC.
Kalkbrenner was named an Honorable Mention All-American by the Associated Press and is one of four finalists for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year. He’s also a NABC Second Team All-District selection.
Alexander was named Second Team All-District by the NABC.

• Mason Miller scored 10 points in Thursday’s win vs. Akron, just his third time in 67 career game’s he’s scored in double-figures and his most since scoring 11 vs. UNLV on Dec. 13th.
Miller made 3-of-5 three-pointers, improving his BIG EAST-best percentage to 46.2 percent from downtown, and was a game-high +25 in 25 minutes of playing time.
Creighton is now 21-3 this year when he scores, compared to a 3-6 mark when he doesn’t.

• Ryan Kalkbrenner had 23 points on Thursday as Creighton improved to 21-3 all-time when the 7-footer scores 20 or more points. It was his 11th game this season with 20 or more points.
Kalkbrenner (11), Trey Alexander (14) and Baylor Scheierman (14) all own 11 or more games with 20+ points this season. In Greg McDermott‘s first 13 years at Creighton, the only Bluejays with 11 such games in a year were Doug McDermott (3x), Marcus Foster (2x) and Nate Funk (1x).

• Ryan Kalkbrenner rejected three shots on Thursday and now has 100 rejections on the year. Other than Kalkbrenner the past three seasons, the only other Bluejay in program history with more than 70 blocks in any season was Benoit Benjamin, who had 92 blocks in 1982-83, 157 rejections in 1983-84 and a program-record 162 blocks in 1984-85.
Kalkbrenner’s next block will be the 300th of his career, something only Benjamin (411) has attained in CU history.

• Baylor Scheierman made three three-pointers and grabbed 13 rebounds on Thursday, upping his season totals to 102 three-pointers and 300 three-pointers.
Scheierman joins Alabama phenom Brandon Miller (106 three-pointers and 305 rebounds) from 2022-23 as the nation’s only players since 1992-93 with at least 100 three-pointers and 300 rebounds in a season.
Additionally, Scheierman became Creighton’s first player since legendary Bob Portman (in 1967-68 and 1968-69) to have multiple seasons of 300 or more rebounds.

• Baylor Scheierman had his second straight game with 13 rebounds. He’s Creighton’s first player with back-to-back 13-rebound games since Doug Swenson in November of 1998.
Scheierman’s 9.09 rebounds per game are the most by a Bluejay since Bob Harstad averaged 9.35 in 1988-89.
Scheierman had his 16th double-double of the season, the most by a Bluejay in one year since Benoit Benjamin had 28 in 1984-85.
Scheierman’s 13 defensive boards give him 275 defensive rebounds this season, and his 1,126 career defensive rebounds are the most by any player in the country since 2000.
Scheierman is the nation’s only Power 6 player since 1992-93 with a season of at least 270 defensive rebounds and less than 40 offensive rebounds, and has now done it each of the past two seasons.
Thursday was the 26th career game Scheierman has had 10 or more rebounds without an offensive board. That leads the nation since 2010-11, and he’s one of just two players with more than 10 such contests.
Baylor Scheierman enters Saturday with 1,241 career rebounds. Former Indiana State legend Larry Bird finished his career with 1,247.

• Baylor Scheierman also surpassed 600 points on the season on Thursday. His 604 points this year match the 604 that Kyle Korver had in his senior campaign in 2002-03, and are tied for 15th most in CU single-season history.

• Isaac Traudt recorded his first career blocked shot on Thursday vs. Akron.

• Creighton is 2-3 under Greg McDermott on TBS. Both wins came last season, when the Jays beat Baylor in the Second Round and Princeton in the Regional Semifinal.

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