LEXINGTON, Ky. — Jamiya Neal poured in a career-high 29 points to go with 12 rebounds and six assists to lead ninth-seeded Creighton past eighth-seeded Louisville 89-75 on Thursday in a South Region first-round contest.
Steven Ashworth added 22 points and Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 14 for Creighton (25-10), which plays top-seeded Auburn on Saturday in the second round. The Tigers beat Alabama State 83-63 on Thursday.
Chucky Hepburn had 22 to lead Louisville (27-8), which finished a dramatic turnaround season with consecutive losses in the ACC tournament championship to Duke and Thursday’s first-round loss to Creighton. Terrence Edwards Jr. added 21 for Louisville, which had a large contingent of fans make the trip to Rupp Arena, just 70 miles east of campus.
Creighton was 11-for-24 from beyond the arc while Louisville was just 8-for-29.
“Our execution was terrific. We beat an incredible team, and I couldn’t have been more impressed with them in our preparation,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “We felt like we had to win the three-point line battle, so we did what we could to try to force them into twos, and if they were taking threes, they were going to be challenged.”
As Louisville was trying to make a comeback from down 73-61 with 4:41 left, Cardinals coach Pat Kelsey picked up a technical foul. A water bottle was thrown onto the court in front of the Creighton bench from a section of angry Louisville fans just to the right of the Bluejays. The game was delayed for five minutes as the mess was cleaned up.
After the delay, Ashworth hit both technical free throws and Neal hit a jumper that hit the back of the rim and fell through as the shot clock was expiring to turn it into a four-point possession and a 77-61 lead.
“I got frustrated and said something I shouldn’t have said and he teed me up,” Kelsey said. “Far less than an ideal time to get a technical, I realize that. So it is what it is.”
Louisville, which trailed by 20 late in the first half, could get no closer than 10 points in the final two minutes.
“I would just say in the first half, we got a little bit frustrated,” said Louisville guard J’Vonne Hadley (13 points). “They were physical with us. We just couldn’t get to our spots where we wanted to get to, and I think it kind of just frustrated us a little bit.”
Hepburn, Louisville’s leading scorer this season, single-handedly kept Louisville in the game. Hepburn finished with 18 of his team’s 34 points in the first half, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that cut Creighton’s lead to 49-34 at the break.
Jackson McAndrew hit three 3s in the first half to help Creighton build its lead after Louisville drew to within three. He finished the day with 11 points.
“My guys did a great job, offensively, defensively, Jamiya was terrific, Jackson, big shots in the first half, and then Steven throughout the game running the show for us,” McDermott said. “It’s a really gratifying win because of who we beat and how good I thought they were.”
“Those guys are knock-down shooters,” Neal said of Ashworth and McAndrew. “They space the floor for me. Obviously, I’m a guy that I like to play in space and that’s part of the reason why I picked to come to come to Creighton because I knew I would play with guys like Steven and Andrew, and the rest of the guys.”
Louisville lost backup guard Reyne Smith with 11:37 left in the second half following a loose ball scramble just before Aboubacar Traore went in for a Cardinals layup. Smith was on the floor for several minutes holding his lower left leg before slowly getting to his feet and being helped to the locker room by trainers.
–Mike Petraglia, Field Level Media
