Key Stats: Creighton outrebounds the Hoyas 39-31, including 10-9 on the offensive glass. The Bluejays hold Georgetown to 39.3% shooting from the floor.
Favorite Moment: Will Artino has embraced his role coming off the bench, providing key minutes as the primary backup at the “5” and being a sparkplug when the team’s energy level drops. On Saturday, he was nothing short of the catalyst — throwing down a dunk to spark the deciding run of the game, altering shots on defense, converting pick-and-rolls with Devin Brooks. His sweetest move, though, and my favorite moment of the night, was his turnaround left-handed hook shot late in the game. It was completely unexpected, because Artino hasn’t shown anything close to that kind of post move in the past, and it was the perfect punctuation mark on his big night.
Quick Recap: Georgetown came out in a zone Saturday night, and for the first ten minutes of the game, it appeared to fluster Creighton. The Jays scored only seven points on their first 18 possessions, one of their worst offensive stretches in conference play. Thankfully, their defense was stout — on the perimeter, D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera and Markel Starks were smothered (a combined 1-3 from three-point range in the first half), and when they drove the lane, they weren’t greeted any kinder, with CU getting solid post defense from Ethan Wragge and Will Artino (holding the Hoyas to just eight points in the paint during the first half).
All the missed shots meant a ton of rebounds, and CU also excelled there, corralling a 20-18 edge on the glass in the first half. While their own shots weren’t falling, it was likely only a matter of time before they did — but if they didn’t, and this was destined to be a grind-it-out slugfest type of night, their defense was playing so well that they stood a good chance of winning at that style. Contrary to popular belief, Creighton can do more than make a ton of three-pointers.
It was 8-7 Georgetown after ten minutes of “action”. No doubt, it was the type of game Georgetown wanted, as they entered the night scoring a Big East-worst 65 points a game but holding opponents to 39.3% shooting — the lower the score, the better the chance of victory for the Hoyas, and through ten minutes this was about the lowest score imaginable.
A minute later, the teams traded threes, with the first salvo dropped by Georgetown’s Reggie Cameron, answered with the first #WRAGGEBOMB of the evening. A dunk by Mikael Hopkins just before the under-8 media timeout increased the Hoya lead to 13-10, temporarily silencing the huge crowd. Temporarily.
Coming out of the timeout, CU got another #WRAGGEBOMB to tie it, followed by D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera making a tough jump shot to give Georgetown the lead again at 15-13. That would be the Hoyas final lead of the night, as the Jays immediately ran off an 11-0 run to seize control of the game. First, they got a tip-in of his own missed shot by Austin Chatman to tie it, followed by Doug McDermott making one-of-two free throws the next trip down the floor to give them the lead. Ethan Wragge was then hammered on a three-point attempt, and calmly sank all three free-throws to make it 19-15. Another #WRAGGEBOMB the next trip down the floor made it 22-15, and the nearly 19,000 fans in attendance were officially in a frenzy. Will Artino converted a layup to run the lead out to 24-15, and it looked like the Jays were off and running.
Georgetown had other ideas. Down ten at the half, they cut the deficit to six at 42-36 with 14:43 to play. Wragge was on the bench with three fouls, McDermott was struggling to score, and suddenly, the Hoyas were back in the game.
That’s when Will Artino, “Big Swag”, decided he’d seen enough. He sparked the 16-6 run that ultimately decided the game with a ferocious putback dunk to make it 44-36 — it re-ignited the crowd, re-energized his teammates and stalled the momentum G’Town had to start the half. On CU’s next possession, he made a layup to run the lead back out to ten, and added another layup later in the run for good measure. Georgetown wouldn’t get any closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Artino punctuated the win with back-to-back shots at the four minute mark, the first one a left-handed hook shot with a defender draped all over him, and the second a breakaway dunk. He would up with 14 points for the night, tied for the team-high. It had to be a demoralizing thought for John Thompson III that his team succeeded at stopping Doug McDermott (5-15, just 14 points) and Ethan Wragge (just three 3-pointers and 12 points) — yet still lost by 13 points. Big Swag made sure of that.
