Creighton Men's Basketball Heads to Las Vegas to Face Rutgers in College Basketball Crown

Apr 1, 2026 / Creighton Athletics

Next Game
Creighton (15-17) makes its debut in the College Basketball Crown on Thursday, April 2, with a quarterfinal round game against Rutgers (14-19).
Tip-off from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., is set for 9:30 p.m. Central.

Radio Broadcast Information
97.7 FM The Zone & KRGI 1430 AM/105.5 FM will carry Creighton men's basketball game Thursday night with John Bishop and Connor Happer on the call.
The audio is webcast at 977thezonefm.com.

Broadcast Information
Thursday's game vs. Rutgers will be broadcast on FS1, with Tim Brando and Jim Jackson on the call and Allison Williams on the sidelines.
A live stream of the contest can also be viewed at http://foxsports.com/live.

Live Stats Information
All of Creighton's games this season will have free live stats. Visit Creighton.StatBroadcast.com for the exact link.

Scouting Creighton
Creighton enters the postseason 15-17 overall after finishing the BIG EAST season in fifth place with a 9-11 record. Each of CU's last two wins have come away from home, winning at both No. 5 Connecticut on Feb. 8th and at Butler on March 4th.
Senior guard Josh Dix (13.0 ppg.) leads the Bluejays in scoring while classmate Nik Graves (10.5 ppg., 4.3 apg., 1.0 spg.) tops the team in assists and steals.
Jasen Green averages 10.2 points and a team-best 6.1 rebounds per game, and Austin Swartz (10.9 ppg.) paces CU with 64 three-pointers.
Creighton lost Preseason Third Team All-BIG EAST pick Jackson McAndrew to a season-ending foot injury in November, and teammates Josh Townley-Thomas, Aleksa Dimitrijevic and Liam McChesney will also miss the rest of the season, giving CU four players 6-foot-10 or taller on the sideline.
Creighton is averaging 75.1 points per game and shooting 44.8 percent from the field, 34.5 percent from three-point range and 76.0 percent at the line.
The Bluejays will be looking to extend the career of Greg McDermott, who announced on March 23rd he would be retiring as Creighton's coach at the end of the season.

Scouting Rutgers
Rutgers is 14-19 this season after finishing 6-14 in the Big Ten and going 1-1 at the Big Ten Tournament on March 11 and 12. The Scarlet Knights lost seven straight games from Jan. 17-Feb. 7 before winning five of their final nine games.
Tariq Francis (16.9 ppg., 2.9 apg., 1.1 spg.) started only 20 times, but leads the team in points, assists and steals. Dylan Grant (9.8 ppg.), Darren Buchanan Jr. (8.4 ppg.) and Jamichael Davis (7.2 ppg.) are next up on the RU scoring chart.
The Scarlet Knights averaged 70.6 points per game while shooting 41.8 percent from the field, 32.8 percent from three-point range and 74.1 percent from the line. RU was outrebounded by 3.4 caroms per contest and surrendered 75.1 points per contest.

The Series With Rutgers
Creighton is 1-0 all-time against Rutgers, defeating the Scarlet Knights 85-75 on Nov. 23, 2015 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas as part of the Men Who Speak Up Main Event.
Cole Huff had 26 points and seven rebounds to lead the Bluejays, who also got 10 points from James Milliken and 13 points and 10 assists from Maurice Watson Jr.
Rutgers was led by 21 points from Corey Sanders.
Greg McDermott is 1-0 all-time against Rutgers, but has never squared off against Steve Pikiell.

The Creighton Coaches
Greg McDermott (Northern Iowa, 1988) owns a 365-188 record in his 16th season with the Bluejays. He owns a career mark of 645-383 in his 32nd season, and is 514-319 in 25 Division I campaigns.
McDermott led Creighton to its first BIG EAST regular-season title in 2019-20, taking a Bluejay team that was picked seventh in the league's preseason poll and ending the year ranked seventh nationally. The Cascade, Iowa native has coached Creighton to a share of its first regular-season BIG EAST title in 2019-20 its first Sweet 16 since 1974 in 2020-21 and its first Elite Eight since 1941 in 2022-23.
McDermott has previously been a head coach at Iowa State (2006-10), Northern Iowa (2001-06), North Dakota State (2000-01) and Wayne State (1994-2000).
He is assisted by Alan Huss, Derek Kellogg, Trey Zeigler, Mitch Ballock and Mike Nesbitt.

