Creighton University
25-10,15-5Big East
Louisville
27-8,18-2ACC
Neal's Career-High Carries Men's Basketball Past Louisville in NCAA Opener
3/20/2025 1:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Jamiya Neal scored a career-high 29 points in the win.
Creighton (25-10) advanced to a Second Round contest on Saturday at Rupp Arena against top-seeded and fourth-ranked Auburn, which defeated Alabama State 83-63. Saturday's tip time and television coverage will be announced much later tonight.
Jamiya Neal led Creighton with a career-high 29 points, a career-high tying 12 rebounds and six assists, becoming the first player to record at least 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists on 65% shooting in an NCAA Tournament game since Marquette's Dwyane Wade in the 2003 Elite Eight. Steven Ashworth added in 22 points of his own, while Kalkbrenner added in 14 points, six rebounds and four blocks. CU shot 57.1 percent from the field and made 11-of-24 three-point shots (45.8 percent).
Chucky Hepburn led Louisville with a team-high 22 points and six assists, with Terrence Edwards Jr.contributing 21 points and four rebounds. The Cardinals finished the contest shooting 42.9 percent (30-of-70) from the field and 27.6 percent (8-of-29) from three-point range. The Bluejays won the board battle 37-32, while Louisville held a 38-36 edge in points in the paint.
The first half featured eight lead changes before a 12-0 run when Creighton made four consecutive three-pointers to push the lead to 40-25. Ashworth and Jackson McAndrew each made two triples in the flurry. After a Louisville basket, McAndrew and Neal made consecutive treys to grow the Bluejay advantage to 47-27. Louisville's Hepburn, an Omaha native, scored the final five points of the half to trim the Bluejay lead to 49-34 at the break.
Ashworth (13), Neal (12) and McAndrew (11) all scored in double-figures in the first half for a Bluejay attack that shot 56.7 percent from the field and made 9-of-16 three-pointers. CU won the rebound battle 20-14 in the opening 20 minutes. Hepburn had 18 points for Louisville before the break.
CU's lead hovered between 13 and 19 points for the first 12 minutes of the second half as they held a 71-57 lead at the under-8 timeout. Neal would score eight of the Bluejays next 10 points to open up an 18-point (81-63) advantage.
Louisville used a a 10-2 run over the next 69 seconds to cut the deficit to 83-73, before a pair of dunks from Green and two free throws from Ashworth sealed the 89-75 victory.
NOTES: Creighton tied a school-record by appearing in its fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament (also 1999-2003) ... Creighton is one of 13 schools to appear in each of the last five NCAA Tournaments ... Greg McDermott is the third person to lead a Creighton program to 10 or more NCAA Tournaments, joining Kirsten Bernthal Booth (14 Volleyball) and Bob Warming (11 Men's Soccer) ... Ryan Kalkbrenner had his 20th straight game with a blocked shot and his 27th straight game with 10 or more points ... Creighton's 49 points were its most ever for the first half of an NCAA Tournament game ... Jackson McAndrew (65) moved past Ryan Sears (63) and Kyle Korver (63) and now trails only Ethan Wragge (68) for three-pointers by a CU freshman ... Jamiya Neal is the first player to record at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists on 65 percent shooting in an NCAA Tournament game since Marquette's Dwyane Wade in the 2003 Elite Eight ... Jamiya Neal and Steven Ashworth became just the second pair of teammates to each post at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists in an NCAA Tournament game in the last 20 years, joining Colorado's KJ Simpson and Eddie Lampkin who also did in the last year's Round of 64 ... Creighton is now 3-1 all-time against Louisville, with those wins taking place in the NCAA Tournament in 1974, 1999 and 2025 ... Louisville is the first program that Creighton has played three times in the NCAA Tournament ... The win was Greg McDermott's 350th at Creighton ... Creighton picked up its second Top 10 win and fourth Top 25 win of the season ... Creighton is now 1-10 against Top 10 competition and 5-19 all-time against Top 25 teams in the NCAA Tournament ... This is the first time Creighton has played six games against Top 10 teams in the same season ... Creighton is now 21-26 all-time in the NCAA Tournament in 26 appearances, and 12-9 under Greg McDermott ... Today's win clinched Creighton's eighth season of 25 or more wins, six of which have come under Greg McDermott ... Creighton is now 2-0 all-time against No. 8 seeds ... Creighton has won at least one game in 14 of its last 16 postseason appearances ... Creighton has won an NCAA Tournament game in five straight seasons. Entering this year, the only schools with a streak as long were Baylor, Gonzaga, Houston and Kansas.
