Creighton Men Clip #1 Kansas In Omaha 76-63

OMAHA, Neb. -- Led by a combined 61 points from Pop Isaacs (27), Steven Ashworth (17) and Ryan Kalkbrenner (17), Creighton Men's Basketball dazzled a crowd of 17,908 with a 76-63 upset win over No. 1 Kansas on Wednesday, December 4. 

The win lifted the Bluejays to 6-3 on the season, while the loss dropped Kansas to 7-1 on the season. This is the second consecutive victory over a top-ranked team for Creighton as CU also defeated No. 1 Connecticut 85-66 on Feb. 20, 2024. 

Holding a 58-53 lead with 11:02 remaining, the Bluejays delivered the knockout blow to Kansas with a 18-6 run. Ashworth and Kalkbrenner provided the gust for Creighton's final flight with seven straight points to give CU a 65-53 edge (9:28). Moments later Isaacs surrounded a pair of Kalkbrenner free throws with mid-range jumpers, then Mason Miller punctuated the rally with a trey from the top of the key to give the Jays 76-59 lead with 1:53 left. 

Creighton came out of the blocks flying as Jamiya Neal opened the scoring with consecutive layups. Following a Kansas bucket the Bluejays saw Isaacs and Jackson McAndrew drain treys to force an early Jayhawk timeout with Creighton leading 10-2 (16:45). While the Jayhawks found their rhythm offensively over the next five minutes, Isaacs kept Kansas at bay with two more treys. Free throws from Kalkbrenner and Fredrick King sandwiched another trey from Ashworth to give the Bluejays a 23-11 edge with 10:37 remaining before the break.

Down the stretch of the first half Creighton extended its lead to as much as 13 at 35-22 (3:24) and again at 41-28 (1:07), taking a 41-31 lead into the locker room.

Kansas was the aggressor early in the second half, scoring the first nine points to pull within one at 41-40 (17:31). Creighton responded with a 10-0 run of its own, ignited by a Kalkbrenner dunk. Isaacs following with back-to-back three-pointers, then a pair of free throws from Ashworth on a technical foul issued to the Kansas bench with 15:58 remaining.

The squad went back and forth over the ensuing five minutes to setup the memorable finish.

Dajuan Harris Jr. led Kansas with 15 points in the loss, while Zeke Mayo and AJ Storr each finished with 12 points. The Jayhawks shot 35.7 percent from the field, made 8-of-23 three-pointers and 5-of-8 free throws.

CU shot 47.2 percent for the game in its wire-to-wire victory, also making 12-of-29 three-pointers and 14-of-17 foul shots. The Bluejays won the backboard battle 44-31.

Creighton returns to action on Saturday, December 7 as the Bluejays host UNLV at 3:00 pm.

NOTES: Ryan Kalkbrenner's 17 points and 10 rebounds marked his 19th career double-double ... Creighton has beaten a Top 10 team each of the last 10 seasons and a Top 25 team each of the past 12 campaigns ... Creighton improved to 2-6 all-time against top-ranked foes ... Greg McDermott has now led Creighton to nine of its 15 Top 10 wins in program history ... Creighton is the first school to beat two different AP No. 1 teams in the same calendar year by double-digits since Oklahoma did in February of 1990 over Missouri and Kansas ... Thursday is the 75th anniversary of the last previous time Creighton had beaten Kansas on Dec. 5, 1949 ... Ryan Kalkbrenner surpassed 1,900 points in the win ... Ryan Kalkbrenner blocked a shot in his 22nd straight game, the longest active streak in the country ... Steven Ashworth has buried a three-pointer in 27 consecutive contests ... The victory was Creighton's 93rd at CHI Health Center Omaha in which it hasn't trailed in 360 games at the facility.