The No. 12 Creighton men’s basketball team, riding a 10-game win streak, welcomed the Illinois State University Redbirds to CenturyLink Center Omaha for a Wednesday night game that saw the Bluejays put forth one of their best offensive performance of the season in a 102-74 blow-out.

Creighton opened the game on a 15-2 run that forced Illinois State head coach Tim Jankovich to burn two timeouts, neither of which did much to stall Creighton’s momentum. The Jays put on an offensive clinic, going nearly seven minutes before missing their first field goal. Creighton lead 24-6 with just eight minutes into the game.

“We came out real strong there,” sophomore forward Doug McDermott said. “Got them to take some tough shots, and we turned down some good shots for some great shots, so got a lot of layups and we were really unselfish tonight.”

The Jays also played excellent defense during that stretch, smothering the Redbirds and forcing eight missed field goals and five turnovers, which lead to easy looks in transition for Creighton.

“We came out and played really well defensively those first however many minutes and obviously that translated into easy buckets on the other end,” junior guard Grant Gibbs said. “That was a big part of the start we got off to.”

Head coach Greg McDermott said they were focusing in practice on being more aggressive on defense, and it paid off for the Jays on both ends of the floor.

“Defensively, we had some discussions the last few days just about being a little bit more aggressive with our hands and being a little bit more active on the ball,” McDermott said. “We knocked some balls loose and were able to score in transition as a result of that.”

Junior center Gregory Echenique played well early before picking up two personal fouls, forcing him to take a seat on the bench. Freshman center Will Artino came in off the bench and gave the team a big lift for the second straight game in Echenique’s absence, scoring nine points and hauling in three rebounds in the first half.

“[Artino] was really good,” McDermott said. “Got to give him a lot of credit. He did the same thing at Drake when Greg was in foul trouble. He’s giving us good minutes, he’s continued to defend better and rebound for us and he really runs the floor well, so he’s a great piece to have on this team.”

Creighton hit 63 percent of its shots in the first half while limiting the Redbirds to just 41.4 percent en route to a 51-30 lead at half time.

Illinois State came out fighting in the second half and cut the lead to 14 points with 15 minutes to go but could get no closer as the Jays’ offensive onslaught was too much to overcome. The Jays scored the next 11 points and put the game out of reach. The lead swelled to as much as 29 points before the Redbirds went on an 8-2 run. With a 23-point lead and just 3:22 remaining, head coach Greg McDermott sent in his four walk-ons, who proceeded to close out the game on an 8-3 run highlighted by two 3-pointers from junior guard Ross Ferrarini. The final score read 102-74 in Creighton’s favor.

Six players scored in double figures for the Jays, lead by McDermott’s 25 points. Gibbs contributed 12 points and seven assists. Sophomore guard Jahenns Manigat hit three 3-pointers and scored 11 points after going scoreless in his last game while struggling with a knee injury. Junior guard Josh Jones and Artino each hit double-figures off the bench with 10 and 11 respectively. Echenique finished with 10 points and 6 rebounds and also held Illinois State’s leading scorer Jackie Carmichael to just 6 points on five shots.

Creighton dominated in every facet of the game as the Jays shot 56.4 percent from the field, 53 percent from behind the 3-point line and 82.4 percent from the free-throw line. Creighton also outrebounded Illinois State 35-23 and dished out 22 assists, while only turning the ball over nine times.

“We’re turning down good shots for great shots,” Coach McDermott said. “That may have been as unselfish of an offensive performance that I’ve ever been part of.

The ball movement and guys turning down shots and getting it to the hot hand. It was a thing of beauty from an offensive standpoint.”

The win was Creighton’s 11th straight and moves them to 21-2 and 11-1 in the MVC. The Jays sit atop the Valley standings with a one-game lead on the Wichita State University Shockers. Illinois State drops to 14-9 on the season and 6-6 in conference.

Creighton’s next game is Saturday at the University of Northern Iowa. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. and the game will be televised on FSN.