With A Win...
- Creighton would bump its overall record to 16-17.
- Creighton would advance to Friday's 3 p.m. Central semifinal against either Stanford or West Virginia, which would air on FOX.
- Creighton would improve to 2-0 all-time against Rutgers, with both games taking place inside MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Milestone Watch
- Josh Dix is seven points short of 1,250 in his career.
- Nik Graves is eight free throw attempts short of 500 and 12 free throw makes away from 400.
- Hudson Greer is 14 points from 100 in his career.
- Blake Harper is five free throws made away from 300 in his career and 26 points away from 900.
- Austin Swartz is two three-pointers away from 100 in his career and three points from 500.
- Isaac Traudt's next game will be the 100th of his career. He is six rebounds away from 200 in his career and 34 points shy of 500 in his career.

McDermott To Retire At CU After The Crown
Greg McDermott, the all-time winningest coach in Creighton men's basketball history, announced on March 23rd his decision to retire from his position as head coach of the Creighton men's basketball program following the team's final game in the College Basketball Crown tournament.
At that time, Alan Huss, who returned to his alma mater last April as associate head coach and head coach in waiting, will take over as head coach of the Bluejay program.
McDermott owns a 365-188 record in 16 years at Creighton, moving his career mark to 645-383 in 32 seasons as a head coach at Wayne State (1994-2000), North Dakota State (2000-01), Northern Iowa (2001-06), Iowa State (2006-10) and Creighton (2010-Present). The Cascade, Iowa, native became Creighton's all-time wins leader on Nov. 13, 2024, when he passed predecessor Dana Altman with his 328th win.
During his time at Creighton McDermott led the Bluejays to 14 seasons of 20-plus wins and 12 NCAA Tournament wins in 10 NCAA Tournament trips, including one Elite Eight (2022-23) and three Sweet 16 appearances (2020-21, 2022-23, 2023-24). Creighton has 20 victories in 14 postseason trips overall under McDermott, taking two teams to the NIT quarterfinals and one to the CBI final. That doesn't take into account the 2019-2020 season, when Creighton won a share of its lone BIG EAST title to date and was ranked seventh nationally before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the NCAA Tournament.
In addition to the 2019-20 BIG EAST regular-season title, Creighton also won the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season crown in 2012-13 as well as the Valley Tournament title in both 2012 and 2013.
McDermott helped transition Creighton from the Missouri Valley Conference to the BIG EAST in 2013. The Bluejays rank second in league victories in that time and its active streak of 10 straight top-five BIG EAST finishes ranks as the third-longest streak in league history and the best by any program in 35 years. Creighton has met or exceeded its preseason poll prediction in 11 of 13 years in the BIG EAST. McDermott's 147 league victories rank sixth in the storied history of the BIG EAST, trailing only Naismith Hall of Fame inductees Jim Boeheim, Jim Calhoun, Jay Wright, John Thompson and Rick Pitino.
Creighton has produced three NBA First Round picks (Doug McDermott, Justin Patton, Baylor Scheierman) and three NBA Second Round picks (Khyri Thomas, Marcus Zegarowski, Ryan Kalkbrenner) during his tenure. His son, Doug McDermott, was a three-time First Team All-American and was named National Player of the Year following the 2013-14 season as he finished with 3,150 career points, to rank fifth in NCAA history at the time.
Creighton has been a fixture in the Top 25 under McDermott, spending 121 weeks in the Associated Press rankings. His teams have produced 43 Top-25 victories, with 17 Top-10 wins, including triumphs over No. 1 Connecticut and No. 1 Kansas in 2024.
McDermott's impact hasn't been limited to on-court success. He was recognized after the 2017-18 season with the NABC's Coaches vs. Cancer Champions Award, a testament to his work in the community and with the program's annual Pink Out game. Held each January, Creighton's Pink Out game has raised over $1 million to benefit Hope Lodge and support the ongoing fight against cancer.
Additionally, 35 of 37 seniors who completed their eligibility requirements over the past 12 years have earned their undergraduate degree, with 26 going on to play professionally and four others attending graduate school.
The on-campus home to Creighton men's basketball was renamed from The Championship Center to The McDermottCenter in 2024.
Creighton plans to honor Coach McDermott for his contributions to the men's basketball program with the hanging of a banner at CHI Health Center Omaha during a halftime ceremony at a yet-to-be-determined game during the 2026-27 season.

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