Creighton hosts Smith and St. John's

Published Dec. 30, 2024 3:43 a.m. ET

Associated Press

St. John's Red Storm (11-2, 2-0 Big East) at Creighton Bluejays (8-5, 1-1 Big East)

Omaha, Nebraska; Tuesday, 4 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: St. John's visits Creighton after Deivon Smith scored 20 points in St. John's 97-76 win over the Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens.

The Bluejays are 7-1 on their home court. Creighton ranks ninth in the Big East with 7.0 offensive rebounds per game led by Ryan Kalkbrenner averaging 2.2.

The Red Storm are 2-0 in conference play. St. John's is 10-2 against opponents with a winning record.

Creighton makes 47.1% of its shots from the field this season, which is 6.0 percentage points higher than St. John's has allowed to its opponents (41.1%). St. John's has shot at a 48.4% clip from the field this season, 7.9 percentage points above the 40.5% shooting opponents of Creighton have averaged.

The matchup Tuesday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Kalkbrenner is scoring 17.3 points per game with 7.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists for the Bluejays.

RJ Luis is scoring 16.9 points per game and averaging 6.0 rebounds for the Red Storm.

LAST 10 GAMES: Bluejays: 5-5, averaging 72.5 points, 32.9 rebounds, 16.3 assists, 3.8 steals and 4.8 blocks per game while shooting 45.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.5 points per game.

Red Storm: 8-2, averaging 84.8 points, 37.5 rebounds, 16.9 assists, 9.7 steals and 6.0 blocks per game while shooting 48.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.0 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.