No. 13 Creighton overcame a sluggish start to Big East play by winning seven of its last eight games.
The Bluejays (16-5, 7-3 Big East) aim to continue their torrid play on Friday night when they host Butler (14-7, 5-5) in Omaha, Neb.
“We started 0-2 in the league and our backs were against the wall,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “The month of January, we were able to dig our way out of that. We had some tough games on the road during that stretch.”
The Bluejays’ lone misstep in that run was a 62-48 loss to No. 1 UConn on Jan. 17. Creighton, however, has bounced back with three straight victories.
Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 28 points in the Bluejays’ 97-94 triple-overtime win over Seton Hall on Jan. 20. Trey Alexander had 27 points in Creighton’s 85-78 victory over Xavier on Jan. 23, and 23 more in an 85-62 triumph over DePaul on Saturday.
“I would say I think we had a great month of January. I think we can keep building off of it,” Alexander said, per the Omaha World-Herald. “Just for us to stay locked in and be able to carry this momentum right now, it’s big for us.”
Alexander was named the Big East Player of the Week for the second time this season on Monday. One day later, he was tabbed as one of 10 players on the midseason watch list for the Jerry West Award, presented annually to the country’s best shooting guard In NCAA Division I.
Kalkbenner scored 22 points versus the Blue Demons on Saturday. He contributed a team-high 19 points last season in Creighton’s 78-56 win over Butler in Omaha.
Baylor Scheierman, who boasts team-leading averages in points (17.8) and rebounds (8.1) per game, was one of 20 players named to the late-season watch list for the John R. Wooden Award on Tuesday. He had for team-high scoring honors with 12 points in the Bluejays’ 73-52 victory versus the Bulldogs last season in Indianapolis.
Creighton sports a 10-1 record at home this season, while Butler is 2-4 on the road.
The Bulldogs lost five of six games but have since won three straight.
DJ Davis scored all of his 28 points, which matched a career high, after halftime in an 88-81 victory over Villanova in double overtime on Saturday. He also matched a personal best with six 3-pointers.
“When you’ve got a guy who’s hot like that, you’ve got to look for him,” teammate Jahmyl Telfort said of Davis.
Telfort was pretty hot in his own right, collecting 22 points and a career-high 11 rebounds for his first career double-double.
Pierre Brooks II averages a team-best 16.6 points per game, while Jalen Thomas contributes 6.8 rebounds per contest.
“This is a team full of guys that have something to prove,” Butler coach Thad Matta said.
–Field Level Media
