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OMAHA, Neb. – Trey Alexander scored 22 points in 18 minutes to lead four Bluejays in double figures as the No. 8 Creighton men’s basketball team never trailed in a 95-48 victory over Wayne State on Friday night.
Ten of the 14 Bluejays would score, led by Alexander’s 22 points and 12 points apiece. Steven Ashworth, Baylor Scheierman again Jonathan Lawson. Creighton finished the night shooting 52.9 percent from the floor, including 42.1 percent (16-of-38) from three. The Bluejays also dished out 17 assists, including six from Ashworth on the season Ryan Kalkbrenner recorded four blocked shots.
Wayne State was led by 14 points from Trey DeVeaux and 13 from Alec Millender. The Wildcats shot 30.6 percent from the floor and made 2-of-12 three-pointers.
Creighton made its first three shots, taking a 7-2 lead, and was never threatened by a Division II opponent. An 11-0 run that included two points by Scheierman and one by Ashworth extended the lead to 18-5 and it was increased to 27-9 after Alexander’s triple and Isaac Traudt. Creighton made 11-of-22 three-pointers in the first half as five different Bluejays connected on long drives to take a 49-24 advantage into halftime.
An 8-0 run early in the second half saw CU extend its lead to 59-26 and the streak remained at 28 or more points all night. Third ball corner with second position Josh Townley-Thomas grew to 41 (87-46) and CU scored the last eight points to nearly double the Wildcats.
Creighton won the rebounding battle 51-31, including eight boards from Scheierman and the freshman Brock Vice, and Kalkbrenner had a hand in four of CU’s six shutouts on the evening. The Bluejays had a 42-11 advantage in bench points, 40-16 points in the paint and scored nine game-changing points.
Creighton opens the 2023-24 regular season on Tuesday, Nov. 7 when it hosts Florida A&M. at 8 pm Central in a national telecast on FS1.
NOTES: Creighton coach Greg McDermottThe first head coaching job came at Wayne State from 1994-2000, where he went 116-53 … Wayne State went 18-11 last season and won the South Division of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference … The crowd of 17,132 was CU’s largest in the exhibition, breaking the previous high of 16,317 set in 2014 vs. Sioux Falls. last year Wayne State played in front of a crowd of 15,241, an average of 526 fans per contest … Greg McDermott is now 31-0 in fall exhibition games as a Division I head coach, including a 14-0 mark at Creighton. One of those wins was a 93-46 win over WSC in 2016 … Creighton has won 23 straight exhibition games since losing to Global Sports in 2003 … Creighton freshmen combined for 48 points .
