Creighton Men Shine In Win Over FDU

OMAHA, Neb. -- All-American senior center Ryan Kalkbrenner made 9-of-10 shots and scored 24 points in 22 minutes to lead the No. 15 Creighton men's basketball team to a 96-70 victory over FDU on Sunday, Nov. 10.
 
With the win, the Bluejays improve to 2-0 for the 14th time in 15 seasons under Greg McDermott, while the Knights fall to 1-2 overall. The victory was McDermott's 327th on the Bluejay sideline, tying him with his predecessor, Dana Altman (1994-2010).

The Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year,  Kalkbrenner led all scorers with 24 points and six rebounds, while senior guard Steven Ashworth added 15 points on five triples and nine assists to tie his career-high. It made Ashworth the first Bluejay since Mo Watson Jr. in 2016-17 to record at least seven assists in each of the first two games of the season.
 
FDU opened the contest scorching hot, knocking down a pair of triples and floaters to surge to an early 10-2 advantage.  A Kalkbrenner tip-in and three-ball by sophomore Isaac Traudt rallied the Bluejays to within three points at the under-16 media timeout.  From there, the Bluejays embarked on 17-7 run powered by a pair of treys from Ashworth and four points from senior Jamiya Neal to seize the lead, 24-17. 
 
FDU immediately responded to the run with a pull-up jumper and a three-pointer by Ahmed Barba-Bey to knot the contest at 24-24.  After a pair of free throws from the Knights, the Jays scored the next seven points to regain the lead for good, 33-26, forcing FDU into a timeout.  CU continued to push the agenda offensively, outscoring the Knights 17-8 in the final four minutes of the half to gain the first double-digit lead of the game and balloon the margin to 50-34 at the break.
 
The Bluejays were paced in the first half by 15 points from Kalkbrenner and 42.1 percent shooting as a team, while FDU was led by 10 points from Terrence Brown and 39.4 percent shooting as a team in the opening half.
 
Following intermission, a pair of dunks from Neal and Kalkbrenner and a layup from junior Pop Isaacs quickly forced a timeout from FDU at the 18:04 mark, before an Ashworth trifecta and seven points from Kalkbrenner helped the Jays push their lead to 66-42 with 14:28 remaining in the game. Coming on the heels of a 49 point game in Wednesday's season-opener, Kalkbrenner checked out with 14:56 and did not return with CU comfortably in the lead.
 
The Bluejays never looked back and refused to let FDU back into the game, capturing an 81-48 lead after freshman Jackson McAndrew knocked down his first career bucket, a three-pointer with 10:01 left in the game.  CU led by as much as 35 before settling for a 26-point win.

In addition to the 24 points from Kalkbrenner and 15 from Ashworth, Neal had 13 points with five rebounds and three assists, while Isaacs recorded 12 points and four boards in his Bluejay debut.  The Bluejays shot 47.8 percent from the field (33-69) and made 10-of-33 three-point shots as well as 20-of-25 free throws. The Jays grabbed 51 rebounds and dished 22 assists, while also outscoring the Knights 46-24 in the paint,  27-16 off the bench and 19-0 in transition.

Brown led the Knights with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Bismark Nsiah scored 12 points and grabbed four rebounds. The Knights shot 35.8 percent from the field, 9-of-24 from three-point range and 13-of-14 at the charity-stripe.  FDU also grabbed 30 rebounds and dished 11 assists as a team.

Creighton returns to the court on Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 8 p.m. to face Houston Christian at CHI Health Center Omaha.