Over the past 10 games — prior to the onset of conference play — Creighton men’s basketball coach Greg McDermott did not shy away from what level his team performed at and the seemingly long list of improvements they needed to make. 

“We’re not tough enough yet. We’re not physical enough yet. And we don’t need to do it because I’m mad and I’m upset. We need to do it because it’s the only way we’re going to reach our potential,” McDermott said after Creighton’s season opening win, 92-76, over South Dakota.

“We were soft offensively and then that carried over to what we were doing on the defensive end of the floor,” McDermott said after the Bluejays’ first loss of the season, 90-63, at Gonzaga.

“I’m not really concerned with our opponents right now. There’s so many things we have to get better at,” he said after Creighton’s 71-50 loss at Nebraska. 

“That [result] doesn’t happen in our building. What transpired the first half was unacceptable. It’s embarrassing,” McDermott said after the 86-73 home loss to Kansas State.

Now, nearly a month and a half into the season, the postgame tone finally shifted. Creighton’s decisive conference win over Xavier on Dec. 17 set the stage, and a second straight 20-plus-point victory over a league opponent on Dec. 20 confirmed the change.

The victim this time around? The Marquette Golden Eagles, who came into CHI looking for their first win in the Big East and left with their fourth 20-plus point loss this season, 84-63, to Creighton.

“I just think we’re more connected, on both ends of the floor … It’s taken a white, but gradually we’re seeing signs of what we’ve been looking for all along,” McDermott said.

The combination of dominance over Xavier (31-point win) and Marquette (21-point win) gave Creighton a 62-point margin through two conference contests, a league record. 

But more than that, Creighton showed that the Musketeer masterclass wasn’t a one-off. Instead, the Bluejays showed that whatever the reason, something is clearly coming together.

Now, with a two game win streak and signs from McDermott that the tides may have turned, here are three takeaways from the CHI commanding performance.

#1- Stopping the bleeding and having an answer

If there’s anything to note about Creighton’s first 10 performances leading up to the Big East opener, it’s that when the Bluejays have flown off the tracks and found themselves in a deficit, they have not fared well. 

Remember Gonzaga, when the Bluejays were down just six heading into halftime and then the Bulldogs opened the second half by taking a quick 52-40 lead right out of the gates? Creighton lost that game by 27 points. 

How about when Creighton played Baylor in the Player’s Era Tournament and, after trailing 51-42 with 15 minutes to play, couldn’t fully close the gap even with a 10-2 run? They fell 81-74.

All these examples are to say that the Bluejays of 2025-26 to begin the season have struggled to stop the bleeding when their opponent goes on a run. But against Marquette, the Bluejays demonstrated just how to play against these runs. It is nearly impossible to stop a team from going on a run (basketball is a game of them), but the mark of a good team is the ability to limit the effectiveness of the runs in order to flip the momentum.

Creighton demonstrated this technique in the first minutes of the game. Marquette’s defense opened the game strong, forcing the Bluejays into a shot clock violation on their first possession. A 7-0 score shone on the board a short time later, but — adapting to Marquette’s defensive pressure and bringing Nik Graves into the lineup — Creighton refused to let the game spiral. 

Instead, flipping the switch, a Bluejays squad led by Graves went from down 15-9 with 12 minutes left in the first half to rising up to the challenge and piecing together a 25-2 run. By halftime, Creighton led 46-32 and kept its foot on the gas to bury Marquette, 84-63.

The moral of the story? When Creighton doesn’t let the game spiral and stops the bleeding early, their offense is able to flow and thrive. Playing catch up is not an easy position to be in so, while runs like Marquette’s are bound to happen, efficiently stopping the run before it becomes problematic is a key to success.

#2- Two words: Nik Graves

McDermott’s decision to remove Graves from the starting lineup may have been a shift for the senior guard, his ability to come into the game off the bench and make an impact yielded game-changing results for Creighton. 

The guard from Charlotte was electric against a Marquette defense that caused the Bluejays to miss five of their first six shots and turn the ball over four times to start the game. 

