McDermott Earns five hundredth Division I Victory as Males’s Basketball Tops South Dakota

OMAHA, Neb. – The No.23 Creighton males’s basketball group began the common season with a 92-76 victory over South Dakota on Wednesday evening at CHI Health Center Omaha to ship head coach Greg McDermott his five hundredth profession Division I victory.

Iowa switch Owen Freeman led the best way in scoring for the Bluejays with 19 in his Creighton debut as he made 9-of-11 photographs from the sphere. He was adopted by 4 different Bluejays in double figures as  Nik Graves had 15, Jackson McAndrew 13, Josh Dix 11 and Isaac Traudt scored 10 factors.

South Dakota was led by Isaac Bruns with 16 factors and Vince Buzelis with 12 factors to guide the Coyotes in scoring.   Creighton goes to 1-0 on the season whereas South Dakota falls to 0-2 on the season.

Howard switch, Blake Harper put up the primary two buckets of the season, and a McAndrew jumper, and Graves layup and free throws put the Jays up 10-4 going into the primary media timeout.

The Coyotes got here storming again on a 10-0 run earlier than a 7-0 Jays run that includes a Fedor Zugic putback, Traudt free throws, and a McAndrew three put the Bluejays again up 17-14. Going forwards and backwards, the Coyotes have been main 21-19 with underneath 10 minutes left till the Jays went on one other 7-0 run by Dix’s jumper, Traudt’s putback, and Graves’ three-pointer to push the lead again as much as 26-21 with 9 minutes left within the first half

Creighton continued to choose up the tempo within the sport after the Coyotes pushed it again all the way down to a 29-25 lead for the Jays. Creighton compiled a 15-6 run that includes six factors from Freeman and three-pointers by Miami switch Austin Swartz and Dix, and a dunk by Graves to drive a USD timeout with 2:17 left on the clock within the first half for Creighton to guide 44-31. Creighton closed out the primary half main 48-35 at halftime. Graves leads the Jays in scoring with 11 factors, and eight of the ten gamers for the Bluejays dented the scoring chart.

Creighton continued the way it ended within the first half by beginning on a 14-6 run with an eight-point stretch by Freeman, and buckets by Dix, Graves, to push the result in 21 factors with 16:50 remaining within the second half.

The Bluejays placed on a dunk contest, together with a 8-2 run with back-to-back dunks by Josh Townley Thomas and a slam by Zugic pushed the Creighton result in 73-50 on the under-12-minute timeout. CU had eight dunks in whole all through the entire sport, together with 4 by Freeman.

The Coyotes reduce the Bluejays’ result in 16, however that was as shut as they might get in the long run, as Creighton’s firepower was an excessive amount of for South Dakota to get again into the sport.

Creighton ended the sport taking pictures 50 % from the sphere, with 11 of 12 Bluejays to play ended the sport with factors on the board. CU dished 20 assists on 37 discipline objectives.

The Bluejays head to the west coast to face No. 21 Gonzaga on Tuesday, November 11^th at 9 p.m. on ESPN.

NOTES:Creighton improved to 50-11 all-time towards South Dakota, together with a 34-1 mark in Omaha … Greg McDermott is now 500-302 in 25 profession Division I campaigns … Greg McDermott is now 24-1 as a Division I head coach in season-openers, and 16-0 at Creighton … McDermott’s 24 straight season-opening wins is the longest Division I streak since Mike Brey had 24 straight from 1995-2018 … Greg McDermott is now 18-0 towards Summit League groups as Creighton’s head coach … Creighton is now 93-15 all-time in season-openers, and 28-1 in its previous 29 lid-lifters … Creighton has gained 31 straight house openers … The Nov. 5 date matched the 2019-20 season for the earliest season-opener (by calendar) in program historical past … Creighton’s newcomers mixed for 55 factors … Of Creighton’s first 20 groups to attain 90+ factors in as season-opener, 13 went on to succeed in the NCAA Tournament … Creighton has scored 75+ factors in every of its final 14 conferences vs. USD … South Dakota prolonged its nation-leading streak to 13 straight video games scoring 75 factors or extra with a basket within the closing minute … Creighton has made six or extra three-pointers in 60 straight video games … Nik Graves tried a free throw in his sixtieth straight sport and made a three-pointer in his sixteenth sport in a row … Owen Freeman has scored 10+ factors in every of his final 23 video games performed … Josh Dix has made a three-pointer in 13 video games in a row … Except 2019-20 (when there was no postseason) Creighton has made the postseason every of the 12 most up-to-date instances it has shot 50 % or higher within the season-opener, together with 10 NCAA Tournament journeys … Creighton had 29 second-chance factors, 12 greater than any sport final season and its most since additionally contributing 29 second-chance factors in its 2023-24 season-opener vs. Florida A&M … Liam McChesney had a blocked shot in his first regular-season sport in 979 days (since March 2, 2023) … Josh Townley-Thomas had a career-high six factors after scoring 4 factors all of final season.

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