No. 8 Marquette beats Creighton 79-71 to stay unbeaten in Big East play
Marquette's Stevie Mitchell tries to get by Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Friday, Jan. 3, 2025, in Milwaukee. Credit: AP/Morry Gash
MILWAUKEE — Kam Jones overcame a slow start to collect 22 points, nine rebounds and five assists as No. 8 Marquette defeated Creighton 79-71 on Friday night to remain unbeaten in Big East competition.
Stevie Mitchell added 18 points to help Marquette (13-2, 4-0) win its fourth straight. Ryan Kalkbrenner had 16 points and 12 rebounds for Creighton (9-6, 2-2).
Jones missed his first seven shots and went scoreless for the first 17 ½ minutes of the game before hitting a 3-pointer to start a 16-0 run. Jones’ driving layup with 38 seconds left in the half broke a tie and put Marquette in front for good.
Takeaways
Creighton: Kalkbrenner has made nearly two-thirds of his career field-goal attempts, but he shot just 4 of 11 from the floor Friday. Kalkbrenner increased his career point total to 2,010. The only other players to score at least 2,000 points from Creighton are Doug McDermott (3,150 from 2010-14), Rodney Buford (2,116 from 1995-99) and Bob Harstad (2,110 from 1987-91).
Marquette: The Golden Eagles never could pull away from Creighton but still made enough plays down the stretch to extend their winning streak.
Key moment
Creighton trailed 64-60 with 7:05 left when Fredrick King was at the line trying to complete a three-point play. After King missed his free throw, Jasen Green got the offensive rebound and had a chance to cut Marquette’s lead to two, but he missed. Marquette’s David Joplin then hit a layup on the other end to extend the lead to six. Marquette stayed ahead by at least five the rest of the way.
Key stats
Creighton shot just 40% overall and 22.6% (7 of 31) from 3-point range.
Marquette's Kam Jones gets past Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Friday, Jan. 3, 2025, in Milwaukee. Credit: AP/Morry Gash
Up next
Creighton visits Butler on Jan. 11, and Marquette hosts Georgetown on Tuesday.
