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Game 11 - Georgetown (8-2) vs. Creighton (7-4)
Nuts & Bolts
Date: December 18, 2024
Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
Venue: Capital One Arena - Washington, D.C.
How to Watch: CBS Sports Network
Matchup History: Creighton leads all-time series 16-9
Last Meeting: Creighton def. Georgetown 94-72 on 2/13/24
Prediction: Georgetown 69, Creighton 73
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Head Coach: Ed Cooley (2nd season, 17-25 record at Georgetown)
Record: 8-2 (0-0, T-2nd in Big East)
Last Time Out: Won @ Syracuse 75-71 on 12/14/24
Player to Watch: Jayden Epps
Saturday’s win for Georgetown on the road against its most historic rival, Syracuse, is already being touted as a potential program-changing win.
The Hoyas marched north to upstate New York and took out the Orange 75-71 in The Dome on the back of 27 points from Jayden Epps and 16 more from freshman center Thomas Sorber.
It was a tremendous Georgeotwn win in the type of game they have often lost in years past. It’s worth noting as well that this Syracuse program has essentially fallen apart since the departure of legendary coach Jim Boeheim and is now 5-5 this season.
Nonetheless, Syracuse was 5-0 at home before Saturday and Georgetown is now off to its best start in seven years at 8-2 as the team opens up Big East play.
Wednesday night, Ed Cooley’s Hoyas welcome in Creighton, which is off to a rocky start of its own this year.
In looking up and down the rosters, the matchup may actually bode well for Georgetown against the Bluejays.
The Hoyas have good guards in Malik Mack and Jayden Epps who can cause problems for the Creighton backcourt.
The most intriguing matchup, however, will be down low as freshman big man Thomas Sorber will be put to the test against one of the nation’s best, Ryan Kalkbrenner.
Sorber has been perhaps the brightest addition that Ed Cooley has brought to Georgetown yet, and Kalkbrenner has about as many accolades as one can have at this point in a college career.
So far, Sorber has put up good numbers, finishing in double figures in all but two games while averaging 15.5 PPG to go along with 8.2 RPG and nearly 2 blocks per contest.
Against Kalkbrenner, however, an entirely new challenge awaits. Is the young buck up to the challenge?
Head Coach: Greg McDermott (15th season, 332-164 record at Creighton)
Record: 7-4 (0-0, T-2nd in Big East)
Last Time Out: Lost @ #7 Alabama 83-75 on 12/14/24
Player to Watch: Ryan Kalkbrenner
It’s been about as up-and-down start to a season as you could possibly have for Greg McDermott and the Creighton Bluejays.
The elder statesman of the Big East, now in his 15th season at the helm of the Creighton program, has a team that has suffered a three game losing streak, lost one of its best players for the season to injury, and also beat the #1 team in the country less than two weeks after losing to its hated in-state rival.
A tumultuous first 11 games to say the least in Omaha.
The Jays started 4-0 before that shocking loss to Nebraska in Omaha, the second time in as many games the Huskers have beaten the Jays in their own building, something had never happened before.
Then, Creighton traveled to Las Vegas for the Players Era Festival Power Tournament, falling to San Diego State by 18 and Texas A&M by 4 before taking down Notre Dame in their final matchup in Vegas, 80-76.
The limping Bluejays came home to Omaha at 5-3 with a gauntlet of games coming up. First, it was the undefeated #1 ranked Kansas Jayhawks coming to town.
Well, Creighton took out Kansas 76-63 as stud transfer Pop Isaacs dropped 27 points on 6-9 from three while Ryan Kalkbrenner dominated Kansas Center Hunter Dickinson, putting up 17 points and 10 rebounds in the game while Dickinson was held to just 6 points and 8 boards.
Just three days after the win over KU, it was announced that Isaacs had suffered a hip injury in the game against Kansas, something he had dealt with in the past; the junior Texas Tech transfer’s season came to an end as he had season-ending surgery to repair his hip.
Despite the gut punch, Creighton beat UNLV in Omaha that night and enters the game against Georgetown coming off a 83-75 loss on the road against #7 Alabama this past Saturday.
Creighton’s worst basketball was hopefully, for them, left behind in Vegas. The Jays went 2-1 through that gauntlet of KU, UNLV, and Alabama and now open up Big East play in D.C. against Georgetown.
Creighton is favored, as it should be; but the theme of the season so far in Omaha has been ‘just when you think you know…you don’t.’
Should be a fun one at Capital One Arena.
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