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Reserve Isaac Traudt's 18 points lead No. 10 Creighton in a 109-64 rout of Central Michigan
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — No team likes to shoot the 3-pointer more than Creighton, and the 10th-ranked Bluejays have found yet another player capable of doing it at a high level.
Isaac Traudt set career highs with five 3-pointers and 18 points off the bench to lead six Creighton players in double figures in a 109-64 rout of Central Michigan on Saturday.
Creighton (8-1), which made 15 of 31 3s while shooting a season-best 65%, scored its most points against a Division I opponent in six years and has won three straight blowouts since getting upset by Colorado State on Thanksgiving.
Traudt, a 6-foot-10 Virginia transfer, made all three of his 3s and had a dunk in eight minutes in the first half. His first 3 of the second half gave Creighton a 30-point lead, and his second was a fall-away shot from the top of the key that drew oohs from the crowd. All of his work was accomplished in 12 1/2 minutes.
“We've had some teams that could really shoot it,” coach Greg McDermott said. “This team probably stands apart in some ways because of the number of guys who can shoot it.”
Everyone in the starting five has proved capable of shooting from distance now that big man Ryan Kalkbrenner has developed a perimeter shot. Reserve Francisco Farabello and now Traudt also are 3-point threats.
“We have confidence in them,” McDermott said, “and they have confidence in each other.”
Mason Miller had career highs with 17 points and four 3s and Kalkbrenner and Trey Alexander had 15 points apiece. Fredrick King had 14 points and Baylor Scheierman had 13 points and matched his career-high with nine assists.
For Traudt, his performance marked a big step. Traudt didn't play as a redshirt at Virginia last season. He arrived at Creighton in the summer having not played in a competitive game since his senior year at Grand Island High School, two hours west of Omaha.
“I felt clueless a lot of the times,” he said. “I wasn’t used to just playing free basketball or anything like that. So it took me a while. I'm not all the way there yet, but I definitely feel more comfortable.”
Derrick Butler led the Chippewas (3-6) with a career-high 28 points and Anthony Pritchard scored 22. It was their most lopsided loss since a 107-54 defeat to Gonzaga two years ago.
“There was a stretch in the first half I didn’t like the way we defended, but other than that we did a pretty good job,” McDermott said. “We didn’t think two points at a time they could score enough to beat us. Offensively the ball moved and we turned good shots into great shots all day.”
The teams’ only previous meeting came in the first round of the 2003 NCAA Tournament in Salt Lake City, where Central Michigan won 79-73 as an 11-seed.
BIG PICTURE:
Central Michigan: The Chippewas, picked last in the Mid-American Conference preseason coaches’ poll, have lost four games against opponents from the Power Five and Big East by a combined 129 points. They have dropped nine straight against Top 25 opponents since they upset Notre Dame 20 years ago.
Creighton: The Bluejays improved to 100-9 under McDermott in nonconference home games.
UP NEXT
Central Michigan hosts Division II Davenport on Tuesday.
Creighton plays UNLV on Wednesday in the Jack Jones Classic in Henderson, Nevada.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
