It still hurts Ryan Nembhard not to be playing with his fellow Creighton Bluejays as they make their way through the NCAA Tournament. But it hurt a lot less after the Bluejays rallied from nine points down late in the game to take down San Diego State 72-69 in overtime in their first-round game on Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas.
 
But as the Jays prepare for the Kansas Jayhawks, the top seed in the Midwest Region, they will be doing it while dealing with yet another injury to a key player as Ryan Kalkbrenner is out for the duration of the tournament after suffering a knee injury in the win over the Aztecs.
 
So with the Bluejays now down two Ryans, both Nembhard and Kalkbrenner will watch the Bluejays do battle with Kansas and hope for a second straight trip to the Sweet 16.
 
But before that, Ryan Nembhard chatted with BIGEAST.com and filled us in on the Bluejays’ exciting comeback victory, the gut-wrenching loss of their big man Kalkbrenner and his thoughts on Creighton’s showdown with No. 1 Kansas. All before he takes his seat on Creighton’s bench Saturday afternoon, or what we like to call, the Best Seat in the House.
 
First off Ryan, you were down by nine points on several occasions in the second half, the last time coming with 3:51 to play and trailing 62-53. Were there any doubts creeping in about putting out the victory against San Diego State?
 
“Not necessarily. We’ve been in that position before. (Playing) in the BIG EAST kind of prepares you for situations like that, especially when you’re playing so many tough teams. So, we were very calm and we knew we just had to get some (defensive) stops and get some scores. So, we did what we did on the defensive end and the scores came.”
 
The defense shut down the Aztecs from there as Creighton scored the final nine points of regulation to force overtime. Did you feel the momentum shift to you going into overtime?
 
“Momentum was definitely going our way. Shots were starting to fall and we were pretty confident in the OT.”
 
At the end of regulation, San DIego State still had a chance to perhaps win the game when Matt Bradley went to the line for a 1-and-1 with seven seconds left. (Bradley missed the front end of the 1-and-1). What was it like watching that situation unfold from the bench?
 
“We were just hoping that he’d miss. It was pretty loud in the building because we had a lot of Jays’ fans in there and they helped us out a little bit. It was a big moment and we were just hoping he’d miss and when he did we were pretty confident from there.”
 
Now in OT, you’re down 69-68 when Trey Alexander converts on a three-point play with 1:08 left to give you a 71-69 lead, your first since Creighton led 8-7 in the game’s early minutes. Is that when you started believing the Jays would come out with the win?
 
“Yeah that was a big play by Trey, it was a great play.  Huge bucket and huge points in that situation. We definitely felt like we were in a good situation after that. A good position to win the game.”
 
San Diego State still had one more time to tie or win the game in the final seconds. But Trey Pulliam missed on a layup and Aguek Arop missed on a tip-in. Did it feel like you were aging in dog years there? Did it seem like the clock was taking forever to count down?
 
“I don’t know if nervous is the right word, but I just wanted to see the ball in our hands as opposed to theirs. But it’s just so hard watching from the bench. It’s a lot different than being in the game because you can’t really control things. It’s definitely a little more nerve wracking being on the bench than in the game.”
 
It was a bittersweet win as you got to move on but you guys will be doing it without Ryan Kalkbrenner who, unfortunately, will be joining you on the bench for the rest of the tournament. That’s a huge blow to the Jays so how is the team dealing with it?
 
“Obviously he’s upset, wishing he could play. But we were happy we got the win yesterday and now it’s just the “Next Man Up” mentality. We’ve kind of had that all year because we’ve had a bunch of injuries. We’re kind of prepared for situations like this even though he is a huge part of our team. He’s a big loss but we have KeyShawn (Feazell) and he’s ready. He’s played a bunch of years of college basketball so he’s ready for moments like this.”
 
This is the fourth time this season where Creighton has suffered an injury to a key player, including the game you were hurt in at St. John’s, and each time the Jays have gone on to win that game. What does that say about the heart and determination of this team?
 
“It just says that we really want to do things for our teammates and our brothers. We’re a big family over here and when one guy goes down we want to win for that guy. It just shows how close we are and the culture that we have at Creighton.”
 
Did you speak with your brother, Andrew, after his Gonzaga team knocked off Georgia State yesterday, making the Nembhard’s 2-0 in the NCAA Tournament so far this season?
 
“Yeah I gave him a call and we talked for a little bit. They have Memphis next.” 
 
Did Arthur Kaluma get to meet up with his brother (San Diego State’s Adam Sieko) after the game?
 
“Yeah they did. I know the family was down here so they got to spend some time together and talk about how cool the experience was that they shared yesterday.” The parents wore shirts with the logos of both teams.
 
What did you think when you saw that No. 15 Saint Peter’s had upset No. 2 Kentucky, a team some thought could be a Final Four team?
 
“That’s March. Things happen in March, teams get hot, teams go on runs. Good for Saint Peter’s. They did a great job executing their game plan so congrats to them. That’s a huge win for their program.”
 
Now you get Kansas Saturday afternoon. Obviously you’ve looked at film and gone over things in practice. What do you think of the Jayhawks and what’s the confidence level going into the game?
 
“Obviously they are a great team. They’re a one seed for a reason. They got a bunch of talented players over there as well as a great coach. It’s going to be a tough one but we’re confident in every single game that we go into. We try to focus on ourselves more than anything so we’re going to look at it just as another regular game and do the things we need to do, control the controllables. If we do that we should be good.”
 
Creighton and Kansas tip off Saturday at 2:40 p.m. Eastern Time with the game being aired on CBS.