Men's Basketball Closes Homestand Wednesday With USC Upstate

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Game #12: USC Upstate at #25 Creighton
Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017 • 8:00 p.m.
CenturyLink Center Omaha (17,352) • Omaha, Neb.
Radio: KOZN (1620 AM), KOOO (101.9 FM), www.1620thezone.com
Television: FS1
Series History: First Meeting
Last Meeting: First Meeting

• No. 25 Creighton (9-2) looks to head into the holiday break on a winning note when it hosts USC Upstate (4-10) on Wednesday, Dec. 20 at 8 p.m. on First National Bank Court inside CenturyLink Center Omaha (17,352) in Omaha, Neb.

• Wednesday's game will be televised by FS1, with Steve Physioc and Nick Bahe on the call. The game will also be video webcast via FOXSportsGo.com and the FOX Sports Go app to authorized subscribers.

• Wednesday's game will be broadcast on radio on KOZN (1620 AM), as well as KOOO (101.9 FM), and streamed at http://www.1620thezone.com. John Bishop and Brody Deren will announce.

• USC Upstate brings a 4-10 record into Wednesday's game after an 83-75 win over Coastal Georgia on Monday afternoon. The Spartans are 0-8 in true road games this fall, including losses at Minnesota (92-77) and Georgia (74-65).
   Malik Moore and Deion Holmes each average 14.1 points per game, and Jure Span averages 10.1 points per contest to go with 4.4 assists per contest.
   The Spartans rank second nationally with 425 three-point attempts and 19th nationally with 10.8 three-pointers per game, all while shooting 35.5 percent from dowtnown.

• A stunning 51 percent of USC Upstate's 834 field goal attempts this season have been from three-point range. By comparison, Creighton has launched "just" 42.9 percent of its field goal attempts from three-point range this year (304 of 708).

• Wednesday will be the first meeting ever between Creighton and USC Upstate.
   Greg McDermott is 1-0 in his career against USC Upstate, beating the Spartans 72-48 on January 2, 2008, when he coached at Iowa State.
   McDermott is 2-0 in his career against the current Atlantic Sun Conference membership. In addition to the 2008 win over USC Upstate, McDermott's first Creighton team also beat Kennesaw State in 2010.

• Creighton has tied its season-high with a four-game winning streak. A victory on Wednesday over USC Upstate would give the Jays a five-game win streak.
   Creighton has had at least one streak of five or more wins in 19 of the last 21 completed seasons.

• Creighton moved into the Associated Press Top 25 on Monday, coming in at No. 25. It's the second time this season that CU has been ranked, as the Jays were also 25th in the Nov. 27 poll.
   Creighton also moved up one spot in the USA Today Coaches poll, jumping from No. 25 to No. 24 on Monday.
   Creighton has now been ranked in the AP poll 58 times and the USA Today Coaches poll in 67 weeks in eight years under Greg McDermott.

• Greg McDermott picked up his 175th win at Creighton in Monday's win over UT Arlington. He's just the second coach in program history with 175 or more wins, joining predecessor Dana Altman (327).
   McDermott reached his 175th win in 259 games, while Altman needed 274 contests to reach 175 victories.

• Creighton is 9-2 heading into Wednesday, the final game before Christmas break for the Jays. A win would be just the sixth time in program history that CU picked up 10 or more wins by December 25th, but fourth time under Greg McDermott. Each of the previous five times it's been done, Creighton won at least 22 games that year, and all but one club also won a postseason contest.        Most Wins by December 25th
           W-L   Season   Final W-L   Postseason?
           10-1   1963-64   22-7   NCAA (1-2)
           10-2   2008-09   27-8   NIT (1-1)
           10-1   2011-12   29-6   NCAA (1-1)
           11-1   2012-13   28-8   NCAA (1-1)
           12-0   2016-17   25-10   NCAA (0-1)

• Khyri Thomas picked up Creighton's first technical foul of the season on Monday, as he earned one for hanging on the rim excessively long. Last season Marcus Foster had three technical fouls, while teammate Justin Patton picked up a pair of technical fouls. Creighton owns just 21 technical fouls in 249 games under Greg McDermott.

• Marcus Foster poured in a season-high 32 points on Monday vs. UT Arlington. It was Foster's 29th straight game in double-figures, the logest by any Bluejay since a stretch of 37 straight contests from Doug McDermott from April 1, 2011 to Nov. 9, 2012.
   Foster's streak of 29 straight double-figure games is the longest active streak in the BIG EAST, and 12th-longest nationally. That list is headed by Campbell's Chris Clemons (58).
   Foster is CU's first player to start his senior season with 11 or more double-figure efforts since Rodney Buford (13) in 1998-99.

• Marcus Foster had a season-high 32 points on Monday, including 22 in the first half when he made 8-of-10 shots from the floor.
   Foster is one of three players in Creighton's five-year BIG EAST era with a first half of 22+ points. Doug McDermott had 27 points in the first half vs. DePaul on March 13, 2014, and four additional games of 22+ in the first half. Ethan Wragge also had 24 points in the first half on one memorable night at Villanova.

• Creighton has outscored opponents 19,008 - 15,941 all-time in 246 games played at CenturyLink Center Omaha. The Bluejays surpassed the 19,000 milestone on a Marcus Foster three-pointer with 5:32 left. Creighton is now 18-1 all-time in games in which it has surpassed any 1,000 point milestone at CenturyLink Center Omaha.

• Creighton owns 992 points through 11 games, the most in program history after 11 contests. The previous high after 11 games had been 982 by last year's club, which went on to score a program-record 2,864 points. Ranking a distant third is the 1964-65 squad that had 948 points after 11 games.

• Creighton ranks third nationally in defensive rebounds per game (31.36), fifth in assist/turnover ratio (1.68), eighth in scoring offense (90.2) and 10th in assists per game (18.9).

• Creighton has won 103 straight home games over teams that enter the game with a record of .500 or worse. USC Upstate is 4-10 entering Wednesday night.

• UT Arlington head coach Scott Cross was very impressed with Creighton on Monday. Here's part of his postgame comments:
         "Creighton's the best team I've seen in a long, long time. The speed that they play at is absolutely amazing. The way they pass the ball, the way they run in transition. I don't think I've ever played a team that's better in transition than them. They shoot the ball, they execute, they're way tougher defensively probably than I was expecting as well. They're one of the best basketball teams I think I've ever faced. I'd put them up there with Memphis and Derrick Rose, playing that team. I remember Kyle Korver's team here at Creighton that we played when I was an assistant coach. Some of those Texas teams that were really, really good. They're up there. There's no question in my mind that they're a legit Top 25 team. Without a doubt they could make a run in the NCAA Tournament the way they're playing."
           "I envy the way they play. That's the way I'd love for our guys to play in transition. It's absolutely amazing and we'll clip out a lot of stuff and show it to our guys. They're a very, very unselfish, connected basketball team. It looks like there's no agendas whatsoever and all they care about is winning. I was highly impressed with them."

• Though this is Creighton's final game before the Christmas holiday, it is not CU's final non-conference game of the season. The Bluejays also host Division II Bemidji State on Feb. 13th.

Men's Basketball Closes Homestand Wednesday With USC Upstate

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Players Mentioned

Marcus Foster

Khyri Thomas