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No. 14 Creighton beats Houston Christian 78-43, Greg McDermott becomes Bluejays career wins leader
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No. 14 Creighton beats Houston Christian 78-43, Greg McDermott becomes Bluejays career wins leader

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 16 points, Steven Ashworth added 13 and No. 14 Creighton blew out Houston Christian 78-43 on Wednesday night, making Greg McDermott the Bluejays’ all-time coaching wins leader.

McDermott has won 328 games at Creighton since taking over for Dana Altman in 2010. Altman, now at Oregon, won 327 games between 1994 and 2010.

The Bluejays (3-0) held Houston Christian (1-2) to 25% shooting and the lowest point total against them since 2017.

The 7-foot Kalkbrenner continued his torrid shooting, going 6-of-6 from the field, making 35-of-38 in three games for a nation-leading 92.1%.

The Bluejays came out slow, scoring just three points in the first 5 1/2 minutes. They executed their transition attack, Kalkbrenner began to assert himself in the post and the rout was on after a 16-0 run gave them a double-digit lead that continued to grow.

D’Aundre Samuels led the Huskies with eight points.

Takeaways

Houston Christian: The Huskies, picked last in the 12-team Southland Conference, fell to 0-16 all-time against ranked opponents.

Creighton: The Bluejays got off to a slow start for a third straight game, missing seven of their first eight shots. They got away with it against three overmatched opponents, but that won’t happen once the competition heats up.

Key moment

Creighton outscored the Huskies 36-5 over the final 16 minutes of the first half, leaving them without a point through an eight-minute stretch.

Key stat

Houston Christian shot 15.2% from the field (5 of 33) in the first 20 minutes and scored just 12 points in the first half, the fewest by a Division I team this season.

Next

Houston Christian hosts Division III Rockford on Saturday, the same day Creighton hosts Kansas City.

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