AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz

Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner (left) drives against Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Omaha, Nebraska.

OMAHA, Neb. – Kansas coach Bill Self knew Creighton wasn’t shooting as well as it could from distance. He said that before the Jayhawks left Lawrence to face the Bluejays on Wednesday night.

As soon as the game was over, Self was right.

Creighton made five of its first eight shots from distance and was 7 of 14 at halftime, allowing it to overtake a KU offense that wasn’t at its best early on. Pop Isaacs went 10 of 15 from the field on the night and scored a game-high 27 points. The Jayhawks fell behind by double digits early and never led. Top-ranked KU suffered its first loss of the season, 76-63, at CHI Health Center.

It was the second win over a No. 1 team for Creighton in the last calendar year, as they beat UConn in Omaha between the Huskies’ two national titles last February.

The Bluejays and their own 7-foot-1 center Ryan Kalkbrenner (17 points, 10 rebounds), returning from an injury absence, made Hunter Dickinson (six points, six rebounds) a non-factor as he attempted just four shots . Instead, they forced Dajuan Harris Jr. to become the focal point of the Jayhawks’ offense, and he didn’t handle that responsibility as well as he usually does, hitting 6-for-21 from the field.

He was still KU’s leading scorer with 15 points, while Zeke Mayo and AJ Storr added 12 each. Fellow off-ball guard Rylan Griffen missed the game with the flu.

The Jayhawks started poorly, with Storr beaten on two early shots and Isaacs (twice) and Jackson McAndrew stopping Creighton’s first three attempts from long range. Harris countered with a 3-pointer for KU, but Isaacs scored again and Steven Ashworth (17 points on the night) scored again to give the Bluejays a 21-11 lead at the U12 timeout.

KU got a little into the flow of the game, helped by a three-minute scoring drought from Creighton, but couldn’t gain much of a lead. After David Coit cut the Jayhawks’ deficit to 27-20 with a layup, Isaacs immediately fought through the defenders and scored a three-point play. Then, with four minutes left, Ashworth hit a 3 over the outstretched arms of KJ Adams and Dickinson, largely shut out of the game by Creighton’s defense, was warned for his second foul for an illegal screen.

After Harris opened the 2-for-10 shooting and the Bluejays largely dared him to score, he hit an unmarked three-pointer from the corner with two minutes left. But Ashworth came in with a layup in response, and Creighton ran into transition after an Adams miss, setting up a 3-3 for Mason Miller before halftime that made the score 41-28 with a minute left in the first half . Mayo, by far KU’s best player in the first half, pulled out from deep and cut the lead to 10 points at halftime.

The Jayhawks came out of the break on a 7-0 run, the closest they have been since 4-2, forcing an immediate timeout from Creighton coach Greg McDermott. For a brief moment it was even 41:40 before the Bluejays were able to extend their lead to 11 points thanks to two consecutive three-pointers from Isaacs, a series of three fouls against Adams in quick succession and a technical foul on Self.

Unlike the first half, KU responded again. Storr scored two straight goals and then responded to Isaacs’ sixth three-pointer with one of his own. But the Jayhawks’ poor shooting allowed Creighton to take its largest (at the time) lead of the night with 14 points with six minutes left.

KU travels to Columbia, Missouri at noon on Sunday for the Border Showdown.

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Written by Henry Greenstein

Henry is a sports editor at the Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com and serves as a KU beat writer while managing daily sports coverage. He previously worked as a sports reporter at The Bakersfield Californian and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (BA, Linguistics) and Arizona State University (MA, Sports Journalism). Despite being from Los Angeles, he’s often been told that he doesn’t give off “California vibes,” whatever that means.

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