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - CREIGHTON VS LOUISVILLE
March 20, 2025
Greg McDermott
Jackson McAndrew
Steven Ashworth
Jamiya Neal
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Rupp Arena
Creighton Bluejays
Media Conference
Creighton 89, Louisville 75
GREG McDERMOTT: Obviously very proud of my team. Our execution was terrific. We beat an incredible team, and I couldn't have been more impressed with them in our preparation. We felt like we had to win the three-point line battle, so we did what we do co to try to force them into twos, and if they were taking threes, they were going to be challenged.
And I think for the most part, we were able to do that. But they are hard to guard because they have so many weapons and Chucky, besides being an elite scorer himself, he sets other guys up. We felt in this game it couldn't be a game where he had 18 points and 14 assists. Only ten assists, under 30 baskets, that's how we tried to make them play, and fortunately, it worked.
But 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. It's a really gratifying win because of who we beat and how good I thought they were.
Q. Steven, I think after a couple of your threes, you made the motion for the crowd to settle down. How much did you feed off the environment you knew I guys were going to be facing today?
STEVEN ASHWORTH: Yeah, obviously it seems like it's been our third road game in neutral sites this postseason, playing in Madison Square Garden out on the East Coast against UCONN and St. Johns, and here in Lexington, Kentucky against Louisville.
So we knew that there was some things in those other games that we could learn from, and personally, I felt like it was my job as the point guard to make sure that when they were going on runs, when the crowd tried to get into it, I tried to settle things down.
Some of that was either feeding Jamiya or finding underneath and a couple times it was me getting my own shot. It was one of those moments where you could feel the momentum trying to swing their way and just one of those things that you try to stop it.
Q. You had a huge game today, a lot of clutch shots. What was going through your head when you were hitting those that helped you get that momentum?
JAMIYA NEAL: Through the season, especially late shot clock, I had to be pretty aggressive. That was no different today. Just making the shots, I guess.
Q. Talk about Louisville and how you all defended them today, and Hepburn did get a few points, but you made him work hard for whatever he got and same thing with Edwards.
STEVEN ASHWORTH: Yeah, I think that coming into it, knowing that those two guys were their primarily ball handlers and really ran the show for them, and then you also had Smith that was coming off that ankle injury that added some different matchups for us, and the way they started the game shifted a few things, and just the responsibility to make sure that they were uncomfortable as they were handling the ball. And then at the same time, you have a four-time Defensive Player of the Year at the basket waiting for them. So really trying to funnel all of those lane line drives or base line drives off the three-point line and into Kalkbrenner, and he did a phenomenal job, as he always does, protecting the basket for us and making it difficult for them.
At the end of the other floor after he got stops, you kick it back to Jackson McAndrew, and he's going to knock it down.
Q. I think your wife and son got a good amount of face time. How many games has your son been to?
STEVEN ASHWORTH: He's been able to come to quite a few. A few are a little past his bed time but he was almost at every home game this year, and he loves the crowd noise. He loves the JumboTron. He loves the games. It's fun to have him out here in Kentucky, and it's something that not every college basketball player gets to do is play in front of their kids. It's been an honor.
Q. For Jamiya, how much did Steven and Jackson kind of open things up for you to really take charge, and keep things at a comfortable cushion in the second half?
