LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Nik Graves had 25 of his season-high 28 points in the second half as Creighton men's basketball extended its season with an 82-69 win over Rutgers late on Thursday night in quarterfinal action of the College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas, Nev.
Creighton (16-17) earns itself a semifinal match-up at 3 p.m. Central on Saturday against West Virginia (19-14) with the win, as the Mountaineers used some late heroics to post an 82-77 overtime win vs. Stanford in Thursday's first quarterfinal. Rutgers ends its season with a 14-20 record.
Rutgers got off to a quick start against a Bluejay squad that had played just once since March 5th, as the Scarlet Knights owned an 16-7 lead with 12:30 left in the first half. Once they regained their footing and settled in, the Bluejays countered with a 12-2 run to tie the game at 24-all thanks to three points each from Jasen Green, Graves, Dix and Isaac Traudt. CU didn't take its first lead until 1:10 remained in the first half when Graves found Hudson Greer for an alley-oop to take a 28-26 advantage.
Creighton took a 31-28 lead into the half thanks to nine points by Dix and six assists from Graves. Tariq Francis led Rutgers with nine points before the break.
Graves then took over, playing like a senior who didn't want his career to end. He scored 20 of CU's next 32 points as the Bluejays turned a 35-34 lead into a 67-50 advantage. Rutgers would post a spirited comeback, drawing within 71-63 before a a three-point play by Green and a trifecta by Graves pushed the Bluejay lead back to 77-63 with just over a minute to go to ice the win.
Graves led CU with 28 points and eight assists, while Green had 16 points and nine rebounds to narrowly miss his first career double-double. Dix added 14 points and Blake Harper had eight points to pace a Bluejay bench that scored 15 points. CU made 20-of-24 free throws in the game, including 12-of-13 marksmanship from Graves, and won the rebound battle 40-38.
Rutgers got 19 points from Francis and Jamichael Davis contributed 17 points off the bench in 22 minutes. Rutgers made just 2-of-14 three-pointers and shot 36.9 percent from the field.
NOTES: Creighton is one of 11 schools to have made the postseason each of the last 10 seasons (excluding 2019-20 when COVID-19 canceled the postseason) ... Creighton was making its eighth trip to the Las Vegas metro area since 2012, and fifth in the last four years ... The April 2nd game marked the latest date for a game in program history, and first win in the month of April ... Greg McDermott coached in his 14th postseason tournament with Creighton, most in program history ... Creighton was playing just its second game since March 5th ... Isaac Traudt played in the 100th game of his career ... Creighton has made a three-pointer in 1,089 consecutive games ... Josh Dix surpassed 1,250 career points with a three-pointer in the final minute of the first half ... Creighton has made five or more three-pointers in 104 games in a row ... Josh Dix joined Mitch Ballock, Doug McDermott and Ethan Wragge as the only Bluejays under Greg McDermott to make four or more three-pointers in four straight games ... Nik Graves became CU's first player with 20 points in a half since Steven Ashworth vs. Butler on March 8, 2024 ... Greg McDermott improved to 21-14 at Creighton in postseason play. He is the program's all-time winningest coach in the NCAA Tournament (12), NIT (4), CBI (4) and College Basketball Crown (1) ... Creighton is now 20-7 in its last 27 games against Big Ten teams, with 16 double-digit victories ... Creighton is now 2-0 all-time against Rutgers, with both victories taking place inside MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. ... Creighton now owns 34 wins under Greg McDermott after trailing by 10 or more points, including four this season. CU also won after trailing by exactly 10 points at Villanova (Jan. 7), vs. Georgetown (Jan. 13) and vs. Seton Hall (Feb. 7).