Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’ve already watched Ryan Kalkbrenner’s highlights three times this morning.
In today’s SI:AM:
✅ NFL picks
🎥 Cardinals film study
⛳ Augusta’s new famous member
He was almost literally unstoppable
Zach Edey may have moved on to the NBA, but college basketball still has a 7-foot superstar capable of taking over a game.
Creighton Bluejays center Ryan Kalkbrenner, a 7'1" fifth-year senior, posted a jaw-dropping 49 points on 20-of-22 shooting in his team’s season-opening win Wednesday over the UT-Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros. He also had 11 rebounds and three blocks.
Kalkbrenner’s outburst was the second highest single-game scoring total in school history, trailing only Bob Portman’s 51 points in 1967. It was the highest-scoring double double in Big East history and fifth-highest point total in the history of the conference. Kalkbrenner is the only player in Stathead’s database (which includes full game-by-game data since the 2004–05 season and partial data before then) to have at least 45 points on 90% shooting. The previous record for points scored on at least 90% shooting was 44 by Bill Walton in the 1973 national championship game.
Creighton needed Kalkbrenner’s heroics in a game that was much closer than anticipated. The Bluejays were 30-point favorites over a UTRG team that went 6–25 last year but ended up winning by only 13 (99–86). The Vaqueros trailed by five as late as the 2:37 mark of the second half.
“I kind of didn’t even realize how much I had when we were in a close game,” Kalkbrenner said. “By the end, I looked up, and it was a pretty good game.”
Kalkbrenner did the vast majority of his damage in the paint, beating up an undersized UTRG team that simply couldn’t handle his physicality. (The tallest player to see the floor for the Vaqueros in the game was 6'9".) Kalkbrenner only took shots outside of the paint: two three-pointers from the wing that he knocked down. He scored with nimble post moves, on put-backs, on lobs and with sheer bullying force. There was no way to contain him.
Kalkbrenner’s big game should vault him into Player of the Year conversations. He was already among the best players in the Big East, having led the conference in field goal percentage in each of the past three seasons while also being named Big East Defensive Player of the Year all three years. And Creighton will be counting on him to play an even bigger role this year after its two leading scorers from last season’s team—Baylor Scheierman and Trey Alexander—turned pro. It’s Kalkbrenner and another fifth-year senior, point guard Steven Ashworth, who will carry the team this year.
Creighton entered the season ranked No. 15 in the AP poll after reaching the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament last year. The Bluejays will begin the season with a few tuneup games against low-major programs before closing the non-conference slate with six games against teams that won at least 20 games last year, including five that qualified for the NCAA tournament. That stretch will be a great opportunity for Creighton to burnish its March Madness résumé—and for Kalkbrenner to show that he can be just as dominant against bigger programs as he was in the opener.
The best of Sports Illustrated
- Here are our experts’ picks for every NFL game this week.
- Our MMQB writers also gave their biggest surprises from the first half of the season and revised their picks for the Super Bowl.
- Matt Verderame’s weekly tape breakdown focuses on the play that sealed the Cardinals’ third straight win.
- In Albert Breer’s mailbag, he explains why the Panthers could end up standing by Bryce Young.
- The Dodgers are moving Mookie Betts to a new position yet again.
- Eli Manning is the newest member of Augusta National Golf Club.
- Luka Dončić gave an honest answer about integrating Klay Thompson into the Mavericks’ offense.
The top five…
… things I saw last night:
5. Zach Hyman’s goal after a really lucky bounce.
4. A smooth reverse dunk by Georgia Tech’s Kowacie Reeves Jr.
3. Noah Hanifin’s game-winning goal for the Golden Knights.
2. Joe Mazzulla’s funny answer to a question about Jaylen Brown’s hip injury.
1. Victor Wembanyama’s vicious block on Jalen Green.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner Erupts for 49 Points.