Quotables:
(On whether it’s tough to stay grounded with all the national attention following the Villanova win) “Nah, I love it, I love it. I know how far I’ve come to get where I’m at now, so I really appreciate everything everybody’s saying. It makes me work harder. I know how hard I’ve worked to get here, so I really appreciate all the love, all the things everybody’s saying about Creighton because I truly know this is the right place for me. The crowd tonight was unbelievable. I’m so glad to be a part of this. The fanbase is crazy. It’s crazy out here. It’s ridiculous.” -Devin Brooks on 1620AM Postgame
“I realized Devin and I had great chemistry on the pick-and-roll in the second week of open gym. After a few games together, we had one where there was a stretch that he scored, I scored, he scored, I scored, and that was the game. I said to him, ‘We’re pretty good together.’ When we’re in a game together, we basically just run down the floor and run a ball screen, and he either gets a good look or I do. It’s a good play and it works pretty well.” -Will Artino on 1620AM Postgame
(On his new spin move) “I’ve been working on a lot of stuff with Coach Sellers. That’s one of them, and there’s a few more things he still wants me to work to incorporate into my game. I’m still not totally used to playing the post even though I’ve been doing it here, I’m more used to outside pick and rolls and stuff. So when I’m given a chance to do some stuff in the post, it’s nice to be able to show that my hard work is paying off.” -Will Artino on 1620AM Postgame
“I felt like all of our bigs did a good job of altering shots. A lot of their baskets were tough baskets. They’re going to finish some, you can’t stop everything, but we forced them to take what we gave them, which was contested shots.” -Will Artino on 1620AM Postgame
“This is one of those games that’s so hyped up and well-publicized that to be able to get a win is a relief. It’s a good thing. No one wants to lose the Pink Out Game, you don’t want to be known as the team that did that. There was close to 19,000 fans in here, and then Ethan got in foul trouble, he wasn’t shooting as well as he could, he couldn’t get any looks, Doug wasn’t feeling the best…so it was big to have the other guys that don’t score as much step up and show that we can be a balanced team when we need to be. We play to our strengths, and our strength is Doug and Ethan shooting. None of us are selfish, and on nights like this, it’s great to see others, myself included, be able to step up.” -Will Artino on 1620AM Postgame
“76 is a lot of points when you only score 7 on your first 18 possessions. I didn’t feel like our ball movement was quite where it needed to be. I thought we settled, and I told the guys in the first couple of timeouts, those aren’t the shots we took at Villanova. We weren’t making the extra pass. Fortunately our defense was up to par, and they only scored 7 points the first 16 possessions. We were right there because we defended. And then we finally went on a run, we scored on 13 of 14 possessions, and during that run Doug made one free throw — that’s it. The contributions came from other places. You’re not going to win and have it look pretty against Georgetown. If you’re going to win, you’re going to have to fight for it. I thought our guys did that tonight.” -Coach Greg McDermott on 1620AM Postgame
“I’ve said if before, when you’re a 40% three-point shooting team, that doesn’t mean you go 4-10 every night. You may go 8-20, and that’s 40%, but then the next night you’re 3-20 and then all of a sudden you’re 14-20. It all evens out to 40% in the end. The reality of it is, it’s hard to get open shots against a team like Georgetown. I thought we took our time, and as the game went on we moved it better. We got great contributions from other guys. Isaiah came off the bench and did a great job. Devin filled up the stat sheet today. Avery was outstanding in the second half defensively, with some of the plays that he made. Will Artino was great, because when Ethan’s in foul trouble, and Doug’s still not totally healthy — he still doesn’t have the pop and energy that he had, and we’ve got to find a way to get him back to that — that’s why you need five guys. If you’re going to devote energy to taking Doug and Ethan away, other guys have to step up and make them pay, and tonight they did.” -Coach Greg McDermott on 1620AM Postgame
“We thought about how to defend them during the game, and my staff threw out the zone idea a few times. I said to them, I felt like they’re making tough two’s. That’s what we’re trying to do here. If they’re going to make a challenged two-point shot from 15 feet or from 17 feet, we gotta live with that because you can’t take away everything. As much help as we were providing with the big guys in the lane to take away their back cuts, if I’m not mistaken we went the whole night without giving up a backdoor. So if you’re going to play against the Princeton offense, and you can go the whole night doing that, you’ve done your job. I was proud of the way our guys were locked in on defense.” -Coach Greg McDermott on 1620AM Postgame
“It’s not realistic to pick up where we left off in Philadelphia. But I felt like our guys maybe thought they could — the one shot Ethan took was challenged from 30-some feet out. I said to him, ‘Come on, Ethan, you know better than that.’ He knew it. But I didn’t really notice a difference in their preparation for the game. This team had the maturity to get over the Providence loss, and they have the maturity to get over something good happening, as well.” -Coach Greg McDermott on 1620AM Postgame
“It was incredible to come out here and have the place in pink like this. It was really cool to see. Everybody knows how near and dear to my heart this event is, because we’ve lived it and we’ve done it. We know there’s a lot of people in the stands that have battled it, or know someone that is, and it’s impacted their life. I told the guys before the game, you’re playing for something bigger tonight. When you wear the pink, it’s cool, but understand the meaning that has to people. We say ‘breast cancer awareness’ but it’s all cancer. We’re trying to bring attention to the need for screenings so that if there is cancer, it’s caught early so you have a chance to cure it. The rates of cancer being cured when it’s caught early are off the charts compared to if it gets to Stage 2 or Stage 3. That’s what we want the message to be.
