Kansas’ last game vs. Creighton was ‘a battle.’ Jayhawks expect same in NCAA Tournament
Kansas sophomore forward Jalen Wilson knows first-hand how difficult it can be to defeat the Creighton Bluejays of the Big East Conference.
His three-pointer with 40 seconds left proved to be the winning shot in the Jayhawks’ 73-72 victory over Omaha, Nebraska neighbor Creighton on Dec. 8, 2020 at Allen Fieldhouse.
“Last (season) it went down to the very last shot. It was a battle the entire game. It’s always going to be a tough game against them,” Wilson said, asked to preview Saturday’s second-round NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional contest between No. 1 seed KU (29-6) and ninth-seeded Creighton (23-11). Tipoff will be approximately 1:40 p.m. at Dickies Arena (CBS).
Creighton had a chance to force overtime in that game, but Marcus Zegarowski, who was fouled by Wilson on a three-point shot with 1 second remaining, hit two free throws but missed the third.
“With this team, I know there’s a couple new faces for their team, but they’re always going to have the same chip that they did last (season), and also the same coach. So it’s always going to be a tough game with them,” said Wilson, who led the way against Creighton with 23 points. KU current leading scorer, Ochai Agbaji, shot 0 for 6 with zero points versus the Bluejays.
There’s no reason for KU to watch much tape of that game. Creighton has just two players on the roster who played in that game and both are injured.
Ryan Kalkbrenner, a 7-foot-1, 256 pound sophomore from St. Louis, suffered a severe knee injury early in overtime of the Bluejays’ 72-69 victory over San Diego State in a first-round Midwest Regional game on Thursday at Dickies Arena.
He won’t need surgery but won’t be able to play basketball until this summer, Creighton coach Greg McDermott said Friday.
Kalkbrenner, who scored 16 points with 10 rebounds and three assists in 40 minutes against San Diego State, averages 13.1 points and 7.7 rebounds. His replacement, 6-9 senior KeyShawn Feazell, averages 3.0 points and 2.3 boards.
“He’s a really good player,” KU coach Bill Self said Friday of Kalkbrenner. “He’s got great feet, great hands. And he can block or alter about as well as anybody. And they run so many clever things — high/low, things like that where he can be the passer or finisher. (He) knows how to seal.
“But the guy they bring in behind him is probably a superior and natural athlete,” Self added of Feazell. “He’s very capable. He doesn’t score the ball like Ryan has scored it, but he hasn’t had the same opportunities that Ryan has had. So we will prepare that they will run the same stuff, because we have no idea what they’ll run if they don’t. We may prepare that they may play a different lineup and maybe slide guys up a spot to play smaller or something like that.
“But as far as us knowing what they’ll do in the scouting, I think the biggest thing is to rely on principles as much as anything else.”
Ryan Hawkins, a 6-7 senior forward from Atlantic, Iowa, won three national titles in five years at Northwest Missouri State. He’s Creighton’s leading scorer at 13.8 points and 7.8 boards a game.
Also, freshman combo guard Trey Alexander (7.2 ppg with 77 assists against 61 turnovers) was recruited by KU for a time. He scored 18 points in Thursday’s win over San Diego State.
“I think that there’s a misconception out there that if you don’t play at a Division I level, you may not be quite as talented as some kids that do. And that’s certainly not the case,” Self said when asked about Hawkins. “If you saw Northwest Missouri play, they could beat many teams. They almost beat Duke a couple years ago in an exhibition game.
“He’s talented, he can shoot. He’s got a quick release. He’s unbelievably skilled. He’s a bull and tough. You know, I think he can make any team in America better. And he happens to be in a great system right now to do that.”
Of Alexander, a 6-4 Oklahoma City native, Self said: “He played great. And he’s got size. And I’ve known Trey and his family forever. I recruited DeAngelo, his uncle, back in the day, when I was at Illinois. We recruited Trey. And I think he’s really improved in a very short amount of time.
“We didn’t recruit him as point guard. And I don’t know that Greg recruited him as a point guard. But it he’s turned out to be a terrific point guard, thrown into emergency duty. So he’s done a fabulous job.”
The Bluejays’ third-leading scorer behind Hawkins and Kalkbrenner is former Duke guard Alex O’Connell (11.6 ppg, 5.4 rpg).
“He’s tall and he’s got great legs,” Self said of the Rosewell, Georgia native. “He can elevate and shoot the ball over the top of you. And we know he can shoot. He’s a hard guard.”
The big story at this time regarding Creighton happens to be one player the Bluejays don’t have for the KU contest — Kalkbrenner, who McDermott said will be on the bench cheering his teammates.
“It’s kind of sad that he went down the way he did. But it’s what we’ve been doing all year, just figuring it out, next man up,” Feazell said. Creighton in February lost guard Ryan Nembhard to a season-ending injury. “We’ve been battling injuries and adversity all year. So we’ve been figuring it out to this point, I feel like we’re going to continue to do the same thing and just keep going,” Feazell added.
McDermott, who is 0-9 all time in matchups against Self (0-8 at Iowa State and 0-1 at Creighton) said: “Our guys aren’t afraid of anything. They haven’t been all year. And they’ve had a crazy way of responding to adversity all season long.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced anything quite like it (this injury). So I wouldn’t count us out because of that. You know, we’re fired up to play. And then, you know, we’re in a position with the short bench, that we’re just going to let it rip and see what happens.
“We’re going to have to be on point, we’re going to have to be focused for 40 minutes. Try to control, you know, their transition game and, obviously, their ability to throw it to (David) McCormack. Against a short bench on our part is going to be important for us to try to keep it out of there.”
The Bluejays could add an element of surprise. Self conceded the Jayhawks don’t have much film without Kalkbrenner on the floor.
“I think we’ve got a pretty good book on what Creighton has had success doing this year and what they like to do. And hopefully we’re able to neutralize that. But we’ll go off based on this year,” Self said.
This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 4:19 PM with the headline "Kansas’ last game vs. Creighton was ‘a battle.’ Jayhawks expect same in NCAA Tournament."
