In mid-December, things were looking bleak for Creighton. After losing junior guard Pop Isaacs for the season due to a hip injury that required surgery, coach Greg McDermott’s team opened Big East play with an embarrassing 81-57 loss to Georgetown. The Bluejays sat at 7-5 overall and appeared at risk of spiraling.
A month later, the story is much different in Omaha. Creighton has won seven of its last eight, including a victory over UConn last week that snapped the Huskies’ 28-game home winning streak. This Bluejays squad is absolutely a contender to claim a conference regular season title — and perhaps make some noise in March. So, what happened?
First, the Bluejays had to regroup. “Once you lose somebody, the reality of it hits you in the face and then you start to redefine roles,” McDermott tells Hoops HQ. “That took a little bit of time. I think guys have adjusted and [now] understand their roles.”
The biggest key to the turnaround has been the rise of senior guard Jamiya Neal, a transfer from Arizona State. Without Isaacs, who was the team’s leading scorer at the time of his injury, Creighton’s offense could have easily nosedived. Instead, Neal has stepped up to handle more on-ball responsibilities alongside point guard Steven Ashworth. He has upped his efficiency and assumed a larger playmaking role, averaging career highs in field goal percentage (45.9) and assists per game (4.1). In the win over UConn, Neal dropped 24 points on 10 of 16 shooting. “One of the things we talked about with Jamiya when we recruited him, we thought if we could get him to take better shots, he would be more efficient,” says McDermott. “He’s bought into that for the most part. He’s taken the right shots and he’s made good decisions with the basketball.”
Ashworth and fifth-year center Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton’s veteran leaders, have been among the best one-two punches in the country. Of course, with Kalkbrenner protecting the paint, the Bluejays once again have a top-25 defense, per KenPom.
Creighton’s ceiling is even higher than what we’ve seen over the past month because it has another weapon yet to be fully employed: 6-foot-6 freshman guard Fedor Žugić. The 21-year-old from Montenegro played for the German club BG Goettingen before signing with the Bluejays in August. He is a proven offensive talent, having averaged 18 points per game for Montenegro at the FIBA U20 European Championships in 2022.
The NCAA finally cleared Žugić in mid-December. Up to that point, he hadn’t gotten any reps with the team’s first unit. “He was almost being treated like a redshirt, in terms of his lifting schedule and scout team and everything that goes with it,” says McDermott, who admits he did not expect Žugić to be granted eligibility this season. “So when we got the news, we’ve been trying to fast track him in terms of understanding what we’re doing offensively and some of the nuances of what we do defensively that change from game to game. He’s getting a lot of reps with the top unit in practice for that reason, just to get him a little bit more comfortable. And I’ve seen him become more comfortable with each passing game.”
As he gets up to speed, Žugić has only averaged 8.3 minutes through his first seven games. Once acclimated, the former pro has the skill and experience to be a highly impactful scorer for the Bluejays. On Saturday, he had his best game of the season so far, posting nine points on 3 of 5 shooting in a 79-54 win over Seton Hall. If he continues to improve, it will make it even more possible for Creighton to finish atop the Big East.
Tennessee deserves a lot of credit for the fight it put up in a 53-51 loss to Auburn in The Jungle. It was exactly the type of game that the Vols want: a physical, defensive battle. Both teams shot 31 percent from the field and worse than 20 percent from deep.
There is no doubt that Tennessee is elite defensively. The question surrounding Rick Barnes’ team is, can it be good enough offensively to make a run in March?
It would be one thing if the Vols’ struggles on Saturday were an anomaly (Auburn has an outstanding defense in its own right), but this has been a recurring theme throughout the season. If Tennessee is losing a rock fight, even if it is to the No. 1 team in the country, then perhaps the answer to the above question is no.
Fifth-year transfer Chaz Lanier, the Vols’ leading scorer at 18 points per game, is an exceptional shooter, but he is not the go-to option that Dalton Knecht was. Senior Zakai Zeigler is one of the most dynamic guards in the country, but he is undersized (5-foot-9) and not efficient (36.8 percent from the field). In his postgame press conference, Barnes said that the growth on offense needs to come from his front line. Forwards Igor Milicic Jr., Felix Okpara and Cade Phillips combined for just 11 points on 4 of 13 shooting against the Tigers.