JAMIYA NEAL: Well, those guys are knock down shooters. 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; and Kalk down there taking up space, and people don't want to leave him on the flip-ups, and leaves me a lot of opportunity to go out there and do my thing.
Q. Again, you guys hit four three-pointers in a row, and it was a three-point game and you dominated. Can you talk about that stretch and what you all did? Everything went in like a blur.
JAMIYA NEAL: Early on we had a lot of good looks that just weren't dropping, and during that stretch we got four great looks and we knocked them down. From there, we were just in a groove and we just fed off that.
JACKSON McANDREW: Yeah, we were making shots and all feeding off each other. There was a lot of energy in the ball and I thought that helped us a lot, also, getting stops on the other end and we were able to push it and get a lot of great looks.
Yeah, it was a lot of fun.
Q. Obviously this is your first time in March Madness playing a game like this. What was it like to be on a stage like that?
JACKSON McANDREW: It's been a dream of mine to be playing in March Madness ever since I started watching college basketball. It's a blessing to be here and a lot of credit to my teammates and Coach Mac for putting me in positions to get those shots and those looks, because they are all off of them. And so it was my time to step up and knock it down.
Q. You took the three nonshooters and forced them to shoot the ball. Was the scouting report to have them shoot the ball?
GREG McDERMOTT: It's a little tricky with Waterman because that's kind of been his reputation. But when they went small, we just felt until he made a couple, that the positives that we took by having Kalkbrenner back at the rim outweighed the fact that he might throw in a couple.
And then as the game went on and he hit a couple, we had to adjust a little bit. Teams have done that to us throughout the season, and we've had to adjust to it but we keep him back there in drop coverage.
In my opinion, he's one of the best in the country at that drop coverage because he's so intelligent, and does it without fouling and his verticality at the rim is really good.
If you haven't played against him, it's really hard to simulate if practice what he does because he's not leaving his feet every time and some shot-blockers, you shot fake them and they are gone. He picks and chooses his spots to leave his feet and when to wall up, and makes it difficult to score at the rim.
Q. How much easier does it make your job when you have got a point guard like Steven? This is the first time I've seen him live, and he's just a perpetual motion, and just seems to be in total control.
GREG McDERMOTT: Yeah, that's hard to prepare for, too, because you don't understand how hard he cuts and the change of direction and change of speed that he plays with.
And you know, besides being an elite shooter, he's a very willing passer. So he can beat you in a couple different ways.
So you know, you get to this point of the year and you see teams that you haven't seen before, and you think you kind of know what they are about, but until the game starts, you don't really get it.
So you know, you're going to be tired if you guard Steven Ashworth for 40 minutes, and he's in condition. He's been doing it every day. He's just been a godsend for our program. We lost Ryan Nembhard two years ago, decided to move on to Gonzaga, and we had a lot of pieces and we had to bring someone in that was going to fit. He's been an unbelievable fit. Just an absolute joy to coach every single day.
Q. You never trailed more than three points. What was such a big factor into calming the crowd and the environment with the start that you guys had and asserting control in the first half?
GREG McDERMOTT: As I told the team before the game, the start of the game was really critical defensively. They scored on two of their first seven possessions, just to keep the crowd kind of at bay. I think Jamiya said it. We had four pretty good looks from the three-point line during that stretch and didn't make any of them.
But we were able to stay within arm's reach until we got that little run where we made four threes in a row, and we took it from 3 to 15 and then we traded baskets for the rest of the game.
As Steven mentioned, we just played in an unbelievable environment in New York. You play in Madison Square Garden against UConn and St. Johns, it prepares you for anything you're going to see in the NCAA Tournament. Our league has been terrific all year. We weren't great in November and December. But I think a lot of teams had new pieces, but I think by the end of the year, our league was playing pretty well and Xavier's win yesterday and our win today, I think that shows the BIG EAST pretty good.
Q. At what point did you realize that a water bottle had been chucked on the court?
GREG McDERMOTT: I felt a splash when it landed. I don't know what happened on the other end, and that led to the technical. But it ended up, obviously, a couple free free throws was nice at that point in time.
