No. 22 Creighton never trailed in its season-opening 89-82 win over Missouri-Kansas City on Friday at CenturyLink Center Omaha, but the Bluejays still have work to do if they're going to hang with No. 9 Wisconsin next week.

Senior guard Maurice Watson Jr. scored 17 points and handed out nine assists, and junior guard Marcus Foster, a transfer from Kansas State, added 19 points to pace a balanced Creighton attack against UMKC.

The Bluejays opened the game with a 15-2 run and led by 17 midway through the first half en route to their 22nd consecutive home-opening win.

Foster hit a 3-pointer off an assist from Watson to put Creighton up 81-58 with eight minutes to play in the second half. But then things changed.

In the final 13 minutes, the Kangaroos upped the pressure on defense, forced nine Creighton turnovers and outscored the Bluejays 34-13.

UMKC put together a 16-3 run, capped by a Martez Harrison 3-pointer that cut the deficit to 85-74 with 2:49 to play. UMKC would get as close as seven, but couldn't complete the comeback.

"We went small to create move havoc and turnovers," UMKC coach Kareem Richardson said. "I've got to give those guys credit. We made it interesting for sure."

Creighton turned the ball over 17 times in the game, something that will need to be cleaned up before Wisconsin comes to town Tuesday.

"We'll need a great effort (against Wisconsin)," Creighton coach Greg McDermott told reporters after Friday's win. "We're playing a heck of a basketball team."

Creighton, one of three ranked Big East teams, was picked to finish third in the conference by the coaches, behind No. 4 Villanova and No. 7 Xavier. The Bluejays looked very much like that have the ability to contend in the Big East, but can't be happy about how they finished against an undersized and overmatched UMKC squad. .

"It's early in the year. We'll learn from it," McDermott said. "We're going to take some of the good things that we did and we're going to build on those. And then we're going to work to correct some of the mistakes."

Five Bluejays finished in double figures against UMKC, including sophomore guard Khyri Thomas, who had 16 points. Freshman center Justin Patton had 12 points and eight rebounds, and senior guard Zach Hanson came off the bench to add 11 points.

"I thought (Patton) was active on both ends of the floor early," McDermott said. "Like most young freshman, learning to play through fatigue is the next step. That's going to determine how extended of the minutes he can play. Right now, three or four (minutes) at a time and he needs a break. He's come light years from a year ago in that regard."

Harrison finished with 17 points and five steals, and senior center Darnell Tillman had 10 points and seven rebounds for UMKC.

Watson, all all-conference performer, had seven of the Bluejays' turnovers and said his miscues prevented Creighton from putting the game away.

"I feel good, because it's a win and kind of breaks the ice on the season," Watson told reporters. "But this brings back some feelings from last year of us losing some leads ... Marquette at home, Georgetown on the road. I'm not really into myself this year, except for my turnovers. Having seven (turnovers) regardless of how many minutes I played or what the scenario is, that's unacceptable. Right now, that's just what my mood is."

Now, the Bluejays can turn their attention to Tuesday's showdown with the Badgers.

"If we're the team that scored 76 points in about 28 minutes, then we'll be fine," McDermott said. "If we're the team that scored 13 in the last 12 minutes, then we're in trouble."

NOTES: Creighton returns four starters and 11 lettermen from last year's squad, which finished sixth in the Big East. ... Creighton senior G Maurice Watson Jr. led the Bluejays in scoring and assists last season. ... Missouri-Kansas City was picked to finish fifth in the WAC by league coaches. ... Creighton improved to 9-3 all-time against UMKC.