Saturday was likely the last time Baylor Scheierman will play a competitive basketball game in his home state of Nebraska. And Creighton’s star guard made his senior night a memorable one, scoring 26 points on 8-of-17 shooting and pulling down a season-high 16 rebounds in an 89-75 win over No. 5 Marquette.

Scheierman also knocked down six 3-pointers while shooting at least 50% from deep for the second game in a row, as the No. 10 Bluejays knocked off their second top-five opponent in less than two weeks after beating No. 1 UConn on Feb. 20. The South Dakota State transfer is third in the Big East in scoring at 18.5 points per game, and is the only player in the conference averaging at least 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

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After playing a key role for a Creighton team that was seconds away from the Final Four last season, Scheierman opted to use his fifth year of eligibility and return to school. Though his numbers are up across the board, Scheierman said in Saturday’s postgame press conference that the biggest reason he feels like he got what he wanted out of this season is because of the memories he’s made.

“I think the biggest blessing of this year is [that] it was just fun,” he said. “The season’s long. It can be a grind, and it is a grind, but with this group and the coaching staff, it’s just been so enjoyable. That’s something that will stick with me for a long time.”

Senior Guard from Aurora, Nebraska
Number 55
Baylor Scheierman#GoJays x @playforhim3 pic.twitter.com/QhQTaiWS1R

— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) March 3, 2024

Scheierman was a two-time first-team All-Summit League selection at South Dakota State and one of the most sought-after transfers in the country when he put his name in the transfer portal after three seasons with the Jackrabbits. He chose to come back closer to home and is now one of the favorites for Big East Player of the Year.

Guiding him throughout his journey has been his faith in God. He was raised in a Christian home and accepted Jesus as his Savior at the age of 7, but he initially viewed his faith more as a box to be checked. That changed when Scheierman’s youth pastor challenged him to take his faith more seriously during a retreat the summer before he entered high school.

“After that moment, I really wanted to go to church and I wanted to go to youth group, but it still wasn’t, like, this relationship-type deal,” he said in a 2020 video for the SDSU Fellowship of Christian Athletes YouTube channel. “It was just a Sunday-Wednesday-type deal. And it was really like that all the way up through high school just because I never really struggled with anything.”

The struggles came when Scheierman — whose handle on X is @playforhim3 — got to South Dakota State and was away from all the things that made him comfortable. Eventually, he realized that his relationship with Jesus was one of the few things that had come with him to college.

“Everything I found my identity in for all of my life wasn’t here with me anymore,” he said in the video. “My family wasn’t here, my friends weren’t here. … I had to try to find something, and I was just sitting in my room one day thinking, you know, what’s still with me? And it was faith.”

As Scheierman enters the final month of his college career, he finds peace knowing his debts were paid for by Jesus dying on the cross.

“God took care of all the big things, so all we have to do is live our life to glorify Him and live according to His call and His purpose, and everything will take care of itself,” he said in the video.

Creighton will visit Villanova in its regular-season finale on Saturday. The Bluejays can secure a top-three seed for the Big East Tournament with a win.

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