Alexander’s 24 lead No. 23 Creighton in 93-64 rout of DePaul

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Ty-Shon Alexander matched his season high with 24 points in one of his best all-around games, and No. 23 Creighton blew out DePaul 93-64 on Saturday night.

Creighton (20-6, 9-4 Big East) won its 12th straight in the series and has beaten DePaul in 15 of 16 meetings since joining the Big East. All but one of those Creighton wins have been by double digits.

The Bluejays are 7-1 in their last eight games and reached 20 wins for the 20th time in 22 years.

The Blue Demons (13-12, 1-11) lost their seventh straight, a skid that started with Creighton’s 83-68 win in Chicago last month.

Alexander had eight assists, five of the Bluejays’ school record-tying 18 steals and a blocked shot. His work helped the Bluejays dominate in transition. They had seven dunks and led by as many as 37 points.

Mitch Ballock made four of the Bluejays’ season-high 14 3-pointers and finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. Damien Jefferson had 12 points and six rebounds.

Ballock and Alexander made two 3-pointers each during a 21-5 run that broke the game open and gave Creighton its biggest lead of the first half, 31-15.

The Bluejays were up 42-28 at half after converting 12 DePaul turnovers into 17 points. They put the game away with an 18-3 run to begin the second half. The spurt featured three fastbreak lob dunks, two by Christian Bishop and one by Jefferson.

Charlie Moore had 20 points and five assists and Romeo Weems had 12 points to lead the Blue Demons, who committed 21 turnovers.

BIG PICTURE

DePaul: The struggling Blue Demons couldn’t keep up with Creighton and dropped to 0-6 on the road in Big East play after their most lopsided loss of the season.

Creighton: The Bluejays continued their roll, following up their 87-82 road win over No. 10 Seton Hall on Wednesday with their most lopsided conference home win of the season.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

The win over Seton Hall and the blowout against DePaul assures the Bluejays of a promotion when the new Top 25 comes out Monday.

STAT PACK

Creighton’s Shereef Mitchell, who missed the last four games because of injury, returned to score a season-high 11 points. Marcus Zegarowski also had 11… Creighton’s Denzel Mahoney missed a free throw for the first time in 22 attempts. … Ballock went scoreless in 36 minutes against Seton Hall on Wednesday and had his streak of at least one 3-pointer in 23 straight games end. He hit one from the wing early against DePaul, ending an 0-for-9 shooting slump. … The Bluejays had a season-high 25 assists. … DePaul’s Darious Hall made his first 3-pointer of the season, having come into the game 0 for 11 from behind the arc.

UP NEXT

DePaul hosts Villanova on Wednesday. The Blue Demons took Nova to overtime in a 79-75 loss Jan. 14.

Creighton visits Marquette on Tuesday. The Bluejays beat Marquette 92-75 in Omaha on Jan. 1.