Coming off the bench and helping his teammate Josh Dix — who finished the game with 10 points, four rebounds and two steals and got Creighton started offensively after falling 7-0 early — Graves electrified the floor, scoring all 17 points over seven minutes in the first half. 

The Charlotte transfer knocked down two straight baskets to give Creighton its first lead of the game 16-15 with 10 minutes remaining, then followed it up with three triples. He finished the game 4-of-4 from 3-point land and 6-of-7 from the field, dishing six assists.

This wasn’t an isolated event. While Graves did score his season high in points, field goals made and 3-pointers made against Marquette, his impact off the bench was also instrumental against Xavier. There, the guard scored 12 points, dished five assists and executed two steals. 

With two Big East games seeing Graves’s minutes off the bench be impactful, his performance needs to be the rule, not the exception, to what Creighton’s bench can do in their minutes on the floor. 

The change in starting lineup demonstrated the heart that Creighton wants to begin the game with, but seeing Creighton’s bench open the floor after McDermott wasn’t sure a week ago what the depth would look like is a huge step in the right direction. Graves showed what the Creighton bench can do at a high level. The trick will be sustaining it.

#3- Previous starters are making strides off the bench

It’s too soon to know for sure, but over the past two games with McDermott’s new starting lineup at the helm, Creighton has looked the most cohesive it has all season. 

Whether it can be chalked up to the chemistry between Dix, Austin Swartz, Jasen Green, Ty Davis and Isaac Traudt that wasn’t there with the previous starting lineup (Dix, Owen Freeman, Green, Graves and Blake Harper) or simply growth in the system with time, something is different with the Creighton team now. 

But maybe the most interesting part of this new lineup and the bench players is that players who were previously in the starting lineup who struggled early are coming in and adding crucial minutes. 

Take Freeman for example. It’s no secret that Freeman faced challenges in many facets from the onset of the season. After scoring 19 points versus South Dakota, Freeman struggled more than he converted. 

In a hostile Gonzaga environment where his impact was needed, the Iowa center scored just two points. Then, at Nebraska nearly a month later, where the Cornhuskers dominated from start to finish, Freeman scored zero points in 16 minutes and grabbed just four rebounds. 

Yes, Freeman did have double digit performances against North Dakota (13), Oregon (14) and Nicholls (14), but his impact in big games wasn’t nearly where it should have been, especially after a month to grow. 

Something needed to change, and when Freeman began coming off the bench, his lower double-digit minutes were much more impactful. Against Marquette, the center scored six points and grabbed six rebounds in 11 minutes. His offensive rebounds (three) plus putback formula was critical for Creighton. Last game, against Xavier, Freeman finished with eight points, five rebounds and three assists.

All in all, the center may still be growing into his role, but now that he’s come in after the starting five sets the tone, his impact has increased. 

Harper is the same way. While the sophomore transfer started the season with double digit performances at Gonzaga, against Maryland Eastern Shore and North Dakota, the guard struggled to create production at Nebraska (one point, two assists, four rebounds) and Iowa State (zero points, two rebounds, three assists, four fouls), as well as against Kansas State. 

But off the bench at Xavier and against Marquette, Harper’s impact in 19 and 18 minutes on the floor, respectively, have been a boost for the Creighton offense. At Xavier, Harper used his nearly 20 minutes on the floor to contribute 11 points, four steals and five assists. The steals and assists are his season-highs. Against Marquette most recently, the guard scored nine points, grabbing five rebounds. 

Freeman and Harper aren’t the only players giving Creighton valuable minutes off the bench, but they are emblematic of what this rotation shift has unlocked. With the starters setting the tone, the Bluejays are no longer searching for production — they’re layering it. 

Now, the Bluejays take a quick hiatus from their 2-0 Big East start to take on Utah Tech tonight, looking to maintain the momentum and continue to build off of arguably their two best performances of the season — Xavier and Marquette. Tipoff set for 7 p.m.