For the Blue Demons, they were led by Layden Blocker.
He scored 15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals while coming off the bench. He shot 5-10 (50%) from the field and 5-6 (83.3%) from the charity strike.
Meanwhile, for the Bluejays, they were led by Jamiya Neal and Ryan Kalkbrenner. For Neal, he scored 14 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 steals. He shot 5-10 (50%) overall, 2-5 (40%) from downtown, and 2-2 (100%) from the line.
For Kalkbrenner, he scored 13 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 4 blocks while shooting 3-5 (60%) from the field and 7-8 (87.5%) from the free-throw line.
Here are three key takeaways from the defeat.
The Bluejays had eight players come off the bench against DePaul basketball. Fedor Zugic led the bench in scoring with 8 points. In total, the bench scored a combined 21 points.
Meanwhile, the starting lineup scored a combined 52 points. Out of the entire lineup, only two players (Mason Miller and Shane Thomas) did not score for Creighton.
In terms of rebounding, the entire team except for Jasen Green recorded at least one rebound. Kalkbrenner led the way with 8 rebounds, followed by Neal who had 7 rebounds, and Jackson McAndrew with 6 rebounds.
Such a combined effort from the Bluejays across the board was one of the biggest factors in their victory.
In their win against Georgetown, DePaul basketball was able to score almost at will. Against the Bluejays, the opposite held.
Overall, the team shot 19-63 (30.2%) and 3-23 (13%) from beyond the arc. Creighton shot 25-48 (52.1%) from the field and 6-19 (31.6%) from downtown.
Besides Blocker, the only other somewhat consistent scorers for the Blue Demons were Isaiah Rivera and C.J. Gunn. Rivera scored 8 points, 3 assists, and 2 steals while shooting 3-10 (30%) overall and 2-7 (28.6%) from beyond the arc.
For Gunn, he scored 11 points and 5 rebounds while shooting 5-10 (50%) from the field and 0-4 (0%) from downtown.
None of the starting five scored from beyond the arc. Only Rivera and David Thomas scored from long range.
DePaul basketball will have to go back to the drawing board to determine what went wrong with its shooting performance.
Against the Bluejays, DePaul was outrebounded 43-30. In terms of defensive rebounds, Creighton outrebounded them 36-19.
Throughout the night, the Blue Demons couldn’t secure rebounds. Either they got beat by their man when boxing out or they got beat when they tried to get a rebound on either end.
Against the Bluejays, David Skogman started for DePaul basketball instead of N.J. Benson. Skogman scored 4 points and 5 rebounds. Oftentimes, both he and Benson got beat inside while trying to grab a rebound. In one sequence a rebound bounced off Benson’s chest and went straight into the hands of a Creighton guard.
Another aspect they will have to go back to the lab to work on. There are still plenty of conference games left on schedule for the team to work on.
@ Butler (8-11, 1-7) — Jan. 25 at 3 p.m. CST (4 p.m. EST)
vs Seton Hall (6-13, 1-7) — Jan. 25 at 12:30 p.m. CST (1:30 p.m. EST)
