By SAM LANCE
Creighton is just a No. 9 seed, but the Blue Jays are looking like a well-oiled machine capable of pulling off a major upset after dominating No. 8 Louisville, 89-75, to open the NCAA Tournament.
This was practically a home game for Louisville with Lexington being about an hour away. But that didn’t seem to faze the Blue Jays. Creighton used some hot first half shooting (9-of-16 3-pointers) to take a 15-point lead into halftime and never looked back. The closest Louisville got in the second half was down 12 points.
“Last week we just played St. John’s on their home floor, and I think that prepared us for today for sure,” senior guard Jamiya Neal said postgame.
Neal was the story for Creighton and had a remarkable game with 29 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, marking a career-high in points and one off his career high in rebounds. It’s the fifth double-double of Neal’s career, and it came at a great time.
“My coaches and my teammates, they believe I can do this every night,” Neal said postgame. “There was no better night than tonight to do it.”
Senior guard Steven Ashworth (20 points, four assists), senior big man Ryan Kalkbrenner (14 points, six rebounds) and freshman forward Jackson McAndrew (11 points, three 3-pointers) added to Neal’s wizardry to help Creighton pull off the upset.
As a team, Creighton shot 57% from the floor including an 11-of-24 (46%) clip from 3-point range. The Blue Jays also out-rebounded Louisville 37-32.
Louisville’s dream first season under new head coach Pat Kelsey has now come to an end. This year, Louisville has 27 wins compared to 25 from the previous three seasons under Kenny Payne and Chris Mack. It’s safe to say the Cardinals will be back with some vengeance to make a run next season. Senior guard Chucky Hepburn and senior forward Terrence Edwards Jr. each had 20+ points in the loss.
Nine Creighton players have played in the NCAA Tournament, and it showed. The Blue Jays have now won at least one NCAA Tournament game each of the past five years and will likely play the No. 1 overall seed Auburn next round on Saturday.
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