I’m floored by the way this community and our fanbase has come on board with this event. It’s almost become a ‘Can’t-Miss’ deal. Yesterday, I asked my secretary, Patty Galas, for tickets and she said ‘We’ve got five left, so if you need them, you better get them in now.’ In my four years, that’s never happened. I couldn’t get tickets to some people I wanted to get tickets to today because everybody wanted to be part of this event. Tonight was so cool. I’ve done this a few times at Iowa State but it’s never gotten to the level that we’ve gotten it to here. Last year was cool and you would think after you do it two or three times that the impact wouldn’t be the same. But when I came out, and the lights are flashing and I saw all the pink, it was almost overwhelming.” -Coach Greg McDermott on 1620AM Postgame
And Now, Here’s What You Had to Say:
Not a bad week for the guy. RT @_robanderson: Ethan and his new ball. #Creighton #1000 pic.twitter.com/OprkucfFRA
— CollegeHoops Journal (@CHJournal) January 26, 2014
Gus Johnson calls Doug McDermott “Dougy Fresh” on television holy bejesus that’s amazing #creighton
— Joseph Sudberg (@joesudberg) January 26, 2014
Students have a “we want bama” sign. Been there, done that. Right @62JJonesy? #legend
— Jacob Padilla (@JacobPadilla_) January 26, 2014
@1620theJays @gocreighton how will Wragge know where to shoot from tonight without the NBA line? #Wraggebomb #GoJays
— Lisa Van Stratten (@LVSNE) January 26, 2014
Creighton pink-out game was incredible to play in. That place is wild.
— Will Egolf (@willFREEMAN21) January 26, 2014
Bomb Power Rankings: 1) #wraggebomb 2) Power Bomb 3) Jaegerbomb … 7425) Gigli
— Frank O’Brien (@fobbywobby) January 26, 2014
@TylerA_Anderson Hopefully the second half performances are similar.
— Matthew DeMarinis (@mjdemarinis) January 26, 2014
Doug McDermott & Ethan Wragge have combined to score 4 points in the first 15:11 of the 2nd half. Creighton has outscored Georgetown by 7.
— Matthew DeMarinis (@mjdemarinis) January 26, 2014
.@DoubleGfor3 Is getting his coach on during this TO, drawing something up on his dry erase board.
— Jacob Padilla (@JacobPadilla_) January 26, 2014
If you’d told me that McDermott would score 14 & Wragge 12, I’d have liked Georgetown’s chances. Credit Creighton – more than a 1 man team.
— HolyLandofHoops (@HolyLandofHoops) January 26, 2014
Creighton just beat Georgetown, at home, in a Big East conference game. Unreal.
— Matt Hoppe (@mhoppe02) January 26, 2014
Thanks to all that helped us fight against cancer tonight. It was a special night for many of us.
— Will Artino (@WillArtino31) January 26, 2014
Creighton had a record 18,859 fans for Georgetown game. Lots of power schools would love that. Great home court, fans. Hidden gem for years.
— Andy Katz (@ESPNAndyKatz) January 26, 2014
Ref has a bad angle RT @Hawkeye626: @GottliebShow good no call. Tough year for refs. pic.twitter.com/FzLWf0U41a
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) January 26, 2014
Pink out was off the charts tonight..this place is special!
— Doug McDermott (@dougmcd3) January 26, 2014
Thx so much to our fans for making the annual Pinkout a night to remember. The atmosphere in the C’Link was awesome! #IHATECANCER
— Coach McDermott (@cucoachmac) January 26, 2014
