Ohio State (2-0) will hit the road for the second time this season as they head for Creighton (2-0) to take on the Bluejays in their respective portion of the Gavitt Tipoff Games. The Gavitt Tipoff Games is an annual series between the Big Ten and BIG EAST Conferences and named in honor of Dave Gavitt, founder of the BIG EAST and basketball visionary. The series is in its fourth year and will span eight years with games being played on home sites. The Games will be played in the first full week of the college basketball season. The Buckeyes are 1-0 in the event with a win vs. Providence in 2016.
Opening Tip
Who: Ohio State at Creighton
What: Men’s Basketball
Where: Omaha, Nebraska — CHI Health Center
When: 7:00 pm (FS1)
Why: Because it gets boring beating just one Nebrasketball team a year.
The Buckeyes
Three-Point Territory
+ The freshman trio of Jaedon LeDee (16 pts.), Luther Muhammad (12) and Duane Washington Jr. (20) accounted for 48 of the Buckeyes 107 points in the game against Purdue Fort Wayne. All three players registered career-highs in points. Muhammad added two steals, LeDee was credited with four blocks and Washington Jr. knocked down 6-of-9 3-pointers.
+ Senior point guard C.J. Jackson is averaging 19 points a game and has the Buckeyes off to a 2-0 start. He needs four made 3-pointers to reach 100 for his Ohio State career (96-264/.364). Jackson has scored 645 career points and is on pace to become Ohio State’s next 1,000-point scorer.
+ Duane Washington Jr. scored six 3-pointers against the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons to tie the program record for the most 3-point field goals made by an Ohio State freshman in a single game. Th e last freshman to achieve this feat was D’Angelo Russell in 2015, who made six from distance three times, the last against Northwestern Jan. 22, 2015. Washington Jr. finished with 20 points and three rebounds in the contest. His 20 points off the bench is the most since JaQuan Lyle scored 27 against Wisconsin (2/4/16). Washington has made 7-of-11 three-point attempts this season.
The Bluejays
What You Should Know
+ Creighton is 2-0 after opening the season with wins over Western Illinois (78-67) and East Tennessee State (75-69) last week. The Bluejays have made 20-of-38 three-pointers to date (52.6 percent). Creighton returns eight lettermen and two starters from last year’s team that finished 21-12 and tied for third in the BIG EAST Conference with a 10-8 league record. Juniors Davion Mintz (9.0 ppg.) and Martin Krampelj (10.0 ppg.) are the returning starters, but it’s three sophomores who are CU’s leading scorers. Ty-Shon Alexander (16.0 ppg.), Mitch Ballock (11.5 ppg.) and New Mexico transfer Damien Jefferson (11.0 ppg., 7.0 rpg.) have combined to score more than half of CU’s points. The Bluejays feature just two seniors, Kaleb Joseph (6.0 ppg.) and Connor Cashaw. Joseph is transitioning to the off-guard spot, while Cashaw is a graduate transfer from Rice after averaging 15.5 points per game last winter for the Owls. Two true freshmen have seen action so far, Marcus Zegarowski (7.5 ppg.) and Samson Froling (5.5 ppg.).
+ Ohio State leads the all-time series, 5-3, but Creighton has won past two meetings. The last time the teams met came in the title game of the 2004 Guardians Classic in Kansas City, a 65-63 Creighton overtime win. Tyler McKinney supplied the winning basket with 4.2 seconds left in overtime. The win was the 200th at Creighton for then-coach Dana Altman, and was also current NBA veteran Anthony Tolliver’s first collegiate double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds). Greg McDermott is 0-1 against Ohio State as his first Iowa State club lost in Columbus, 75-56, on Dec. 19, 2006. McDermott is 3-3 in his career against Chris Holtmann (2-1 in Omaha), with all six meetings coming between 2014-17 when Holtmann coached at Butler.
+ Creighton is 13-1 in its last 14 games against teams from the Big Ten. Creighton has outscored foes by an average of 10.29 points in those 14 games, which include 11 double-figure victories. Greg McDermott is 26-13 in his career against teams that are currently in the Big Ten, including a 13-3 mark on the Creighton sideline. Creighton has not lost a home game to a team in the Big Ten (at game time) since 1968 (Illinois). Creighton’s Last 14 Games vs. the Big Ten
Date Opponent Score
11/20/11 vs. Iowa (in Des Moines) W 82-59
12/04/11 Nebraska W 76-66
12/22/11 Northwestern W 87-79
11/23/12 vs. Wisconsin (in Las Vegas) W 84-74
12/06/12 at Nebraska W 64-42
12/08/13 Nebraska W 82-67
12/07/14 at Nebraska W 65-55
11/19/15 at #14 Indiana L 65-86
11/23/15 vs. Rutgers (in Las Vegas) W 85-75
12/09/15 Nebraska W 83-67
11/15/16 #9 Wisconsin W 79-67
12/07/16 at Nebraska W 77-62
11/15/17 at #20 Northwestern W 92-88
12/09/17 Nebraska W 75-65
+ Keita Bates-Diop starred for Ohio State last year, averaging 19.8 points and 8.7 rebounds per contest en route to Big Ten Player of the Year honors. His father, Richard Bates, played at Creighton from 1979-83. Richard contributed 478 points and 276 rebonds in 69 games as a Bluejay.
+ Creighton averaged 17,000 fans per home game last season, good for fifth-best nationally. Last year was the 13th straight season that CU has been among the nation’s top 25 in average home attendance, and the seventh straight season in the top-10 nationally in attendance, as well.
2017-18 Attendance Leaders
Rk. School Average
1. Kentucky 21,875
2. Syracuse 21,462
3. North Carolina 18,379
4. Wisconsin 17,272
5. Creighton 17,000
6. Louisville 16,883
7. Kansas 16,345
8. Tennessee 16,210
9. Arkansas 16,181
10. Indiana 15,591