LEXINGTON, Ky. (WDRB) — Buried in the four-day uproar over the 8-seed that the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee hung on the University of Louisville men’s basketball team was this inarguable critical nugget:

Creighton deserved more than a No. 9 seed.

Pat Kelsey and the Cardinals discovered that stinging reality early and often Thursday afternoon at Rupp Arena.

IMAGES | Louisville falls to Creighton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament

The Bluejays blitzed U of L with a fierce mixture of three-point field goals and layups, surging to a 20-point lead in the first half, while rolling to one-sided 89-75 victory in the Cards’ first NCAA Tournament game in six seasons. It was the most points the Cards allowed in a game since Kentucky scored 93 against them in Rupp Arena Dec. 14.

Creighton started the game by missing its first five shots. I think the Bluejays missed five more over the next two hours. But I’ll need video evidence.

Louisville left three-point shooters open, sometimes open by 5-to-10 feet. They got lost defending pick-and-rolls. They got burned by mid-range shots late in the shot clock.

Creighton finished the job by shooting a remarkable 57.1%, including 11 of 24 shots from distance.

The Cards got 22 points from Chucky Hepburn, 21 from Terrance Edwards Jr. and not nearly enough from the rest of the roster. Two Louisville starters, James Scott and Noah Waterman, played a combined 22 minutes in the first half without scoring.

The game flipped in favor of the Bluejays during one stinging first-half stretch when Creighton made seven straight shots from distance while the Cards missed seven in a row.

"That was a big stretch," U of  L coach Pat Kelsey said. "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."

The seventh shot during that period, by Creighton’s Jamiya Neal, put the Bluejays ahead 47-27 with two minutes left in the first half. Make a note of this: Neal scored a career high 29.

"I would just say in the first half, we got a little bit frustrated," U of L forward J'Vonne Hadley said. "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."

Although the Cards rallied in the second half, they were forced to play the final 11:37 without guard Reyne Smith. While attempting a three-point shot that Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner blocked, Smith injured his right ankle while lifting for the shot.

Smith fell to the court immediately as he landed, grabbing his lower leg. This was Smith’s first game back after missing the previous 4 1/2 games with a sprained right ankle. Smith’s mother, Penny, followed her son as teammates helped him to the locker room. He walked to the X-Ray room on crutches.

"Our heart goes out to Reyne," Edwards said. "We knew he wasn't 100% but what he did today is something I'll remember forever."

The loss put a rugged end on the Cardinals’ 27-8 season that saw Kelsey’s first team notch a 19-game improvement over last season while finishing second in the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season standings and tournament.

There wasn’t as much howling around Creighton’s 9-seed as there was about Louisville’s 8. But there should have been. At 24-10, Creighton finished second to Rick Pitino and St. John’s in the Big East Tournament as well as the regular-season standings.

Greg McDermott is a terrific coach, whose teams won their NCAA opener the last four years while reaching two Sweet Sixteens and an Elite Eight.

Center Ryan Kalkbrenner is a 5-season veteran voted a second-team all-American because he can direct an offense from either side of the court by running high ball screens. He scored 14 with 6 rebounds.

Point guard Steve Ashworth is another fifth-year guy — as well as a 38% three-point shooter over nearly 1,000 attempts. Ashworth was a 40-minute pain in the shorts, scoring 22 points, making half of his eight three-point attempts while playing every minute.

Creighton will return to Rupp Arena Saturday, to play Auburn, the Southeastern Conference regular-season champion as well as the overall top seed in the tournament.

NCAA Tournament Coverage:

Copyright 2025 WDRB Media. All rights reserved.