No. 17 Creighton pins DePaul with 8th straight loss

Field Level Media|published: Sat 27th January, 21:34 2024

Jan 27, 2024; Omaha, Nebraska, USA; DePaul Blue Demons guard Elijah Fisher (22) attempt a shot against Creighton Bluejays center Fredrick King (33) in the first half at CHI Health Center Omaha. credits: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

Trey Alexander scored 23 points to go along with seven assists and Ryan Kalkbrenner added 22 points and 10 rebounds as No. 17 Creighton owned the second half to earn an 85-62 victory over DePaul on Saturday night at Omaha, Neb.

Steven Ashworth scored 17 points and Baylor Scheierman added 16 as the Bluejays (16-5, 7-3 Big East) improved to 10-1 at home while extending their winning streak to three games overall. Creighton has also won seven of its past eight, with the only loss in that stretch coming last week against No. 1 UConn.

Elijah Fisher scored 12 points while Jeremiah Oden, Jaden Henley and Jalen Terry added nine points apiece for DePaul (3-17, 0-9), which saw its losing streak reach eight games. The Blue Demons fell to 0-8 in true road games and neutral site games combined.

DePaul was playing its second game with interim coach Matt Brady after Tony Stubblefield was fired. Brady was introduced to his new post with consecutive games against ranked teams after an 86-73 defeat to No. 14 Marquette on Wednesday.

Despite being in the midst of adjustments on both offense and defense, DePaul was competitive early, never trailing by more than seven in the first half and staying within 40-37 at halftime. Creighton was held to 43.8 percent shooting from the floor before the break.

The Blue Demons trailed by a point after making the opening basket of the second half before Creighton began to take charge with a quick 6-0 burst and a larger 14-2 run to take a 54-41 lead with 15:59 remaining.

The Bluejays then ran away with the game, taking a 66-43 lead with 11:25 remaining after a 12-0 run, with Scheierman scoring five points during the stretch.

Creighton shot 53.1 percent from the floor in the second half and finished at 48.4 percent for the game. After shooting 45.2 percent in the first half, DePaul bottomed out to shoot 30 percent after halftime and was at 37.7 percent for the game.

Creighton won the rebounding battle 41-30 and had 17 assists to nine for DePaul. The Blue Demons committed just seven turnovers while forcing the Bluejays into 10.

—Field Level Media

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