NC State was able to squeeze into the NCAA Tournament with a No. 11 seed.

NC State (23-10) will play No. 6-seeded Creighton (21-12 overall) at 4 p.m. Friday on TNT in Denver, Colo.

The Bluejays started the year ranked No. 9 and ended the year with the most receiving votes at No. 26 in the The Associated Press poll.

Creighton has wins over Arkansas, Providence, Xavier and Connecticut. However, Creighton suffered six straight losses from Nov. 23-Dec. 16, but 7-1, 260-pound junior center Ryan Kalkbrenner missed three of those games with an injury.

Creighton will play fast, play finesse and fire up the three-pointers.

The perimeter trio of sophomore point guard Ryan Nembhard, sophomore shooting guard Trey Alexander and senior small forward Baylor Scheierman surround Kalkbrenner.

The X-factor is possibly small-ball sophomore power forward Arthur Kaluma, who has been a double-digit scorer the last two years.

Rankings

Creighton is No. 17 in the NET rankings, and NC State is No. 45.

ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) has the Bluejays ranked No. 11 overall, and the Wolfpack are No. 45.

KenPom.com has Creighton at No. 13, and NCSU checks in at No. 55.

RealtimeRPI.com has Creighton ranked No. 39 in the country, and NC State is No. 41.

Shooting

Creighton averages 76.6 points per game, and are shooting 46.7 percent from the field, 36.0 percent on three-pointers and 76.7 percent at the free-throw line.

The Bluejays have four shooters surrounding Kalkbrenner. Alexander is shooting an impressive 44.0 percent from beyond the arc, and Nembhard is shooting 36.8 percent. Scheierman shot 46.9 percent from three-point land at South Dakota State, and is 36.2 percent this season.

Rebounding

The Bluejays are averaging 37.2 rebounds per game with a plus-3.8 rebounding margin.

Scheierman leads Creighton with 8.4 rebounds per game, and Kalkbrenner is second with 6.1 boards a contest. The latter had a team-high 75 offensive rebounds.

Defense

Creighton is allowing 68.5 points per game, with opponents shooting 42.2 percent from the field and 34.1 percent on three-pointers.

Kalkbrenner is averaging 2.2 blocks per game and he never fouled out of a game, but played with four fouls in five games. Scheierman led the way with 37 steals and Alexander had 35.

Depth

Creighton essentially plays four guys off the bench, but only one is a true offensive threat.

Freshman wing Mason Miller, the son of former NBA player Mike Miller, is a listed 6-9 left-handed shooter. He is shooting 38.5 percent from three-point land, but is averaging 2.5 points per game.

Junior backup point guard Shereef Mitchell is more of a defensive player, and senior guard Francisco Farabello plays on the wing. Former Louisville commit Fredrick King is the backup center. The 6-10, 234-pounder is from the Bahamas and he averages 3.8 points and 2.6 rebounds in 9.1 minutes per game.

Rivals.com ranked Ryan Kalkbrenner at No. 95 overall in the class of 2020 coming out of St. Louis (Mo.) Trinity Catholic. He picked Creighton over Purdue, Stanford and Kansas.

The 7-foot-1, 260-pounder has improved each year under long-time coach Greg McDermott, who has coached the Bluejays since 2010-11 season. He averaged 5.9 points and 3.5 rebounds in 13.8 minutes off the bench in 2020-21.

Kalkbrenner blossomed as a starter his sophomore year with 13.1 points, 7.7 rebounds and an impressive 2.6 blocks a contest. He has improved to 15.4 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game this season, and he’s shooting an incredible 71.4 percent from the field.

Kalkbrenner isn’t a three-point threat, thought he’ll shoot a few if left wide open. He’s 5 of 17 from beyond the arc this season, but isn’t the outside threat that Clemson’s P.J. Hall (33 three-pointers) and Boston College’s Quinten Post (23 three-pointers) are this season.

Kalkbrenner has been impressively consistent with 17-straight games in double figures. He has been held to single figures in just three contests. The gangly big man combined for 39 points on 16 of 19 shooting in the two Big East Tournament games.

Kalkbrenner is not a big rebounder, with just two double-doubles for points and rebounds, and he also hasn’t fouled out of any games this season. He had a season-high six blocks to go with 17 points and eight boards in a 83-61 win over Seton Hall on Jan. 3.

NC State

PG — 1 Jarkel Joiner (6-1, 180, R-Sr., 17.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 3.7 apg, 1.3 spg)

SG — 0 Terquavion Smith (6-4, 165, Soph., 17.5 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 4.2 apg, 1.5 spg)

G — 14 Casey Morsell (6-3, 200, R-Jr., 11.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 0.9 apg, 1.1 spg)

PF — 5 Jack Clark (6-8, 200, R-Jr., 9.3 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.7 spg)

C — 30 D.J. Burns (6-9, 275, R-Jr., 12.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.5 apg)

Creighton

PG — 2 Ryan Nembhard (6-0, 170, Soph., 11.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 4.9 apg)

SG — 23 Trey Alexander (6-4, 190, Soph., 13.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.6 apg, 1.1 spg)

SF — 55 Baylor Scheierman (6-7, 205, Sr., 12.8 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 3.2 apg, 1.1 spg)

PF — 24 Arthur Kaluma (6-7, 225, Soph., 11.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.6 apg)

C — 11 Ryan Kalkbrenner (7-1, 260, Jr., 15.4 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.2 apg, 2.2 bpg)

4 Wins against 2023 NCAA Tournament games in 13 contests.

9.1 Free-throws made per game by opposing teams against Creighton. The Bluejays average 13.2 fouls a contest.

24 All-time NCAA Tournament appearances, but the 15th in the last 25 years. Creighton has gone 15-24 all-time in the Big Dance.

Senior forward Baylor Scheierman blossomed his sophomore year at South Dakota State, and then followed up with a productive junior. He then had the chance to go back home.

The Aurura, Neb., picked Creighton over Nebraska, Arkansas, Clemson and he had dialogue with Duke. The hope was that he’d be the missing piece after going toe-to-toe with eventual champion Kansas last year in the NCAA Tournament, with both center Ryan Kalkbrenner and point guard Ryan Nembhard out with injuries.

The 6-7, 205-pound Scheierman does a little bit of everything. He is averaging 12.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game, and he is shooting 36.2 percent from three-point land. He's gone 43-straight games with a three-pointer.

Scheierman had a season-high 25 points and four three-pointers in a 90-87 loss at Xavier on Jan. 11. He had 13 double-doubles for points and rebounds, and had 15 games with at least 10 boards this season. He can be streaky from three-point land and also a volume shooter — with four games where he shot at least 10 three-point attempts.

Scheierman is also a slick passer and works well in feeding center Ryan Kalkbrenner in the post. He had a season-high nine assists against Villanova last Thursday in the Big East Tournament. He had at least five assists in eight games.

Scheierman averaged 12.4 points and 7.1 rebounds in 90 games at South Dakota State, and he shot 41.4 percent from beyond the arc.

NC State redshirt junior wing Casey Morsell will likely match up against Scheierman. The Virginia transfer is one of two NC State players who have played in an NCAA Tournament game. He is averaging 11.9 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, and he shot 40.7 percent from beyond the arc.

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