OMAHA, Neb.– Scored 49 points on a school-record 20 field goals by the All-American senior center Ryan KalkbrennerOn Wednesday, November 6, the No. 15 Creighton men’s basketball team opened the 2024-2025 regular season with a 99-86 victory over UTRGV.

Kalkbrenner’s 49 points were the second-most in a single game in program history, trailing only Bob Portman’s 51 points against UW-Milwaukee in 1967, and eclipsed Doug McDermott’s arena record with a Bluejay of 45 points in 2014. He also founded a new school. record with 20 (20 of 22) made field goals, becoming the first player in NCAA history with 20 made field goals on 90 percent shooting since Bill Walton did so in the 1973 National Championship. Included in his 49 points, Kalkbrenner also picked up a game-high 11 records to record his 17^e career double-double.

Senior Steven Asworth added 25 points himself with seven rebounds and seven assists while a sophomore Isaac Traudt contributed 11 points to the victory. CU shot just 7-of-23 from deep (30.4 percent), but made up for it with 26-of-29 shooting at the line (89.7 percent). Creighton also won the rebound battle 38-33, outscoring the Vaqueros 50-32 in the paint. Ashworth’s 17-for-17 shooting at the line is the most goals at the line without a miss in program history.

UTRGV got 26 points and 11 rebounds from Hasan Abdul-Hakim and 17 points each from DK Thorn and Cliff Davis. The Vaqueros went 33 of 77 (42.9 percent) from the floor, including 14 of 35 (40.0 percent) from three and 6 of 10 from the charity stripe. UTRGV forced Creighton into 15 turnovers, which led to 19 points for the Vaqueros.

Kalkbrenner became the first Bluejay to make his fourth straight opening day start since Doug McDermott in 2013 and scored the first eight points of the game for the Bluejay, but a barrage of three-pointers from the Vaqueros opened a 12-8 lead at the lower limit. Timeout of 16 minutes in the first half.

From there, Creighton went on a 10-4 run, behind a pair of treys from Traudt and the redshirt freshman’s first career basket Shane Thomas to take a 20-16 lead. Back-to-back three-pointers from UTRGV’s Marshall Destremau tied the game at 23-23, before 10 straight points from Kalkbrenner gave the Bluejays a 33-27 lead and the lead for good, with Creighton up 46- was 38 ahead. .

Kalkbrenner continued his dominance in the second half, scoring 29 points on perfect 11-for-11 shooting. The Bluejays provided an offensive spark, quickly increasing their lead to double digits at 60-50 after a Kalkbrenner layup with 14:56 left in the game.

Kalkbrenner, the Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year and Preseason First Team All-American, would then score 10 of the Bluejays’ next 13 points as their lead increased to as many as 14 at 73-59 with 9:36 remaining. The Vaqueros wouldn’t go away, however, closing to within six at 73-67 after an 8-0 run to force the victory. Greg McDermott in a timeout.

Creighton responded with an 8-2 run of its own to cut their lead to 11 at 83-72, before eight straight free throws from Ashworth sealed the 99-86 win for the Bluejays.


Creighton returns to the floor on Sunday, Nov. 10 when the Bluejays host FDU at CHI Health Center Omaha at 4 p.m.

NOTES: Creighton has now won 30 straight home openers… Creighton is now 92-15 all-time in season openers and 27-1 in last 28 lid lifters… Creighton improved to 100-17 all-time in home games as a ranked team… Creighton is now 3-0 all-time against UTRGV and Greg McDermott improved to 7-0 against teams currently in the Southland Conference… McDermott is now 23-1 in season openers as a Division I head coach with 23 straight wins… The Nov. 6 game date is the second-earliest start date for a season opener in program history, one day later than the Nov. 5, 2019 season opener… Creighton shot 60 percent from the field, its best in a season opener in the past 30 seasons… Of Creighton’s 19 previous teams scored 90+ in a season opener, 12 would reach the NCAA tournament…Creighton has won 47 straight home games against winless teams… Ryan Kalkbrenner has scored double figures in 23 consecutive games and has a block in 15 consecutive games…Creighton has won 27 straight games with 25+ free throws… Steven Asworth has made a three-pointer in 20 consecutive games… Ryan Kalkbrenner (1,820) passed Kyle Korver (1,801) for the sixth-most career points in program history… No other major player has recorded as many points and as many rebounds in any game in the past 30 years Ryan Kalkbrenner tonight, and his 49 points are the most in a double-double performance in BIG EAST history.