Well, that’s certainly one way to start a season.

Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner – the preseason Big East player of the year – scored a career-high 49 points on Wednesday, helping the Bluejays narrowly hold off UT-Rio Grande Valley 99-86.

Not only is it the highest score by a Creighton player since 1967 – and the second-highest in a game in program history – but it’s also the highest score by a Division I player in a season opener since Arkansas guard Rotnei Clarke faced 51 against Alcorn State in 2009.

“I just saw a couple go in,” Kalkbrenner said after the game, “and I just kept going from there.”

Kalkbrenner’s previous career high was 31, against NC State in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. The 7-foot-1 center is known more for his defensive prowess – he is one of only three players in conference history to be named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year three times of the Year – and not for his scoring ability, but Creighton needed every point he could muster to secure victory. The Vaqueros, who made 14 3-pointers, kept the game within striking distance all night before going on a 13-4 run midway through the second half that cut the score to five.

But Kalkbrenner was inevitable, his efficiency as impressive as his record. He made 20 of his 22 shots, including his two 3-point attempts, plus seven of his eight free throws.

The last DI player to make 20 shots at a clip of 90 percent or better was Bill Walton in the 1973 national championship.

In the 2023-24 season, there were only 24 players who scored 40 points or more, and only one scored 49 points, Denver’s Tommy Bruner. Kalkbrenner’s 49 points are the second most since Houston Christian’s Darius Lee scored 52 points in the 2021-22 season.

“We definitely need to clean up some things on defense,” Kalkbrenner said Wednesday. “But yeah, I mean, I’m proud of the way we fought and persevered even when everything didn’t go our way.”

Kalkbrenner also had a team-best 11 rebounds, three blocks and two assists.

Creighton’s only other players in double figures were point guard Steven Ashworth, who had 25 – and made all 17 of his free throw attempts – and forward Isaac Traudt, who finished with 11. The Bluejays were without top transfer signing Pop Isaacs, who missed the game with an undisclosed injury. Isaacs had hip surgery in the spring.

No. 15 Creighton doesn’t play until Sunday when it hosts Fairleigh Dickinson.

Accordingly The Athletics Sam Vecenie, Kalkbrenner, is expected to be a second-round pick, but if he can consistently show an ability to stretch the floor and hold his own defensively in pick-and-roll situations, the fifth-rounder could be an easy one Improvement experience his projection design.

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(Photo: Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)