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Ryan Kalkbrenner single-handedly saved the Bluejays in their season opener on Wednesday night.
Kalkbrenner dropped a career-high 49 points to lift No. 15 Creighton past UT-Rio Grande Valley 99-86 at the CHI Health Center in Omaha. He finished just two points shy of Creighton’s single-game scoring record, which was set back in 1967, and he became the first player in Big East history to drop 40 points or more in a season opener.
The 7-foot-1 center shot a near-perfect 20-of-22 from the field, too, and went 7-of-8 from the free throw line with a pair of 3-pointers. The Bluejays, and even coach Greg McDermott, were all trying to get him to score one last time on their final few possessions to hit the 50-point mark, too, but Kalkbrenner didn’t seem interested.
The last player to make 20 field goals while shooting 90% or better in a Division I game was Bill Walton, who did so in the 1973 national championship game with UCLA.
“Talk about a statement … He’s one of the best players to ever play here,” McDermott said, via the Omaha World Herald’s Jon Walker.
If it weren’t for an all-time performance from Kalkbrenner, though, McDermott’s group would’ve been in trouble. The Vaqueros stuck with Creighton the entire way, and they put up 48 points in the second half to keep the game in single digits down the stretch.
Steven Ashworth was the only other Creighton starter to hit double figures. He added 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, though 17 of his points came from the free throw line. They were without Pop Isaacs, who transferred in from Texas Tech, on Wednesday night. Isaacs is recovering from a hip injury, and wasn’t quite ready to go. He averaged 15.8 points per game last season with the Red Raiders.
Hasan Abdul Hakim led the Vaqueros with 26 points and 11 rebounds, and both Cliff Davis and DK Thorn added 17 points apiece. UT-Rio Grande Valley went just 6-25 last season, its final in the WAC before making the jump to the Southland Conference this season under new head coach Khalil Fennell.
Kalkbrenner, a three-time Big East defensive Player of the Year, announced in May that he was going to return to Creighton for his final season of eligibility. He averaged a career-high 17.3 points and 3.1 blocks per game last season while shooting nearly 65% from the field. He had 107 total blocks, too, which was the second-highest output in the country. Kalkbrenner played a huge part in Creighton’s back-to-back runs to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, too, though they were knocked out in the Sweet 16 last season.
Creighton is back in action Sunday against Fairleigh Dickinson (5 p.m. ET, FS1). The Bluejays will take on No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 1 Kansas and No. 2 Alabama in a tough non-conference slate before Big East play tips off in December. Conference play will likely be a three-team battle with No. 18 Marquette and two-time reigning national champion No. 3 UConn. Kalkbrenner will undoubtedly play a massive part in Creighton’s quest to win what would be its first conference title since 2020. In order to get there, however, the Bluejays will need a much more balanced attack. Otherwise, they may be in trouble.
“We’ve gotta get healthy, and we’ve gotta get tougher,” McDermott said, via the Omaha World Herald’s Jon Walker. “Our attention to detail, defensively, has not been there. We’ve just outscored people. That’s fool’s gold.”