INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Playing in the same city his older brother Andrew plays for the NBA’s Indiana Pacers, Creighton sophomore guard Ryan Nembhard had 12 points and a career-high 11 rebounds to help the visiting Bluejays earn a 73-52 road win at Butler.
Creighton (11-8, 5-3 BIG EAST) won its second straight game while sweeping the regular-season series with Butler (11-9, 3-6 BIG EAST) for the first time since 2016-17. The victory was also Greg McDermott‘s 100th BIG EAST regular-season victory, making him the 13th men’s basketball coach in league history to reach that milestone.
Creighton went inside early and often to build a 26-19 lead through 14 minutes, highlighted by six points in a span of 100 seconds by freshman reserve Fredrick King. The Bulldogs countered with five points in a row to get the crowd going and draw within two before the Jays closed the half on a 10-4 run that included seven points by Trey Alexander, including a banked in trifecta at the buzzer to make it 36-28.
Alexander’s 11 points led all players at the break, while Nembhard and Arthur Kaluma each contributed six rebounds to help the Bluejays maintain a 26-14 lead on the glass. Simas Lukosius led Butler with 10 points and three assists at the intermission. Creighton outscored BU 24-12 in the paint and 9-3 off the bench in the first 20 minutes.
A putback from Ryan Kalkbrenner and a three-ball by Baylor Scheierman gave CU its first double-digit lead of the game at 41-30 early in the second half. After letting Butler hang around, the Bluejays put the Bulldogs to bed with a 9-0 run that featured baskets by Nembhard, two from Kalkbrenner and a corner trey from Francisco Farabello that pushed the Bluejay margin to 62-44 with 7:39 left.
Nembhard had 12 points and 11 rebounds while Scheierman also scored a dozen points and dished five assists without a turnover. Kaluma had nine points and eight rebounds while Kalkbrenner had 11 points and nine rebounds. After winning the rebound battle 37-19 in Omaha, the Jays won 47-24 on the glass on Tuesday. CU outscored Butler 44-20 in the paint and 18-11 off the bench.
Lukosius finished with 18 points, but it was the first time in seven career games the Bulldogs lost when he led BU in scoring. The Bulldogs shot just 34.5 percent from the field despite making 8-of-14 (57.1 percent) from three-point range.
Creighton returns to the court on Jan. 25 with a home game vs. St. John’s. The 8 p.m. tip-off will air on CBS Sports Network