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - CREIGHTON VS LOUISVILLE
March 20, 2025
Pat Kelsey
J'Vonne Hadley
Terrence Edwards
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Rupp Arena
Louisville Cardinals
Media Conference
Creighton 89, Louisville 75
PAT KELSEY: I'd like to congratulate Coach McDermott and Creighton. They played very well today. They were the better team today. Played in a very, very tough environment being right down the road from our school. Give them a lot of credit. Proud of our guys. It's been a long journey since June 5th when these guys first came together for summer school. Zero scouting report players.
Built the entire team in a very, very short amount of time. They meshed quickly. We asked them to love each other from day one and these guys went all in with everything they had with everything I asked them to do. For ten months and for the rest of my life and for the rest of my career, I'll remember this group as one of the most special groups that I've ever coached. I know they are savvy, they are veteran. They are smart, hard-working, dedicated.
Just been a special, special group. I told them in there, you know, it will hurt bad today. It will hurt for the next several days. It will hurt for a while. But when they event actually are able to have perspective and get above the trees on what they have done and what they have accomplished, they have done some special, special things.
Q. Whenever you saw the Reyne had fallen down and had gotten hurt, what was your reaction to that, and did you have a feeling that he wasn't 100 percent yet?
TERRENCE EDWARDS, JR.: Our heart goes out to Reyne. We knew he wasn't a hundred percent but what he did today is something I'll remember forever. He sacrificed his body and put his body on the line tonight for us so we could try to come out with the win. He knew how much we needed him.
I'm his roommate in the hotel, and I see him, how much he's grinding in treatment. He never told me not once he wasn't okay. I always ask him, "Are you good? Are you sure you're good?"
And he always responded above the line. Always told me, even though I knew he was hurting -- yeah, I'm just so proud of him, and he'll get back right for sure. What he did for us today is something that will go a long way outside of basketball.
Q. Seems like at first Creighton commanded the paint and then had a barrage of threes. What were they doing to disrupt you guys defensively?
J'VONNE HADLEY: I would just say in the first half, we got a little bit frustrated. 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.
And you know, as a veteran core, a veteran group we definitely have to do a better job of keeping our cool and taking better shots because some of those bad shot we did take led to the transition because they have the big guy sitting down there getting those rebounds and kicking out for a transition three. Definitely as a veteran core we have to do a better job of just being sound.
Q. You guys have been playing against big teams, Stanford and Clemson and Duke. How did Creighton compare to that in terms of getting ready and the fight down there today?
J'VONNE HADLEY: Yeah, like you mentioned, we have played a couple bigs to his caliber with size and physicality. The thing that Creighton does a really good job of is surrounding him with really good shooters, and you know, they exploited us in our transition.
So you know, they were getting their shots up and they were hitting tonight. And you know, while having a big center like him on the inside is kind of a really good mix, and tonight, they were, you know, hitting those threes. They were the better team tonight.
Q. What were they showing you that you had not seen on film all season, and how will this season be remembered for the games before this and this game?
TERRENCE EDWARDS, JR.: I can say all the games kind from the beginning. The adversity we faced early in the year with losses, and some of our key players go down in the year. And this team just rallied together and never had an excuse of anything. We went to practice and it was no excuse and it was the next-man-up mentality. I've never been part of nothing like that.
And I'm walking away from this with a good attitude and the things that Coach PK brought to me in my life is going to help me be a better father, and moving forward, I know I'm fine going to this pro thing because of all the adversity that I've faced this year and my life is just going to make me better?
J'VONNE HADLEY: I would say Creighton is nothing we haven't really seen. We've seen bigs to his caliber, Stanford big, and the physicality with Cal. Creighton is nothing we haven't really seen. We let them get open looks tonight, and they knocked them down. So Creighton, just that's credit to them. They were knocking down shots tonight.
Q. When do you think you guys will fully appreciate what you've done for the program to bring the program back to where it's expected?
