No. 1 Kansas has passed every test so far, but the unbeaten Jayhawks know a daunting Big 12 schedule lies ahead.
In between, three straight tricky Power 5 games await, beginning with Wednesday night’s trip to Omaha, Neb., to take on Creighton in the Big 12-Big East Battle.
The Bluejays (5-3), who crashed out of the Top 25 this week, have had an up-and-down season, starting 4-0 before dropping three straight against Nebraska, San Diego State and then-No. 20 Texas A&M, the last two at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.
Creighton rallied to grab an 80-76 win against Notre Dame in their final game of that event on Saturday thanks in part to 21 points and nine rebounds from Jamiya Neal.
Steven Ashworth chipped in his usual 15 in the win, but Neal stepped up as the Bluejays were short-handed, with leading scorer Ryan Kalkbrenner (18.1 points per game) a late scratch and third-leading scorer Pop Isaacs (14.7) limited to 26 minutes and six points due to illness.
“Jamiya really stepped up in a big way obviously on both ends of the floor,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “It would have been easy to show up here early in the morning and find out two of your teammates probably aren’t playing and hang your head, and these guys were up for the challenge.”
Late foul shooting — six straight makes down the stretch — also helped Creighton close out the game, and the Bluejays will look for more clutch shooting in what promises to be a rowdy home environment Wednesday.
“Everyone goes through adversity,” Neal said. “Obviously we’ve got a big one (this) week, and I think this will fuel us to go hard (this) week and try to get a win.”
In addition to the trip to Creighton, Kansas (7-0) will travel to longtime rival Missouri on Sunday and host Final Four participant North Carolina State on Dec. 14, but Kansas coach Bill Self knows he has the right blend of experience and talent for the Jayhawks to keep their focus where it needs to be.
“There’s absolutely no substitute for experience unless it’s talent, and then you’d rather have them both,” Self said. “Hunter (Dickinson) is ridiculously bright, and (KJ Adams and Dajuan Harris) know what we’re trying to do as well as anybody that’s played here, as they’ve played in a lot of big games.”
After a dramatic 75-72 win over then-No. 11 Duke at the Vegas Showdown on Nov. 26, the Jayhawks avoided any letdown in a lower-profile matchup with Furman four days later, winning 86-51 while holding the Paladins to 29.8 percent shooting from the field.
Adams matched a career high with 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting, Dickinson tallied 10 points and six rebounds, and Harris had eight points and eight assists.
“If (Adams) is not Big 12 Player of the Week this week, I don’t know that anybody will ever deserve it,” Self said. “I think he’s playing at a pretty high level.”
Creighton’s last win against Kansas came in 1949, as the Jayhawks lead the all-time series 11-6.
