CREIGHTON BASKETBALL: Blue Jays Fall To Tennessee In Sweet 16

DETROIT, MI(Creighton Athletics Mar 29) Second-seeded and sixth-ranked Tennessee used a 21-4 run to start the second half and third-seeded and 11th-ranked Creighton’s comeback fell just short as the Vols won 82-75 in action at the Midwest Regional Semifinal in Detroit late on Friday night.

The Volunteers (27-8) advance to Sunday’s Regional Final against top-seeded Purdue (32-4), which beat Gonzaga 80-68 in the first game of the evening. Creighton finishes its season with a 25-10 mark, its most wins since also finishing 25-10 in 2016-17.

Baylor Scheierman led CU with 25 points in the final game of his standout career while adding six rebounds. He played all but the final five seconds, as did fellow senior Ryan Kalkbrenner (14 points, seven rebounds, two blocks). Also in double-figures for the Bluejays was Steven Ashworth (16) and Trey Alexander (13 points, seven rebounds, six assists). The Bluejays shot 44.8 percent for the game, including 47.8 percent from three-point range, and made 12-of-13 free throws (92.3 percent) to finish the year shooting a school-record 78.8 percent for the season.

First Team All-American Dalton Knecht paced Tennessee with 26 points, also contributing six rebounds and five assists. Zakai Zeigler never left the floor and finished with 18 points, six assists and four rebounds while drawing six fouls. Rounding out UT’s double-figure trio was Josiah-Jordan James with 15. The Volunteers shot 41.8 percent from the field and hit 45.8 percent of its shots from downtown (11-24). UT won the rebound battle 36-34 and outscored CU 10-0 off turnovers, 18-5 in transition and 15-4 off the bench.

The first half was a good one. A deep three-pointer by Scheierman, followed by a thee-point play from Alexander, helped tie the score at 24-all with 5:06 left in the opening half. Ashworth then swished a three-pointer on the next trip as CU retook the lead at 27-26. After Knecht responded with a trey, Ashworth and Scheierman bombed consecutive triples as CU matched its largest lead at 33-29 and prompted a Tennessee timeout.

The teams exchanged the lead eight times in the first half, with Kalkbrenner’s 75th slam of the season giving CU a 35-34 lead at the break. Scheierman led all players with 15 points in the first half, while Kalkbrenner added eight points and a game-high six rebounds before intermission. Knecht led the Vols with 10 points in the first half as UT shot 5-for-10 behind the line before the break after going 3-for-25 form downtown in a Second Round win vs. Texas.

Tennessee turned up the defense early in the second half, using a 18-0 run to take its largest lead at 55-39. That stretch started with two free throws from Knecht and would include four lay-ups in addition to a pair of three-pointers before a three-ball by Scheierman snapped the scoreless drought at just over five minutes.

The Bluejays battled back after falling behind by as much as 15, using a 9-2 run to halve the deficit to 62-55 with 8:10 remaining after Scheierman’s traditional three-point play. A Kalkbrenner lay-up and two free throws made it a three-point game (62-59) with 6:02 left but Knecht drilled a contested three-pointer to halve the Bluejay momentum. Ashworth buried a three-pointer but again Knecht answered with a trey. A three-point play by Tobe Awaka with 1:39 left gave the Vols a 71-64 lead and UT converted at the line down the stretch to ice the game as CU never got any closer than five points in the final minute.

NOTES: The game was Creighton’s 101st in a row to be televised … Trey Alexander made his program-record ninth NCAA Tournament start and Ryan Kalkbrenner played in his program-record 11th NCAA Tournament game .. Baylor Scheierman has made a three-pointer in 23 straight games tied for the seventh-longest streak in program history … Creighton made a three-pointer for the 1,020th straight game … Baylor Scheierman had his 20th straight game with 10 points or more in a row … Ryan Kalkbrenner’s dunk that gave Creighton the lead at the end of the first half was his 75th slam of the season, the most in one year by a player under Greg McDermott at Creighton. The previous high of 74 was by Martin Krampelj in 2018-19 ..  Ryan Kalkbrenner had his 58th straight game of eight or more points and 22nd game in a row with 10 or more points … Ryan Kalkbrenner joined Baylor Scheierman and Trey Alexander as the first trio in program history with 600 points in the same season …  Baylor Scheierman and Ryan Kalkbrenner are the first duo in BIG EAST history to have at least 600 points and 250 rebounds in the same season … Baylor Scheierman made his final 31 free throws, the fifth-longest streak in program history …  Baylor Scheierman  tied Ethan Wragge’s 110 for second-most three-pointers in Creighton single-season history.