TERRENCE EDWARDS, JR.: It's going to take time for sure. We didn't finish how we really wanted and feel like we worked for more. We've just got to take a couple days off and get with family or whatever, like what anybody do after the season.
Like he said, we've got vets that's been through this before. It might take a week, a month, you just never know, just depending, because this was just something special. It's hard to just shove it off and move on to something that's next.
J'VONNE HADLEY: It's definitely going to take a little bit of time. But right away one thing that we really can appreciate without a doubt is just our fan base. Just I've never seen a send-off like that. I mean, just at our hotel we have a couple thousand of our fans waiting there to send us off to our first March Madness game. That's next level. I've never seen that. I'm not sure any other team has, either. That's just a credit to our amazing fan base.
We definitely appreciate that and want to make sure we show our gratitude to our amazing fan base. They showed up tonight at Rupp Arena. It hurts our hearts that we could not come out with a win for you guys.
Q. I know you touched on this a little bit in your opening statement but just what this team meant, not only to the foundation of this program, but just the special group of guys, what do you think this did for what you want to set the foundation and build upon it for the future of Cardinal Basketball?
PAT KELSEY: Yeah, it hurts really bad when it ends, and it end so abruptly. You prepare so hard. You work so hard every day. You never think it's going to end. And when it ends, it's really, really hard. When you're looking at those guys in the locker room, and they are distraught, emotional, this flood of emotions comes through you, too, and you just start thinking back to all the stuff you've been through with this group.
And you know, you realize how special it's been and how special they are. We have the best fan base in the country, and in my opinion, it's not even close. You saw, they packed this arena tonight. There were thousands of fans at our hotel before we left, and they have really, really rallied around this special group of young men.
I hate it for our fans. I hate it for our fan base that we weren't able to get it done today. These guys wanted so bad to give these fans what they deserve, and that's to put Louisville in the national spotlight in the national tournament, advancing in the national tournament. We just came up a little short tonight. The disappointment of today is not going to take away from the special season they had, but like we said earlier, it's going to hurt for a while.
Q. Can you talk us through the situation there at the end of the game? You seemed to be frustrated. What led to the technical and what were you displeased within that moment?
PAT KELSEY: I got frustrated and said something I shouldn't have said and he teed me up, you know. Far less than an ideal time to get technical, I realize that.
So it is what it is.
Q. Tremendous year, you carried yourself with grace and integrity, and I just loved it. I appreciate you being a Cardinal. Continue doing what you're doing.
PAT KELSEY: Well, that means a lot coming from a legend like you. We talk about the great fan base we have but this history we have this crazy. I mean, you're part of a National Championship. We have All-Americans galore.
I came in as this kind of outsider that nobody really knew who I was, and to get a compliment like that from one of our former greats, means the world to me. So thank you. These guys worked their butts off every single day to make you guys proud. Thank you.
Q. It went from 3 to 15 in the first half, and the rest, I don't want to say they dominated but they were pretty comfortable. Everything they threw up in that stretch just went in, four straight threes. Obviously you knew they could do something like that.
PAT KELSEY: That was a huge stretch. I know it was early in the game but that was a 12-0 barrage that we, at the end of the day, struggled to recover from. They got them in a bunch of different ways, but I think first and foremost it started with transition. They binge score, as I like to call it. We tell our guys, like you can be on transition for five, six, seven minutes, and you relax for one second, and ball gets out of the net or off the rim, gets in their hands, pitch ahead, they get threes. When they missed them, they were getting second shots and got a couple kick-out threes, as well.
That was a big stretch. Our guys continued to battle. They are a very good team. They are very well-coached. They have one of the best centers in the country. They have a terrific point guard. Big kid. I always say numbers, this isn't a disrespect, but I always say if we were playing the '96 Bulls, I would say 23 for Chicago but 11 is a load. Makes you make some really, really tough decisions on what you're doing with pick-and-rolls, because he's one of the best lob threats in the country, and the shooting that they have around him forces you to make tough decisions.
