Marcus Zegarowski scored 18 points to lead No. 17 Creighton to an 87-56 win over Butler in a Big East tournament quarterfinal on Thursday in New York.
Damien Jefferson scored 14 points, Christian Bishop had 10 points and five other players scored at least six points for the Bluejays (19-7), who recorded their second win over Butler in less than a week. Creighton beat the Bulldogs 93-73 in the regular-season finale on Saturday in Omaha, Neb.
Creighton shot 62.5 percent (35 of 56) from the field overall on Thursday, 54.2 percent (13 of 24) from 3-point range, and dished out 22 assists.
The second-seeded Bluejays advanced to the second semifinal on Friday, when they will face third-seeded UConn. The Huskies beat 11th-seeded DePaul 94-60 on Thursday.
Bryce Nze scored a game-high 21 points in defeat for 10th-seeded Butler (10-15), which likely saw its season end barring an invitation to a secondary postseason tournament.
Butler shot just 35.1 percent (20 of 57) from the field overall and 26.9 percent (7 of 26) from 3-point range.
Leading 9-7 after the first 5:32 of the game, Creighton started to dominate after that.
The Bluejays went on a 14-0 run to take an 23-7 edge with 10:34 remaining in the first half, then grabbed a 39-21 lead with 2:44 left until halftime.
Creighton led 42-26 at halftime.
Creighton shot 18 of 27 overall from the field and 6 of 10 from 3-point range in the first half.
The Bluejays continued to extend their lead to start the second half, taking a 52-30 lead with 15:26 remaining and then using a 13-0 run to go up by 30 points with 10:55 left.
Creighton ultimately built its lead to as many as 33 points at 79-46 with 4:09 remaining.
No other player besides Nze scored in double figures for Butler. Bryce Golden scored nine points and Chuck Harris added eight points for the Bulldogs.
--Field Level Media
Butler | Creighton | |
Bryce Nze 21 | Scoring | Marcus Zegarowski 18 |
Jair Bolden 3 | Assists | Marcus Zegarowski 5 |
Bryce Nze 6 | Rebounds | Antwann Jones 4 |
Bryce Nze 4 | Free Throws Made | Denzel Mahoney 2 |
Jair Bolden 4 | Steals | Marcus Zegarowski 3 |
Jair Bolden 1 | Blocks | Ryan Kalkbrenner 3 |