Creighton Basketball: 3 keys to Bluejays beating Kansas in Big East-Big 12 Battle

The Creighton Blue Jays have the toughest game you can possibly have on your schedule, and that is taking on the number one team in the entire nation. The undefeated Kansas Jayhawks must travel across state lines for a matchup between the Blue Jays of the Big East.

Creighton has fallen out of the Top 25 after a rough MTE, which included losses to San Diego State and Texas A&M. Their struggles are not unique to the rest of the Big East, but they have a huge opportunity to right some wrongs if they can pull off a major upset of Kansas.

Creighton has had their fair share of struggles on offense, which is tough to fix against a team like Kansas. They do not have the guard play they had just a year ago, and there is still that sense where this team is figuring out how to play together. This team has not beaten a major conference opponent yet this season, but they still have the talent of a Top 25 spot in the nation.

So how can the Blue Jays take down the Jayhawks? And what can give them a realistic chance to get back on track against such a tough opponent?

Get the ball to Ryan Kalkbrenner

Ryan Kalkbrenner started his season with a 49-point, 11-rebound performance, but since then, teams have started to figure out the 7'1 long-time Creighton big man. And when it comes to the Notre Dame game, he missed that one with a lower-body injury.

The hope is that Kalkbrenner will be healthy enough to play and match up with superstar Hunter Dickinson, and they will need Kalkbrenner in this one. He missed the last opportunity to take on the Blue Jays in the 2022 NCAA Tournament and did playback in 2020 when Creighton beat Kansas.

But assuming he is good to go, he will need the ball in his hands. The only way this team wins is if Kalkbrenner has one of the best games of his career, especially defensively. Finding him down low and allowing him to use his size will be a big boost to an offense trying to find its legs. They will have to find a way to create mismatches and get him off of Dickinson, but he will also have to win some matchups against one of the best players in the nation.

The outside shot needs to fall for Creighton

Creighton, as a basketball program, has always been a great three-point shooting team, but that has not been the case this season out in Omaha. While they will likely get right in this department soon enough, it has to start now if they want to take down Kansas. The Blue Jays have shot 31.4 percent from behind the arc, and they need to find that improvement from some of their newer talent.

Jamiya Neal has only shot 27.6 percent from three, while Jackson McAndrew and Isaac Traudt have shot around 31 percent each off the bench. Look for one of these players to knock down key threes in this game against Kansas if they do end up winning. Steven Ashworth's clip sits at 40 percent, but he can only do so much, so the other talent on this team needs to step up in this area.

Whether that means Kalkbrenner has to create kick-out opportunities or they are not taking good enough shots, the solution is necessary for this team's success going forward. The guards just need to work better off the dribble, and that will force the defense of Kansas to collapse a bit, and those shots will come, they just need to knock them down.

Get the home crowd going early

After a rough trip in Las Vegas, they return to Century Link Center, where the Creighton faithful will show out in droves. They are a dangerous team in one of the more underrated environments in the Big East and the entire nation.

With this being one of the more important games all year for Creighton, this is the one where they need to create that atmosphere for their team. And the best way to do that is by controlling the pace early in the game. Every Bill Self team has done a great job of doing exactly that and taking control early.

A big three by Creighton will blow the lid off that place in Omaha, and the crowd will help take control of this game. Creighton ended No. 1 UConn's 14-game win streak last season for their first-ever win vs an AP No.1 opponent. The Blue Jays will be looking to do it twice in the same calendar year, and a lot of that had to do with the homecourt advantage they had in Omaha.

While Kansas does not have to travel as far as some Big East teams have to, it is still never an easy place to play. If Creighton can take advantage of the environment and put together what they have been trying to figure out, then they will have more than a good chance to defeat a great Kansas team.