Creighton makes it 2 wins in less than a year against No. 1s, with Jayhawks latest to lose in Omaha
Sports
A raucous crowd was involved from the opening tip against KU
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Creighton has played eight No. 1 teams in its basketball history, and the first six of those games weren’t close. All were losses.
The last two? Bluejays blowouts at the CHI Health Center.
Creighton took down top-ranked Kansas 76-63 on Wednesday night in a game the unranked Bluejays never trailed and led by 17 points.
Ten months ago, they knocked off a No. 1 Connecticut 85-66. That was UConn’s last loss before winning 13 in a row the way to its second straight national championship.
Five of the Creighton players on the court against the Jayhawks also played against the Huskies, including 7-foot-1 center Ryan Kalkbrenner. The Big East preseason player of the year came back from injury to score 17 points and outperform Kansas big man Hunter Dickinson. Kalkbrenner had 15 points against UConn last February.
“Both feel great, obviously,” Kalkbrenner said. “Both those teams, UConn and Kansas, are elite, high-level programs. We were able to execute the game plan in both games and played at a high level. You feel good about those wins.”
A raucous crowd was involved from the opening tip against KU, the noise level increasing every time Pop Isaacs swished one of his six 3-pointers and Kalkbrenner flushed lob passes for dunks.
At the final buzzer, students poured out of the end zone seats onto the court as flames shot out of the goal standards.
