Trailing by 10 points four minutes into the second half, Creighton reeled off 17 consecutive points to rally for a 60-47 Big East victory over DePaul on Saturday in Omaha, Neb.
Ryan Kalkbrenner stacked up 18 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high six blocks for Creighton (12-5, 4-2 Big East), which defeated DePaul for the 15th time in a row. Trey Alexander contributed 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench and Ryan Hawkins added 11 points.
DePaul (10-8, 1-7), which played without leading scorer Javon Freeman-Liberty (21.1 points per game) for the second game in a row due to a groin injury, received 10 points and six rebounds from Jalen Terry.
The Blue Demons didn’t take their first lead until Brandon Johnson hit a jumper to make it 17-15 with 10:16 left in the first half. Though Creighton responded with Ryan Nembhard’s nifty baseline drive and reverse layup to tie, the Blue Demons produced the next 9 points as they held the Bluejays scoreless for 7 minutes, 23 seconds.
Creighton interim head coach Alan Huss, subbing for Greg McDermott while he stays in COVID-19 health and safety protocols, finally called a timeout with 4:14 left to slow DePaul’s momentum.
The Blue Demons carried a 32-23 lead into the break as they limited Creighton to 28.1 percent shooting, which included just 2 of 14 from 3-point range. DePaul also swatted six attempts inside the arc.
DePaul pushed its lead to 38-28 when center Nick Ongenda beat everyone down the floor in transition, accepted a pass from David Jones and dunking it with 15:46 to play.
That’s when Creighton decided to slap a three-quarters-court trap on DePaul, which sparked a 17-0 run as the Blue Demons went eight minutes, 14 seconds without a point. The Bluejays forced 10 consecutive misses (including four blocked shots) and six turnovers during that run as they pushed their lead all the way to 45-38 before Johnson ended DePaul’s drought with a twisting layup with 7:32 left.
The Blue Demons never got closer than seven the rest of the way as they finished with 15 points, 13 fouls and 11 turnovers in the second half.
–Field Level Media
