• Box Score: Creighton 102, Illinois State 74
• Photo Showcase: CU men's basketball, Feb. 1
• Video Below: See the postgame press conference and game highlights

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In a season filled with great starts, Creighton might have topped itself in Wednesday's opening burst against Illinois State.

The Bluejay coupled a 10 of 11 start from the field with defensive tenacity to break out to an 18-point lead eight minutes into the game. The Redbirds never got closer than 14 points after that as No. 13 Creighton rolled to a 102-74 Missouri Valley victory before an announced crowd of 17,311 at CenturyLink Center.

“We've popped off to good starts,” Creighton guard Grant Gibbs said, “but today was probably our best.”

He got no argument from his coach, especially once Greg McDermott dissected the start that led to the Bluejays' second 100-point performance of the season and produced their 11th straight victory. Each of Creighton's first 10 baskets came within 10 feet of the basket.

A team that leads the nation in 3-point shooting didn't take a shot from beyond the arc until its 12th possession, when Josh Jones missed. Doug McDermott grabbed the rebound and scored on a short jumper seconds later.

“That may have been as unselfish of an offensive performance as I've ever been a part of,” Greg McDermott said. “The ball movement and guys turning down shots to get it to the hot hand. It was a thing of beauty from an offensive standpoint.”

Creighton's defensive effort in the opening spurt also was an eye-catcher. The Bluejays forced three turnovers and made the Redbirds settle for outside jumpers on seven of their first 10 shots. They missed all seven.

While Creighton's start was something to behold for its coach, the Redbirds left Tim Jankovich with a much different feeling. The Redbirds' coach used his first timeout a minute and 11 seconds into the game and called his second one with 15:26 left in the first half.

“There's not a lot of worse feelings than that,” Jankovich said. “You're down and out before you feel like it even starts. There are so many issues that you don't even think you can address them. Nothing was going right.”

Jankovich's team trailed by 21 points at halftime but showed some fire in the opening minutes of the second half, twice cutting Creighton's lead to 14 points. After Anthony Cousins' jumper made it 63-49 with 14:54 to play, the Bluejays hit the Redbirds with an 11-0 burst that featured 3-point baskets by Gibbs, Jones and Ethan Wragge. After that, the only drama that remained was whether Creighton would become the first team since 1990 to put up 100 points against Illinois State.

The Bluejays did when Ross Ferrarini buried the second of his two 3-point baskets to make it 100-79 with 2:08 to play. Matthew Dowart added two free throws with 1:30 remaining to get Creighton within two points of the season-high 104 it had on Nov. 25 against Campbell.

It was the first time since 2008 that Creighton had scored 100 points against a Valley opponent and the first time the Bluejays did it in regulation since they put up 102 on Evansville in 2000. The 2008 achievement came when Creighton defeated Bradley 111-110 in double overtime.

“We came out really strong there,” said Doug McDermott, who led Creighton with 25 points. “We got them to take some tough shots and we turned down some good shots for some really great shots.

“We were really unselfish tonight, and if we can continue that we're going to continue to win.”

Creighton finished the game with 22 assists on 31 baskets. Gibbs and Antoine Young each had seven as the Bluejays worked over Illinois State's defense to get open looks.

Creighton shot 56.4 percent from the field and outrebounded the Redbirds 35-23. McDermott got his 25 points in 28 minutes, with Gibbs adding 12 points, Jahenns Manigat and Will Artino 11 each and Gregory Echenique and Jones 10 each.

The win left Creighton 21-2 overall and 11-1 in the league, and maintained a one-game lead over Wichita State.

Illinois State, which got 21 points from Tyler Brown, had a two-game winning streak snapped in dropping to 14-9 and 6-6.

Creighton now must turn its attention to back-to-back road games, the first coming Saturday at Northern Iowa and the second Tuesday at Evansville.

“We just have to continue doing what we do, taking it a day at a time, not overlooking opponents and focusing in on each game,” Doug McDermott said. “We now have to turn our focus on UNI.

“That's going to be a real hostile environment.”

That's the same feeling Jankovich had when he stepped into the CenturyLink on Wednesday. His team had made Creighton sweat out an 87-78 victory on Jan. 13, but as he pointed out before the game, that came at home.

The Redbirds had only had a handful of fans on hand Wednesday, and their support provided little help once Creighton hit Illinois State with its opening flurry.

“That's as good as I've seen them play,” Jankovich said. “They were awfully, awfully good and we were awful. That's not a good combination.”

Contact the writer:

402-679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com

twitter.com/PivOWH

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• Video: CU coach Greg McDermott at the postgame press conference:



• Video: CU's Doug McDermott and Grant Gibbs at the postgame press conference:



• Video: Creighton-Illinois State highlights:

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