Through Sunday night, Tennessee ranks 33rd in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency, per KenPom. Since 1997, only one national champion (UConn in 2014) has finished outside the top 20 in that category. The Vols don’t have many redeeming qualities on offense beyond their rebounding: they play slow (179th in fastbreak points), don’t get to the line (214th in free throw attempts per game) and shoot right around the DI average from behind the arc. They can certainly get more from players like Milicic, who has connected on just 26 percent of his threes thus far, but their ceiling offensively might just be too low to make it to San Antonio. We will find out a lot this week when they face two of the nation’s top scoring teams: Kentucky and Florida.
There is a new premier early-season event in college basketball and it is only a few months old. The newly-founded Players Era Festival is already overtaking traditional Feast Week tournaments like the Maui Invitational, which has been around since 1984, and the Battle 4 Atlantis. Last week, Auburn dropped out of the 2025 Battle 4 Atlantis in order to join the stacked field for the second edition of the Players Era Festival. So far, here are the teams slated to compete in each Thanksgiving week event next year:
Players Era Festival: Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Creighton, Gonzaga, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oregon, Rutgers, San Diego State, St. Joseph’s, St. John’s, Syracuse, Texas A&M
Maui Invitational: Arizona State, Chaminade, North Carolina State, Seton Hall, Texas, UNLV, USC, Washington State
Battle 4 Atlantis: Ohio State, Virginia Tech, VCU, Saint Mary’s
It is not all that surprising that a forward-thinking event like the Players Era Festival has disrupted the status quo. But how quickly it has established itself says a lot about where the sport is and what the (very near) future of nonconference play will look like.
The reality is, longtime events like the Maui Invitational simply cannot contend with the Players Era Festival in today’s landscape. The Maui Invitational has a rich history and Lahaina is a special host city, but schools reportedly spend north of $400,000 to play in the tournament. On the contrary, the Players Era Festival pays its participants, allocating millions to NIL collectives. At the inaugural event, which was viewed as a smashing success, the eight schools in the field earned $1 million each in NIL.
Beyond the financial incentive, the Players Era Festival will undoubtedly offer the best competition moving forward. Teams aiming to pack their non-conference schedules are better served going to Vegas than Hawaii or The Bahamas, hence Auburn’s decision to leave the Battle 4 Atlantis. “It is an opportunity for our student-athletes to compete at a very high level and be included in this revolutionary concept of scheduling,” head coach Bruce Pearl said about the Players Era Festival. “It also ensures that we will be playing against the best teams in the non-conference in college basketball.”
It is only a matter of time before more NIL-driven tournaments begin to spring up and November in college hoops looks vastly different.
Game of the Week: No. 7 Houston 92, No. 12 Kansas 86 (2OT)
Trailing 79-73 with 20 seconds left in overtime on Saturday, Houston’s win probability was 0.4%, according to KenPom. Kansas had the ball and the rest of the game felt like a formality. But then Dajuan Harris Jr. missed two free throws, Cougars guard Emanuel Sharp buried a deep three, Milos Uzan got a steal and Mylik Wilson hit another three to force double overtime. Considering Houston was on the road in a raucous Allen Fieldhouse, this was the most remarkable win of the season. Sixth-year forward J’Wan Roberts came up huge once again, finishing with 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Uzan, a transfer from Oklahoma who was brought in to replace Jamal Shead, had his best performance in a Cougars uniform: 17 points, nine assists, nine rebounds.
Upset of the Week: Vanderbilt 74, No. 9 Kentucky 69
For the second straight week, Vanderbilt got a top-10 win on its home court, upsetting the Wildcats at Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday. This is the first time the Commodores have taken down two top-10 teams in a single season since 2006-07. Mark Byington’s squad managed to hold an offensive juggernaut in Kentucky to just 69 points, winning the turnover battle by a wide margin and hitting more shots from behind the arc.
Team of the Week: Houston
On top of their improbable win over Kansas, the Cougars destroyed Utah, 70-36, earlier in the week. It was a classic performance from a Kelvin Sampson-led team, one that highlighted the program’s culture of toughness and defense. Houston forced 26 turnovers, blocked 11 shots and grabbed 15 offensive rebounds.
