OMAHA, Neb. — Powered 49 points on a school-record 20 field goals from All-American senior center Ryan Kalkbrenner, the No. 15 Creighton men’s basketball team opened the 2024-25 regular-season with a 99-86 victory over UTRGV on Wednesday, Nov. 6.
Kalkbrenner’s 49 points were the second-most in a single game in program history, trailing only Bob Portman’s 51 points against UW-Milwaukee in 1967, and eclipsed Doug McDermott’s arena record by a Bluejay of 45 points in 2014. He also established a new school record with 20 (20-of-22) made field goals, becoming the first player in NCAA history with 20 made fields on 90 percent shooting since Bill Walton did so in the 1973 National Championship. Included in his 49 points, Kalkbrenner also grabbed a game-high 11 records to record his 17th career double-double.
Senior Steven Ashworth added in 25 points of his own with seven rebounds and seven assists, while sophomore Isaac Traudt contributed 11 points in the victory. CU shot just 7-for-23 from deep (30.4 percent) but made up for it with a 26-of-29 marksmanship at the line (89.7 percent). Creighton also won the rebound battle 38-33 and outscored the Vaqueros 50-32 in the paint. Ashworth’s 17-for-17 marksmanship at the line is the most makes at the line without a miss in program history.
UTRGV was paced with 26 points and 11 rebounds by Hasan Abdul-Hakim and 17 points each from DK Thorn and Cliff Davis. The Vaqueros went 33-of-77 (42.9 percent) from the floor, including 14-of-35 (40.0 percent) from three and 6-of-10 from the charity stripe. UTRGV forced Creighton into 15 turnovers, which led to 19 points for the Vaqueros.
Becoming the first Bluejay to make his fourth consecutive opening day start since Doug McDermott in 2013, Kalkbrenner scored the Bluejays first eight points of the game, but a barrage of three-pointers from the Vaqueros opened up a 12-8 lead at the under-16 minute timeout in the first half.
From there Creighton embarked on a 10-4 run, behind a pair of treys from Traudt and the first career basket from redshirt freshman Shane Thomas to take a 20-16 lead. Back-to-back three-pointers from UTRGV ‘s Marshall Destremau leveled things up at 23-23, before 10 straight points from Kalkbrenner gave the Bluejays a 33-27 advantage and the lead for good as Creighton led 46-38 at the break.
Kalkbrenner continued his dominance in the second half, scoring 29 points on a perfect 11-of-11 shooting. Providing a offensive spark, the Bluejays quickly pushed their lead to double-figures at 60-50 on a layup by Kalkbrenner with 14:56 remaining in the game.
Kalkbrenner, the Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year and Preseason First Team All-American, would then score 10 of the Bluejays next 13 points as their lead ballooned to as much as 14 at 73-59 with 9:36 left. The Vaqueros, however, would not go away and closed to within six at 73-67 on an 8-0 run to force Greg McDermott into a timeout.
Creighton responded with an 8-2 run of their own to push their advantage back out to 11 at 83-72, before eight straight free throws from Ashworth sealed the 99-86 win for the Bluejays.
Creighton returns to the floor on Sunday, November 10 as the Bluejays host FDU at 4 p.m. at CHI Health Center Omaha.
NOTES: Creighton has now won 30 straight home openers … Creighton is now 92-15 all-time in season-openers and 27-1 in its last 28 lid-lifters … Creighton improved to 100-17 all-time in home games as a ranked team … Creighton is now 3-0 all-time against UTRGV and Greg McDermott improved to 7-0 against teams presently in the Southland Conference … McDermott is now 23-1 in season-openers as a Division I head coach with 23 straight wins … The Nov. 6 game date is the second-earliest start date for a season-opener in program history, one day later than the Nov. 5, 2019 season-opener … Creighton shot 60 percent from the field, its best in a season-opener in the last 30 seasons … Of Creighton’s 19 previous teams to score 90+ in a season-opener, 12 would reach the NCAA Tournament … Creighton has won 47 straight home games against winless teams … Ryan Kalkbrenner has scored in double-figures in 23 straight games and has a block in 15 straight games … Creighton has won 27 straight games when making 25+ free throws … Steven Ashworth has made a three-pointer in 20 straight games … Ryan Kalkbrenner (1,820) passed Kyle Korver (1,801) for the sixth-most career points in program history … No other high major player has posted as many points and as many rebounds in any game over the last 30 years than Ryan Kalkbrenner tonight, and his 49 points are the most in a double-double performance in BIG EAST history.
