No. 10 Creighton prevails in battle of top-ten unbeatens behind Ryan Nembhard career night

Creighton and Arkansas came together on Day 2 of Maui for one of just two ranked matchups in men’s college basketball Tuesday. The two top-10 teams cooked up nothing short of a classic.

The Jays looked every bit like an offensive juggernaut through the first 20 minutes of its 90-87 win over the Razorbacks. Arkansas boasted one of the nation’s best defenses entering the game. Tuesday was no different, which made things all that more challenging for the Jays in what might’ve been college basketball’s game of the year to this point.

Creighton continued its display of unreal shooting touch, shooting 54.8% from the field and going 5 of 10 from deep. Even with pesky defenders like Arkansas freshmen Anthony Black and Jordan Walsh, the Jays could rely on sophomore Ryan Nembhard and senior Baylor Scheierman to initiate offense.

The two showed off their talent as a couple of class-A distributors who continuously pumped blood into CU’s offense when wing defenders like Walsh forced broken plays elsewhere. It took a lot to offset its mistakes — 17 turnovers, six of which came from sophomore Arthur Kaluma with Walsh in his grill all night — but CU pieced together yet another efficient offensive output and solid defensive night to outlast Arkansas.

Even when the Razorbacks successfully ran the Jays off the 3-point line in the second half, Creighton found a way to contain Arkansas’ paint touches and survive. In a half full of strange sequences that included a series of whistles for Creighton, Nembhard — who finished with a career-high 25 points, six rebounds and five assists, was reliable at the free throw line time and time again.