Creighton basketball fights on for another day after defeating Oregon basketball in double overtime. In a game that truly put the “madness” in March Madness, Greg McDemott's squad overcame a late deficit in regulation and came out of the 50-minute battle victorious.
Eager to make it back to the Elite Eight after losing by just a single point last year, Creighton buried Oregon with an onslaught in the second overtime, putting the game away with a 15-2 run. The Bluejays shot a spectacular 13-14 from the foul line and 15-39 on three-pointers. Living on a diet so heavily dependent on threes, which comprised 52 percent of their field goals, is a dangerous recipe in a do-or-die game. But it worked out well enough for the beasts from the Big East.
McDermott's Creighton basketball program is now in its third Sweet 16 in four years. He defeated an Oregon basketball program led by Dana Altman, the Bluejays' coach before McDermott. It was a beautiful display of intense basketball that defines the NCAA Tournament.
“Not sure I've been part of one quite like it in 35 years,” McDermott said of the “epic” game, per ESPN.
Trey Alexander comes up huge in 2OT
The Bluejays got some key performances from Trey Alexander (20 points, seven rebounds, five assists), Baylor Scheierman (18 points, nine rebounds, five assists), Ryan Kalkbrenner (19 points, 14 rebounds, five blocks, two steals) and Steven Ashworth (21 points, four assists, three rebounds, two steals) in their hard-fought win over the Ducks. Scheierman forced overtime by hitting a fadeaway jumper right outside of the paint.
BAYLOR SCHEIERMAN TIES THE GAME WITH SECONDS REMAINING 🤯#MarchMadness @BluejayMBB pic.twitter.com/QxrMchg0qr
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 24, 2024
Alexander recorded an assist on a triple from Ashworth for the first bucket of the second overtime and scored the final five points of the game. A potential first-round pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, Alexander has his sights set on the national title before departing to the pros.
“It's a great feeling,” Alexander said, via ESPN. “We love this group of guys. We love rocking and rolling together. We love everything that comes with the road trips and us just being able to have another week with each other. We're going to try to stay in the moment and just continue play at a level that we feel like we can play at. From there, we'll just kind of let the dominoes fall where they do.”
Only four Oregon players scored in the game, with Jermaine Couisnard (32 points) and N'Faly Dante (28 points, plus 20 rebounds) making up the overwhelming majority of the Ducks' points.
Creighton basketball's next matchup
McDermott's ability to guide Creighton basketball to wins in the big dance earned him a big contract extension ahead of this year's tournament. But the job is far from over — and the squad certainly wants to make a very deep run this time around.
The Sweet 16 awaits the Bluejays, who have a very tough Tennessee basketball squad waiting for them. The No. 2 and No. 3 seeds of the Midwest region will face off in Detroit on Friday.
Sharpshooting wing Dalton Knecht, shrewd guard Zakai Zeigler and shot-blocking big man Jonas Aidoo highlight a Volunteers team with legitimate Final Four aspirations. McDermott's team will have to keep up its hot shooting to take down one of the best teams in the tourney.
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