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GAME NOTES: The undefeated and 21st-ranked BYU Cougars play their first official road game of 2010-11 tonight, as they challenge the Creighton Bluejays as part of the Mountain West/Missouri Valley Challenge in Nebraska.

The Cougars are back on the mainland after capturing the South Padre Island Invitational on Saturday with the narrow 74-73 win over Saint Mary's. The title didn't come easy for BYU as the team went to double-overtime the night before to claim a 77-75 win over South Florida as well during the event.

Meanwhile, Creighton began the new season with three straight wins over sub- par adversaries and then was taken down by Iowa State on the road. More recently the Jays were topped by Northwestern on Sunday night, 65-52, away from home to drop to 4-2 on the season overall.

With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, the Cougars are ahead by a count of 5-3 over Creighton, although it was the Jays who captured a 74-64 win at home in the most recent meeting back in 2002. Stretching back to 1949, Creighton has a record of just 18-116 versus AP- ranked schools and hasn't taken a win in such a meeting since topping conference foe Southern Illinois in March of 2007 by a score of 67-61.

After shooting an impressive 64 percent from the field, including 4-of-6 behind the three-point line in the first half against the Gaels, BYU slipped to just 1-of-8 out on the perimeter after the break but still held on for the exciting one-point win nonetheless. Jimmer Fredette, who was named the tournament MVP, knocked down his first three-pointer of the meeting with just 11 seconds to play to give the Cougars a two-point lead. Fredette finished with 24 points, followed by Jackson Emery with 15 points and five steals and Noah Hartsock, the hero from the night before, generated seven points and five boards as both players were named to the all-tournament team. Kyle Collinsworth checked in with 10 points as well. A preseason All-America selection, Fredette is leading the team in scoring right now with his 24.8 ppg, shooting close to 50 percent from the field and 18-of-46 behind the three-point line. Emery and Hartsock generate 12.8 and 11.0 ppg, respectively, for an offense that is producing a hefty 84.5 ppg and outscoring the opposition by 22.5 ppg through the first six games of the campaign.

Creighton went from putting up 75 points against Kennesaw State two days earlier to posting just 52 in the double-digit loss to Northwestern on the road in Illinois on Sunday. Antoine Young shot just 1-of-6 behind the three- point line for the Jays to come up with his team-best 18 points, followed by Doug McDermott and Kenny Lawson Jr, with 14 and 11 points, respectively. Lawson Jr. also hit the glass hard for a game-high 12 rebounds, but that still wasn't good enough to help erase the fact that Creighton shot only 37.3 percent from the field and 4-of-21 behind the three-point line in the meeting. Young and McDermott are tied for the team scoring lead at the moment with 14.3 ppg apiece, although the latter has been much more efficient from the floor where he has made good on 52.2 percent of his chances, compared to just 38.7 percent for Young. Young, who has converted 30-of-39 at the free-throw line, has made a difference in other ways with his team-high 25 assists, against just 13 turnovers.

While the Cougars have struggled a bit against tougher competition in recent games, Creighton is just a shell of the team that used to terrorize the rest of the Missouri Valley Conference, which is enough of a reason to go with the visitors in this case.