Ryan Hawkins scored 25 points and joined teammate Ryan Kalkbrenner in a posting double-double as Creighton toppled DePaul 71-59 on Thursday in Chicago.
Hawkins added 11 rebounds while Kalkbrenner contributed 12 points and 13 boards for the Bluejays (17-8, 9-5 Big East), who won their third straight game. The victory was Creighton’s 16th straight over DePaul (12-13, 3-12).
Ryan Nembhard added 19 points and a game-high six assists for the Bluejays, who outscored the Blue Demons 38-28 in the second half while shooting 50 percent after the break.
DePaul shot just 33.9 percent overall. The Blue Demons missed 17 of their first 20 shots in the second half to dig a hole after trailing by just two at halftime.
Jalen Terry and Javon Freeman-Liberty each scored 18 points to pace the Blue Demons. Freeman-Liberty, who missed 15 of his first 16 field-goal attempts and wound up 4-for-22, also contributed 13 rebounds.
Hawkins scored 13 first-half points, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Creighton a 33-31 halftime margin. DePaul had led by as many as eight earlier in the contest.
Creighton rallied despite shooting 34.3 percent for the half and making just 3 of 14 3-point attempts. All three makes came from Hawkins, who went 5-for-9 overall in the half.
Terry led DePaul with 11 first-half points. Liberty-Freeman drew a technical foul for taunting following a sensational dunk with 13:14 remaining and sat almost the remainder of the half with two fouls while netting just four points.
David Jones, who averages 14.8 points and 7.6 rebounds for the Blue Demons, was helped off the court before three minutes had elapsed because of an apparent ankle injury. Jones, who became the first DePaul player in history to record a triple-double earlier this month against Georgetown, did not return.
The Big East announced Thursday that a home game for Creighton against Providence that got postponed because of COVID-19 issues on Jan. 11 will not be rescheduled due to schedule unavailability.
–Field Level Media