Coming off a successful 2024-25 season where the Bluejays finished with a solid 25-11 record, including an electric early season win over the No.1 Kansas Jayhawks, and a March Madness victory over 8-seeded Louisville that advanced them to the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, the Bluejays were back in action on Friday in an exhibition game against the No. 16 Iowa State Cyclones at CHI Health Center Omaha.
The Bluejays made a lot of significant changes to their roster from last season. They graduated star players such as starting center and four-time BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year Ryan Kalkbrenner, starting point guard Steven Ashworth, and starting guard/forward Jamiya Neal. And they also lost backup center Fredrick King and backup forward Mason Miller to the transfer portal, who both played significant minutes off the bench last season for the Bluejays.
However, Creighton also returns some significant familiar faces from last season. Including sophomore guard Jackson Mcandrew, junior forward Jasen Green, junior guard Fedor Zugic and junior forward Isaac Traudt.
The Bluejays were able to fill up their new roster. Adding notable transfers such as junior forward Owen Freeman, senior guard Josh Dix, sophomore guard Blake Harper and senior guard Nik Graves to the team. And Creighton added notable incoming freshmen such as guard Hudson Greer and center Aleksa Dimitrijevic.
Friday was the first opportunity for Creighton fans to see this year’s team in action. However, McAndrew and Freeman were both out with injuries.
The Bluejays got off to a rocky start in the exhibition contest, the Cyclones scored the first basket of the game when senior forward Joshua Jefferson scored a layup in the paint. The Bluejays tried to respond when Charlotte transfer Nik Graves took a jump shot, but he was blocked in the paint. Jefferson managed to score another layup on the next possession, giving Iowa State a 4-0 advantage. Then after a missed 3 pointer from Traudt on Creighton’s next possession, and another Cyclone basket from freshman guard Killyan Toure, the Bluejays found themselves down 6-0 in the first 2 minutes of the contest.
“I thought it was gonna be a layup drill for Iowa State there for a while, but we didn’t panic, and that was good to see,” Creighton Head Coach Greg McDermott said.
The Bluejays would then find their rhythm. Dix put the Bluejays on the board by making a pair of free throws, then Green would make a layup making the score 6-4. The Cyclones temporarily slowed Creighton’s momentum when junior forward Milan Momcilovic made a 2 point shot that had the Cyclones doubling up the Bluejays at 8-4 with a little less than 17 minutes to go in the first half. But the Bluejays would then begin to soar and go on a 23-0 run. This 23 point scoring attack from the Bluejays included 6 made three’s. 2 of them coming from Zugic, 2 from Graves and 2 from Miami transfer Austin Swartz. The run gave Creighton a 27-8 advantage with 9:49 left to go in the first half.
The Bluejays continued to look solid throughout the first half and the score stood at 46-23 at the break in favor of Creighton. The Bluejays shot 15-31 from the field in the first half, and 8-18 from the three point line. While the Cyclones were only 9-27 from the field and 0-8 from 3.
The Bluejays would then score the first points of the 2nd half when Harper scored a second chance basket in the paint, extending the lead to 48-23 with 18:50 left to go in the second half. Both teams would exchange punches throughout the next six and a half minutes, and the Bluejays led 56-33 with 12:22 left in the second half.
The Cyclones would then start to crawl themselves into the game. Making a comeback effort that eventually shrunk the lead to only 8, and the score stood at 65-57 in favor of the Bluejays with 2:52 remaining in the ball game.
The Bluejays responded to this situation with a 4-0 run, thanks to a layup from Dix and a dunk by Green. Making the score much more comfortable at 69-57 with 1:57 remaining in the 2nd half. The Bluejays were able to hold on, and earned a win by a final score of 71-58.
“A great game for us from a learning perspective. There’s gonna be a lot of things on film that we can take away, some positives and certainly some negatives,” McDermott said. “Obviously we’re trying to figure this roster out, figure out combinations. I was really curious to see how we would perform with the lights on, and some guys performed better than others and that’s okay.”
Graves led the Bluejays in scoring with 13 points, and he dished out a team high of 5 assists. He also had an impressive 3 point shooting night, going 3-4 from behind the line.
“It’s always nice to seeing the ball go in the basket,” Graves said. “I was put in the position by my teammates and coaches to have good open shots, and I think that’s the way that Creighton basketball is: unselfish play and taking the right shots.”
The Bluejays went 22-55 overall from the field throughout the entirety of the game, and were 9-30 from 3. The Cyclones were 22-61 from the field, and they were unable to make a three pointer against the Creighton defense as they finished 0-14 from behind the line.
The Bluejays are back in action for their second and final exhibition game against the Colorado State Rams on Saturday at 6p.m. The game will be played at CHI Health Center Omaha. Creighton will start regular season play against the South Dakota Coyotes on Nov 5th at CHI.