Creighton Snags Three Seed Plays Akron Thursday

Mar 17, 2024 / Creighton Athletics

Photo Credit: Creighton Athletics

OMAHA, Neb. -- The Creighton men's basketball team is returning to the NCAA Tournament for the 25th time in program history and ninth time in the past 13 years after earning an at-large bid to 2024 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. The No. 3-seeded Bluejays (23-9) will meet No. 14-seed Akron (24-10) on Thursday, March 21 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pa.

The Bluejays and Zips will tip at 12:30 p.m. Central in a game that will be broadcast on TNT.

The Bluejay team gathered at a public viewing party inside D.J. Sokol Arena on the Creighton campus to watch the bracket be unveiled on CBS.

Creighton enters the NCAA Tournament with a 23-9 record after tying for second place in the BIG EAST Conference regular-season standings and falling in the quarterfinals of the league tournament this past weekend at Madison Square Garden. This year's club features First Team All-BIG EAST forward Baylor Scheierman (18.4 ppg., 9.0 rpg.) as well as Second Team All-BIG EAST selections Trey Alexander (17.6 ppg., 5.7 rpg., 4.8 apg.) and Ryan Kalkbrenner (17.1 ppg., 7.4 rpg., 3.0 bpg.). Rounding out the Bluejay starting five are Steven Ashworth (10.7 ppg., 4.2 apg.) and Mason Miller (5.7 ppg., .455 3FG%).

Creighton is coached by Greg McDermott, who owns a 323-159 record in 14th year with the Bluejays. This year marks his 12th trip to the NCAA Tournament at the Division I level, including trips to the Third Round in 2012, 2013 and 2014, a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2021 and last year's Elite Eight run as Creighton's coach. McDermott's nine NCAA Tournament appearances and nine NCAA Tournament victories are more than any Bluejay basketball coach in school history.

This year marks Creighton's 25th postseason bid in the last 27 seasons, which includes 16 NCAA Tournament bids in that span. The Bluejays have won at least one game in 12 of their last 14 postseason appearances. This will be Creighton's sixth straight trip to the NCAA's that comes via an at-large bid. CU is 18-25 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.

Creighton's No. 3 seed matches the program's best in history, as it was also a No. 3 seed in 2014.

Creighton is 3-1 all-time against the Zips, last meeting on December 9, 2012, a 77-61 Bluejay win in Omaha.

The winner of Friday's Creighton/Akron game will meet the winner of the game between No. 6 seed South Carolina (26-7) and No. 11 seed Oregon (23-11) in a game that will be played on Saturday..