Pregame Primer: Creighton opens the 2024-25 season as the heavy favorite ahead of UTRGV

Creighton's 2024-25 schedule is a beast on paper. Heading into their opening game, 13 of their 31 games (and five of their 11 non-conference games) are rated Q1. Eight more are Q2 and five are Q3. Of the five Q4 games on their schedule, four come in the next two weeks (plus DePaul at home on Feb. 26).

If you're wondering how this compares to the grueling 2022-23 season, it's a little more difficult, at least for now – at the end of the season, 11 of 31 games this year were Q1, eight were Q2, seven were Q3 and five were Q4. This schedule was the 22nd toughest in the country; The 2024-25 schedule will likely finish in the top 20.

So this two-week period might be the only chance to go deep on the bench and sort out the rotations. First up is UT Rio Grande Valley, selected by coaches and staff to finish eighth out of 12 teams in the Southland Conference. They are 0-1 after an 87-67 loss at Nebraska on Monday. That game saw 10 lead changes in a close first half, and the Vaqueros only trailed by four late in the second half (67-63) before the Huskers closed the game with a 20-4 run.

UTRGV was 6-25 a year ago and 1-16 on the road, which led to them blowing things up and starting more or less from scratch. New coach Kahil Fennell brought in twelve new players, including eight D1 transfers, to quickly rebuild the squad.

The cupboard wasn't completely bare, however, as 6-foot-10 senior forward Hasan Abdul-Hakim returns after averaging 13.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game a year ago. He also put up good numbers against the top teams on their schedule, with 14 points, six rebounds and two steals against Oklahoma and a 21-point, nine-rebound performance against NCAA Tournament qualifier Grand Canyon. However, he struggled at Nebraska earlier this week, scoring four points in 29 minutes.

That's because a large portion of Abdul-Hakim's offense comes from the free throw line. A year ago he scored 172 points in 17 games; 60 of them were free throws. He had four separate games with eight or more free throws made, including 9 of 9 against Grand Canyon. He attempted zero free throws against Nebraska and, unsurprisingly, struggled to score. It's not just Abdul-Hakim – last year, UTRGV ranked 20th in the NCAA and third in the WAC in free throw attempts per game (23.5). They finished the game with 513 free throws made, which is the fifth most in a single season in program history, while they attempted 728 free throws, which is the fifth most in a single season in program history. Obviously the personnel is different for the most part this year, but that DNA remains.

Sophomore guard Jamar “JJ” Howard Jr. also returns after averaging 10.0 points and 2.6 rebounds per game a year ago, although he did not play Monday at Nebraska. If that name sounds familiar, it's because his father is former Wichita St. star Jamar Howard. Yes, that Jamar Howard.

With their 12 newcomers, the vaqueros set out to recruit riflemen. Six-foot guard DK Thorn shot 36% from three-point range last season at Alcorn State. 6’3” KT Raimey shot 36.3% from three for DePaul. 6'2″ Cliff Davis shot 39.2% from three at Northwestern State. 6’6” Kwo Agwa shot 40.7% from three at Texas A&M-Commerce. And 6-foot-1 Trey Miller has posted a 30.2% shooting percentage over a career that included stints at Incarnate Word and Southern Illinois. Without a lot of size – Abdul-Hakim and his 6-foot-2 forward Tommy Gankhuyag are the biggest rotation players – they will focus their offense on threes.

To that end, 41 of their 67 shots at Nebraska were three-pointers; They made 13. But they missed eight of their last nine 3-pointers in Nebraska's 20-4 run to end the game – before that they were a very respectable 12 of 32 from deep (38%) and from long range cause excitement. But ball security was perhaps the bigger issue, as UTRGV had 20 turnovers (or one on 26% of its possessions). This and 11 offensive boards for Nebraska resulted in the Huskers having 20 more shot attempts than the Vaqueros.

The game plan should be similar against Creighton, as UTRGV doesn't have the size to attack Ryan Kalkbrenner at the rim. Likewise, they don't have the size to defend him at the other end. If Creighton can defend the perimeter and get the ball to the Kalkbrenner on offense, the Jays should win this game 25-30 and be able to spend much of the second half getting experience for their freshmen.