We were trying to drop the pick-and-roll and fight over the top and really be physical with the roll, and they were screening us and really turning the corner and getting to the rim. So the adjustment we made was start trying to be aggressive with the pick-and-roll and hedge more. No. 1 is a surgeon; he can really pick you apart. If you stay in the low position to take away the roll, he does a good job of throwing back and finding shooters. They got loose a couple times.
But our guys continued to fight. We cut it to ten or 12, whatever it was, when the knucklehead head coach got technical, that didn't help.
But again, give them a lot of credit. They were the better team today.
Q. Coach, if you could, I know you say this is a no-excuse program, but you lose players, when you think back, all the adversity is that this team faced, does it make it special what you guys were able to do this year?
PAT KELSEY: All I can think about right now is that loss and it hurts really, really bad. I wanted it so bad. Our players wanted it so bad. Our fan base wanted it so bad. They answered the call. There was so much red there. There was so much passion. There was so much noise.
All I can feel right now is just that, and it hurts really, really bad. There will come a time when we will look back and you kind of appreciate it a little bit more. But now is not the time. We've got a bunch of hurting guys in the locker room. We have some guys that will never put on a jersey again ever again. We have some guys that will go on and play professionally.
I really like to think, and maybe this sounds cliché and coach speak, but I really mean it. I think being a part of this journey for the last ten months, even if those guys were only in a Louisville uniform for one year, genuinely learned life lessons that are going to make them better in every facet of their life moving forward, and that's something I'm passionate about and something my staff is passionate about.
Q. You guys did a pretty quick job of putting together an impressive roster before the season started, finding the right transfers and making sure that you found the guys that could love each other. Moving forward, with some of those guys moving on, can you speak about your roster build for next year?
PAT KELSEY: Right now is not the time.
We're excited about what we have coming back. We'll do a great job in recruiting, and in the transfer portal, and put a great team together that's going to compete for a championship. I have all the confidence in the world that that is going to happen.
That's not for this press conference. Just not for right now.
Q. Chucky had a really big first half. What were they doing defensively in the second so that he couldn't get involved?
PAT KELSEY: You're a Cincinnati Bengals beat writer, right? Big fan.
So their defensive scheme is based around putting one of the best rim protectors in the country at the rim, and he doesn't move much. What they try to do is really funnel everything to him, whether it's an off-ball screen or whether it's a ball screen. It's like, they just play on top of you and force you to go there.
In new age basketball analytics, the mid-range shot is one of the lower percentage shots in the game. Although No. 5 for them defied all human nature when it comes to basketball metrics today because that young man was shooting it in from the mid-range, and I give him a ton of credit. Tip the cap. He had an amazing game. I mean, he had 29, 12, six assists, and many of them were tough, tough shots.
I would say that about Creighton overall, too. Every time that we got a little momentum, it was like a dagger shot, whether it was No. 11's deep three, whether it was No. 1's three from, like, seems like from, I don't know, another county down the road. That was a big, big one.
And No. 5 was hitting tough dagger middies that every time you turned around, you're like, gosh.
They have a lot of movement on offense. Chucky exert a lot of energy chasing No. 1 around. He never stops moving and neither does Chucky, either. That was a really, really good matchup and a good battle.
Tried to do a little bit better job with our ball movement, people movement the second half, because in the first half it was much more dribble, dribble because we were setting middle pick-and-rolls, and they were forcing us down to the giant. And we were attacking him, getting some middies and getting some at the rim.
So I thought we did a better job and our percentages reflected better in the second half of having more fluidity and movement and cutting and screening to our offense.
Q. What was your thought process when you saw that water bottle was thrown on the court towards Creighton's team?
PAT KELSEY: I didn't see it to be honest with you. I just had gotten the technical and I'm talking to my team and they kept cleaning something up at the other end and I was like, what the crap is going on, and somebody said, throw a water bottle on the court. It's unfortunate. You know, it happened.
