No. 9 Creighton Crushes Louisville in March Madness Opener as Fans Eye Auburn Matchup

The first game of the 2025 NCAA tournament is in the books, as Creighton put together an impressive shooting display in an 89-75 victory over Louisville.

Creighton, the No. 9 seed in the South Region, couldn't miss to open the game. The Bluejays put up 49 points on 9-of-16 three-point shooting in the first half. They shot 55.6 percent overall in the win.

Steven Ashworth was responsible for a significant portion of Creighton's offense in the opening half. The fifth-year senior scored 13 points on 3-of-6 shooting behind the arc before the intermission en route to finishing with 20 points.

Another big difference in the game was Louisville just got outmuscled and seemed unprepared for Creighton's physicality. Jamiya Neal grabbed 11 rebounds, tied for his second-most in a game this season, in addition to scoring a game-high 29 points and dishing out five assists.

Ryan Kalkbrenner was an imposing force on both ends of the court. He put up 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, six rebounds and three blocks.

The Bluejays defense held Louisville to just 43.3 percent shooting overall and 8-of-28 from three-point range. Terrence Edwards Jr. (21 points) and Chucky Hepburn (22 points) accounted for more than 57 percent of the Cardinals offense.

A dominant performance by Creighton in its opening game now has fans looking ahead to Saturday and a potential matchup with No. 1 overall seed Auburn.

Auburn will play No. 16 Alabama State on Thursday afternoon. You never want to get too far ahead of yourself in the NCAA tournament, but it's safe to say a Tigers loss in that game would be one of the biggest upsets in history.

Even accounting for the fact Auburn lost three of its last four games between the regular season and SEC tournament, each of those defeats was against a team currently ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll (Tennessee, Alabama, Texas A&M).

While Creighton also doesn't fall into the category of a Top 25 opponent, its red-hot shooting on Thursday against a Louisville team that ranked a respectable 55th in defensive rating proves it is capable of beating any team in the country right now.

A victory on Saturday will send Creighton to the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive season.