Player of the Week: Curtis Jones, Guard, Iowa State
The sharpshooting senior is playing like an All-American and should at least be mentioned in the national player of the year discussion. Jones had 19 points and 8 rebounds in Iowa State’s dominant win over UCF on Wednesday, then dropped a career-high 33 points to help the Cyclones come from behind to beat Arizona State over the weekend.
Highlight of the Week: The Putt
There was a half-court buzzer beater this week, but it wasn’t quite as impressive as this Nebraska fan nailing a full-court putt to win a Porsche:
Lowlight of the Week: South Carolina
The Gamecocks had a chance to grab two wins over ranked opponents and squandered both opportunities. On Wednesday, they led Florida 58-45 with 8:49 to go and ended up losing, 70-69. Three days later, they staged their own comeback against Mississippi State, forcing overtime after trailing by 14 points in the second half. But despite having all the momentum, South Carolina turned the ball over three times in the final 34 seconds of OT and lost again, 65-60. Lamont Paris’ team is now 0-7 in the SEC.
NBA Draft Watch
- After struggling to open the season, Baylor freshman guard VJ Edgecombe is starting to get comfortable. The projected top five pick showed off his full repertoire in a win over Kansas State on Wednesday, scoring 30 points on 8 of 13 shooting from the field and 3 of 7 from deep. Then he stuffed the stat sheet against Utah on Saturday: 21 points, six rebounds, three assists, two blocks, two steals.
- Texas freshman guard Tre Johnson was the star of his team’s insane comeback against Texas A&M on Saturday. With the Longhorns down 22 points in the second half, the projected lottery pick got hot, scoring 24 of his 30 points in the final 17 minutes to help Texas pull off the 70-69 win.
- The Amp was rocking and beers were flying, but Georgetown freshman center Thomas Sorber did not look fazed at all. The 6-foot-10 big man finished with 25 points, 15 rebounds, three blocks and two steals in his team’s loss to Providence on Saturday.
Five Games to Watch This Week
Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. ET on ESPN: Kentucky at Tennessee
One of the best offenses in the country (Kentucky) meets one of the best defenses (Tennessee). Both are looking to bounce back from disappointing losses. Whichever team controls the pace should prevail.
Friday at 8:00 p.m. ET on FOX: Indiana at Purdue
Time to add another chapter to the epic rivalry. It has been a very tough year for Mike Woodson’s team, but an upset over Purdue at Mackey would make up for some of the lows to this point.
Saturday at 12:00 p.m. ET on ESPN: Florida at Tennessee
A shot at revenge. The last time these teams met, Tennessee was undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the country but got embarrassed by Florida, 73-43, in Gainesville.
Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN: North Carolina at Duke
Duke will obviously be the heavy favorite here, especially playing at Cameron Indoor. But in rivalries like this one, strange things can happen…
Saturday at 9:00 p.m. ET on ESPN: Arkansas at Kentucky
Calipari returns to Lexington. Buckle up for a wild scene at Rupp Arena.
Additional Notes
- All-American guard Mark Sears did not play in the second half of Alabama’s 80-73 win over LSU on Saturday after going 0 for 5 in the first half. The fifth-year senior is not dealing with an injury. After the game, head coach Nate Oats told the media that his staff “went with the guys in the second half that we thought gave us the best chance to win this game, and we won the game.”
- Saint Mary’s is 18-3 and 8-0 in the WCC but the Gaels have yet to play a Quad 1 game. They have four straight coming up: at Santa Clara, home against Gonzaga, at San Francisco and at Oregon State.
- Louisville senior guard Reyne Smith, a transfer from Charleston (where he played for current Cardinals coach Pat Kelsey), broke the school record for most three-pointers in a game this week, going 10 for 17 from deep in a 98-73 victory over SMU.
- After Cooper Flagg led the Blue Devils to a 63-56 win at Wake Forest with 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists, head coach Steve Forbes was asked to describe the sensational freshman. “Generational,” he said.
- Some injury news: Providence guard Bryce Hopkins will miss the rest of the season because of his knee injury, head coach Kim English announced on Sunday. Illinois forward Tomislav Ivisic, who has sat out the last two games, was diagnosed with mononucleosis. No timetable for his return has been provided.
- New Mexico sits atop the Mountain West at 9-1 in large part due to junior guard Donovan Dent. In a 75-73 win over UNLV on Saturday, Dent scored 34 points on 13 of 21 shooting.
