Creighton Men's Basketball Strikes from Long Range to Defeat Xavier 86-77

OMAHA, Neb. --  Connecting on 8-of-10 three-pointers in the second half, Creighton Men's Basketball outlasted Xavier in a battle worthy of the NCAA Tournament, 86-77, on Wednesday, January 29.

A sixth straight win pushed the Bluejays to 15-6 on the season and 8-2 in BIG EAST action, while Xavier fell to 13-9 overall and 5-6 in conference play.

Leading 69-67 with 6:48 remaining, Jamiya Neal nailed back-to-back three-pointers from beyond the arc to give the Bluejays some breathing room. After the Musketeers responded with four points in less than 30 seconds, Isaac Traudt followed Neal's lead with consecutive treys to push Creighton's lead out to 81-71 with just over four minutes left. Down the stretch Steven Ashworth added another trifecta and drained two from the free throw line to secure the Bluejay win.

Kalkbrenner led Creighton with a game-high 29 points, making 12-of-17 field goal attempts and becoming the second-leading scorer in program history. Neal finished with 16 points while Ashworth and Traudt rounded out the Bluejays in double-digits with 14 and 12 points respectively.  Creighton shot 52.6 percent from the field and made 44 percent of its 25 three-point attempts in addition to winning the rebound battle 36-32.

Ryan Conwell led the way for Xavier with 20 points and Zach Freemantle battled foul trouble to finish with 16 points. Two other Musketeers posted double figures, getting 13 points from John Hugley IV and 11 points by Dailyn Swain.

The Bluejays return to action on Saturday, February 1 at Villanova in the Wells Fargo Center at 12:00 p.m. Central on FOX.

NOTES: Ryan Kalkbrenner moved into second place on Creighton's scoring list with 2,137 career points, passing Bob Harstad (2,110) and Rodney Buford (2,116) ... Ryan Kalkbrenner also moved into fourth in program history with 1,011 career rebounds, passing Benoit Benjamin (1,005) ... Ryan Kalkbrenner had one block, giving him 363 in his career to move into a tie for 48th-place in NCAA history ... Steven Ashworth made a three-pointer in his 39th straight game ... Ryan Kalkbrenner played in his school-record 108th victory ...  Creighton's nine straight BIG EAST home wins ties a program record since joining the league in 2013 ... Greg McDermott's 131st league win ties him with Rick Pitino and John Thompson III for sixth-most in BIG EAST  history ... Creighton has won four straight games against Xavier, as well as five of the last six in Omaha ... Creighton's six straight BIG EAST wins are tied for its second-longest streak in program history ... Creighton has won 45 straight games when scoring 17 bench points or more ... Ryan Kalkbrenner had two first half fouls for the first time since Jan. 27, 2024 ... Creighton closed January with a 6-1 record.