🏀 Game Preview: vs. No. 8/9 Creighton

LAWRENCE, Kan. — No. 5/5 Kansas continues its five-game homestand when it hosts #8/7 Creighton inside Allen Fieldhouse on Tuesday, December 8, in the Big 12/Big East Battle. The game will air on ESPN with Mark Neely and Robbie Hummel calling the action.

In what will be a battle between two of the top teams nationally, Kansas (4-1, 0-0 Big 12) will face off against Creighton (3-0, 0-0 Big East), marking the second top-10 team and the third ranked foe Kansas will have faced this season. KU fell to #1 Gonzaga on Nov. 26 and defeated #20 Kentucky on Dec. 1.

Though there have been 15 men’s basketball meetings between Kansas and Creighton, the two teams have not met since 1974. Kansas leads the overall series with Creighton, 9-6, and has won the last four matchups. This series dates back to 1923 and the last meeting was March 14, 1974, a KU 55-54 win in Tulsa in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional. Under head coach Ted Owens, Kansas would go on to advance to the 1974 Final Four in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Through five games, Kansas has had four different players lead the team in scoring and five in steals, including ties for the team high.

Junior guard Ochai Agbaji leads Kansas in scoring at 16.2 points per game and has scored 16 or more points four of five contests. Agbaji leads the team with 13 3-point field goals made and he has 12 assists and seven steals.

Redshirt-freshman forward Jalen Wilson is coming off his second-career double-double with 14 points and a career-high 15 rebounds against North Dakota State (12/5). Wilson is second on the team in points (15.0) and leads KU in rebounds with a. 8.8 average. Sophomore guard Christian Braun also has a team-high seven steals and he is second on the squad with 11 3-pointers made and a 7.0 rebound average. Braun scores 12.8 points per game, which includes a career-high 30 points against Saint Joseph’s (11/27).

Kansas has been ranked in each of the last 222 Associated Press polls dating back to 2008-09. The 222-consecutive weeks in the AP poll is an all-time record, surpassing UCLA’s 221 from 1966-80. KU holds the same streak in the coaches’ poll at 229.