photo by: AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz

Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner, left, drives against Kansas' Hunter Dickinson during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Omaha, Neb.

Omaha, Neb. — Kansas coach Bill Self knew Creighton wasn’t shooting from beyond the arc as well as it could. He said as much before the Jayhawks left Lawrence to take on the Bluejays on Wednesday night.

Almost as soon as the game tipped off, Self was proven right.

Creighton made five of its first eight shots from deep and was 7-for-14 by halftime, allowing it to outpace a KU offense that wasn’t operating at peak form to begin with. Pop Isaacs went 10-for-15 from the field on the night and scored a game-high 27 points, and the Jayhawks fell behind by double digits early and never led. Top-ranked KU sustained its first loss of the season, 76-63 at the CHI Health Center, and fell to 7-1 on the year.

“Our energy wasn’t there, our intensity wasn’t there, our identity wasn’t there,” guard David Coit said.

It was the second victory over a No. 1 team for Creighton in the last calendar year as they beat UConn in Omaha last February between the Huskies’ two national titles.

“I just didn’t think we came out ready to play,” Coit added. “Credit to them, they came ready to play, they made tough shots, they got great looks. I think we didn’t communicate well, we didn’t do a lot of things on the defensive end, we didn’t just stick by our principles.”

The Bluejays and their own 7-foot-1 center Ryan Kalkbrenner (17 points, 10 rebounds), back after missing a game due to injury, made Hunter Dickinson (six points, six rebounds) a nonfactor as he attempted just four shots. They instead forced Dajuan Harris Jr. to become the focal point of the Jayhawks’ offense, and he did not handle that responsibility as well as he usually does, going 6-for-21 from the field.

He was still KU’s leading scorer with 15 points as Zeke Mayo and AJ Storr added 12 apiece. Fellow off-ball guard Rylan Griffen missed the game due to the flu.

“We’ll practice again on Friday and we anticipate him being out there,” Self said.

The Jayhawks started poorly with Storr getting beaten for a pair of early buckets and Isaacs (twice) and Jackson McAndrew draining Creighton’s first three attempts from long range. Harris countered with a 3-pointer for KU, but Isaacs connected again and Steven Ashworth (17 points on the night) made another to put the Bluejays up 21-11 at the under-12 timeout.

KU settled into the flow of the game a bit, aided by a three-minute scoring drought for Creighton, but couldn’t cut much into the lead. After Coit went all the way for a transition layup to reduce the Jayhawks’ deficit to 27-20, Isaacs immediately fought his way through defenders for a three-point play. Then, with four minutes to go, Ashworth lofted a 3 over the outstretched arms of KJ Adams and Dickinson, largely excluded from the game by Creighton’s defense, got called for his second foul for an illegal screen.

After Harris opened 2-for-10 shooting with the Bluejays largely daring him to score, he hit an uncovered 3 from the corner with two minutes left. But Ashworth cruised in for a layup in response, and Creighton ran in transition after a miss by Adams to set up a behind-the-break 3 for Mason Miller that made it 41-28 with a minute left in the first half. Mayo, by far KU’s best player in the first half, pulled up from deep to cut the margin to 10 points at halftime.

The Jayhawks came out of the break with a 7-0 run to draw them the closest they had been since 4-2 and force an immediate timeout by Creighton coach Greg McDermott.

“I think we got three stops in a row,” Storr said. “I think it all starts with defense, that’s what ultimately wins games. So I think if we just come out focused on defense, that no team can beat us, really.”

They even made it a 41-40 game for a fleeting moment, before back-to-back 3s by Isaacs, a string of three fouls called against Adams in rapid succession and then a technical foul on Self helped the Bluejays stretch their lead back out to 11 points.

“I thought we could have put some real game pressure on them and we just never did that,” Self said. “That was disappointing.”

Once again, unlike in the first half, KU had a response. Storr scored twice in a row, then responded to Isaacs’ sixth 3 with one of his own. But the Jayhawks’ poor shooting down the stretch allowed Creighton to take its biggest lead of the night (at the time) at 14 points with six minutes to go.

KU will travel to Columbia, Missouri, for the Border Showdown on Sunday at noon.

“Everybody just needs to stay on the same page through tough times like this,” Storr said.

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