• Tip: 8:00 p.m
  • Venue: CHI Health Center Omaha
• TV: FS1
  • Announcers: Wayne Randazzo and Nick Bahe
  • In Omaha: Cox Channel 78 (SD), 1078 (HD); CenturyLink Prism Channel 620 (SD), 1620 (HD)
  • Outside Omaha: FS1 Channel Finder
  • Satellite: DirecTV channel 219, Dish Network channel 150
  • Cord Cutter: Available on all major streaming platforms
  • Streaming on the Fox Sports app and website
• Radio: 1620 AM, 101.9 FM

• UTRGV had four players score in double figures on Monday, led by DePaul transfer KT Raimey, who scored 14 points on 5 of 13 shooting. Senior Cliff Davis finished the game with 12 points on four three-pointers. Sophomore Tommy Gankhuyag finished with 11 points and made three 3-pointers. And graduate student DK Thorn also finished with 11 points while making three 3-pointers.
• Of note, Raimey scored 10 points in two losses to the Jays a year ago, including four points on 1-of-3 shooting in Omaha.
• This is UTRGV's first season in the Southland Conference after spending 11 seasons in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). The school is the successor to the University of Texas-Pan American, which ceased operations in 2014 and merged with the University of Texas-Brownsville (which also ceased operations) to form a new school called UTRGV on the campus of the former UT-Pan American . Pan-American. The newly merged institution inherited UTPA's athletic department but changed mascots from the “Broncs” to the “Vaqueros.”

• Ryan Kalkbrenner has 1,771 career points as he became the 45th men's player in Creighton history to surpass the 1,000-point mark on February 25, 2023 at Villanova. The only player in Creighton history to start a season with more career points than Kalkbrenner's 1,771 was Doug McDermott's 2,216. A distant third were Rodney Buford and Bob Harstad, who each had 1,540 points entering their final season.
• Kalkbrenner also ranks second in program history in blocked shots with 306. Kalkbrenner had 107 shots last year and is at 105 this year, behind Benoit Benjamin's once-untouchable CU record of 411 (he had more than twice as many as the next closest player, Chad Gallagher). 183, before Kalkbrenner).
• Creighton boasts a sparkling record of 91-15 (.856) on Opening Day, including 14 straight wins and wins in 26 of its last 27 lid lifters after last year's 105-54 win over Florida A&M. Greg McDermott has won each of the last 22 season openers he has coached and is 22-1 in season openers at the Division I level. That includes double-digit wins in 13 of his first 14 opening games on the Creighton sideline.

Creighton is 2-0 all-time against UTRGV, winning 75-60 in 2014 and 89-58 in 2019, with both previous games coming in Omaha. Greg McDermott is 3-0 in his career against the Vaqueros, winning the two aforementioned games on the Creighton sideline and also defeating UTRGV 74-66 as Northern Iowa's head coach on November 29, 2001.

In that meeting in 2019, a depleted Creighton squad still managed to pull out a 31-point victory. They only drafted seven scholarship players as Kelvin Jones and Davion Mintz were both sidelined with injuries. Then Damien Jefferson tore his calf early in the game and had to miss the game. And when Christian Bishop and Shereef Mitchell each picked up two early fouls, they had to put together a lineup with four scholarship players — and no big men. The 1.80 meter tall freshman Nic Zeil played 13 minutes. Mitch Ballock played center. Greg McDermott had to use dead balls to quickly plan plays and pass them to players who were all out of position. Luckily, Ballock, Ty-Shon Alexander and Marcus Zegarowski were up to the challenge – scoring 54 of the Jays' 89 points and leading them to victory.

This is the second-earliest start date for a season opener in the 107-year history of Creighton basketball. The only previous start in program history came in 2019-20 (November 5), while CU also debuted on November 6 in 2018-19.

For comparison: 32 years ago, Creighton's 1992/93 season opener took place on December 3rd.

The start of 2018-19? A 78-67 win over Western Illinois. Damien Jefferson had eight points and 12 rebounds in his Bluejays debut; his 12 rebounds were the most for a Bluejay in his first game since 1975 and the first time a Bluejay had 10 or more in his debut since the hard-hitting Nick Porter in 2005. And Mitch Ballock had five assists and Ty-Shon Alexander had four as the two sophomore guards combined for 25 points and 9 assists. Alexander added six boards, a block and a steal. It was a sign of things to come for the three Bluejays, who would soon take the program to new heights.

The conclusion:

Creighton is favored by 30.5% in Vegas and has a 98.8% chance of winning, according to ESPN's BPI. KenPom is *slightly* less optimistic, predicting a 28-point win. Either way, assuming the Jays don't suffer from the same opening night jitters that infected many Big East teams on Monday, this should be a comfortable win that's decided early.

Creighton 95, UTRGV 63