Austin Swartz scored a career-high 27 points and Creighton rolled to a 98-57 victory over Xavier Wednesday night in Cincinnati in the Big East opener for both teams.
After playing a tough nonconference schedule that included losses to Gonzaga, Iowa State and Baylor, the Bluejays (6-5, 1-0 Big East) seized control with a massive run in the final six-plus minutes of the first half and never looked back while handing Xavier (8-4, 0-1) its biggest homecourt beating since moving into the Cintas Center in 2000.
Swartz scored nine points in Creighton’s 25-4 run to end the first half, reached double figures for the fourth straight game and surpassed his previous career best of 16 set on Dec. 7 at Nebraska.
Swartz finished with the most points by a Bluejay in a Big East debut, surpassing the 19 points scored by Doug McDermott in 2013.
Swartz shot 10-of-17 and hit a career-high seven 3-point attempts after entering the game shooting 29.7% from behind the arc. The sophomore guard also grabbed seven rebounds and handed out four assists in 23 minutes.
Nik Graves added 12 while Jasen Green and Blake Harper contributed 11 apiece as the Bluejays shot 60.3% overall and 16 of 33 from 3-point range. Creighton also scored 42 points in the paint and went a combined 18 of 23 on layups and dunks.
Xavier saw its five-game winning streak stopped as Malik Messina-Moore led the Musketeers with 14 points and Roddie Anderson III added 12. Pape N’Diaye finished with 10 but Xavier’s top two leading scorers — Tre Carroll and Jovan Milicevic – struggled mightily.
Carroll was held to seven points on 3-of-7 shooting while Milicevic was scoreless on 0-of-8 shooting as Xavier shot 36.4%, hit 6 of 24 3-point attempts and committed 14 turnovers.
The Bluejays sank five 3-pointers in the first seven-plus minutes and took a 22-12 lead on Owen Freeman’s layup following a Xavier turnover with 12:37 left. After Xavier cut the lead to six, the Bluejays ended the first half with their big run to take a 49-22 lead by halftime.
Swartz starred early in the run by hitting his third 3-pointer along with a pair of layups for a 34-18 edge with 5:45 remaining. The Bluejays took their first 20-point lead when Isaac Traudt hit a free throw to make it 40-20 and Josh Dix’s 3-pointer extended the lead to 25 with 56 seconds left.
Swartz sank three 3-pointers in the opening 3:40 of the second half for a 63-28 lead and the outcome was never in doubt the rest of the way.
–Field Level Media
