The sight left Greg McDermott in disbelief.

The Creighton coach walked into the arena Saturday night at CenturyLink Center and was greeted by a sea of pink. Most of the announced crowd of 18,436 — largest in program history — wore some shade of the color as part of the school's Creighton vs. Cancer promotion.

"I was taken aback," McDermott said. "As I told the team, this was more than a game. A lot of people who were here in pink probably lost someone to cancer or has someone in their life that is battling cancer.

"It takes so much toughness to get through that disease, and I'm hopeful that someone was impacted by this tonight. I'm also hopeful that we raised some money."

Creighton already had raised $22,600 with an auction of the pink-trimmed jerseys and pregame shooting shirts that the Bluejays wore Saturday. Creighton's entire uniform was trimmed in pink and the players wore special-edition pink Nike shoes. The Bradley team also donned pink shirts for pregame warmups, and the coaches from both teams wore sneakers as part of the nationwide Coaches vs. Cancer campaign.

Creighton collected donations from fans at the game. A Creighton spokesman said the school expects to have a final tally Sunday, but McDermott said he had received two checks totaling $1,100 from fans in the past two days.

"If you ever wonder if you're in the right place, things like that certainly hit home with me," McDermott said. "This is a wonderful community, and I'm so fortunate to be a part of it."

McDermott's wife, Theresa, is a breast cancer survivor, as is Bradley President Joanne Glasser.

"This is a big game for our team and their team, but there was a much bigger picture in this tonight," Bradley coach Geno Ford said. "It's an event that hits home for both programs. Everyone knows someone that's been affected by cancer. Obviously, Coach McDermott's wife, and our president is a two-time survivor.

"That's what tonight was about. It was neat to get out and see all the pink. I'll be honest: This is the first time in my life that I've worn pink. But it was for a great cause and a great purpose."

Jays overcome 19 turnovers

Creighton committed 19 turnovers, one shy of the season-high 20 it had in a Jan. 3 game against Drake. The Bluejays had 12 in the first 20 minutes, including four on their final five first-half possessions that allowed the Braves to cut a 32-21 deficit to 33-28 at the break.

"That was all self-inflicted," said Creighton guard Josh Jones, who had only one turnover in 25 minutes. "We kind of got away from what we normally do. We had some different lineups.

"I don't blame it all on that, but we were trying to make the right plays with different rotations."

Creighton had two starters — Jahenns Manigat and Grant Gibbs — slowed by injury and illness. McDermott said Manigat is slowed by fluid on his knee that first appeared Friday. The sophomore guard played 13 minutes, while Gibbs managed to turn in 29 minutes despite having strep throat that left him in bed for most of the previous two days.

The Bluejays also received a scare when starting point guard Antoine Young injured a wrist in a collision late in the game. Young had to leave the game but returned for the final three minutes, collecting the final of his five assists on Creighton's final basket.

"It's killing me now, but it should be fine tomorrow," Young said, referring to his wrist. "I just tried to brace myself when I fell."

Braves keeping heads up

The loss was Bradley's 14th straight in Omaha, and it dropped the Braves to 6-17 and 1-10 in the league in Ford's first season as coach. Bradley has won just once in 14 games since Dec. 15.

"I'll give our guys a lot of credit because they haven't rolled over and laid down or no-showed or not tried," Ford said. "We've certainly got beat more than you want to. We've tried to make it about getting better and the process of getting better and not accepting failure.

"I think they've done a good job of buying into that and believing in that. They know where we've struggled and tried to get better. We're not printing up T-shirts with our record on it, but if we can continue to get better, we still have a chance to surprise a couple of teams as we go down the stretch."

Bits and pieces

• The victory put Creighton at the 20-win mark for the 13th time in the past 14 seasons and the 24th time in program history.

• The Bluejays have won 10 Valley games for the 16th straight season.

• The Bluejays completed an unbeaten January (9-0) for the first time since going 8-0 in January 1975.

• Center Gregory Echenique's 14-point, 10-rebound performance was his third double-double of the season and second against Bradley. He had 12 points and 12 rebounds in a Jan. 7 win in Peoria.

• Doug McDermott's 24-point game pushed his season total to 518 points. He became the third player in Missouri Valley history to score 500 or more points as both a freshman and sophomore, and he is the eighth player in school history with two seasons of 500 or more points. He now has 1,099 points and stands 30th on the Bluejays' career scoring chart after 61 games.

— Steven Pivovar

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