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Men's Basketball

Morning After: #12 Creighton 78, DePaul 66

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[Box Score]

Key Stats: Creighton makes just 7 of 25 three-point attempts, their second-lowest output of the season. DePaul outrebounds Creighton 41-31 overall, and 16-7 on the offensive glass.

Favorite Moment (Off-Court Edition): Creighton fans really got into the “Lumberjack Night” theme honoring senior sharpshooter Ethan Wragge. Everywhere you looked, people were dressed in flannel, suspenders, trapper hats, and sporting real (or fake) beards. The student section got foam axes to wield, and several fans brought oversized cardboard chainsaws. Billy Bluejay wore a flannel shirt with the sleeves cut off, blue jeans, suspenders and gloves. But the highlight was certainly the moment that the cameras caught “Dancing Grandma” sporting a fake beard. It was the loudest roar of the night, without a doubt.

Dancing Grandma even got on on the "Lumberjack Night" fun. (Photo courtesy Greg Ortiz' Twitter, @GregWOWT)

Dancing Grandma even got on on the “Lumberjack Night” fun. (Photo courtesy Greg Ortiz’ Twitter, @GregWOWT)

Favorite Moment (On-Court Edition): About midway through the first half, DePaul came out of a timeout in a 2-3 zone, and Creighton took advantage by running a designed alley-oop for Doug McDermott. Check another feat off the list. (Is there anything left that he hasn’t done? Serious question.)

Quick Recap: In the primer before the game, I didn’t think there was any way DePaul could hang with Creighton — the Jays beat them fairly handily in Chicago despite losing Grant Gibbs to injury in the first half, and Doug McDermott being limited due to injuring his shoulder. McDermott is back to full strength, Gibbs was set to return (albeit in a limited role), and DePaul’s best player, Cleveland Melvin, was suspended. Vegas agreed, making the Blue Demons 20 point underdogs. This was supposed to be a blowout.

And yet DePaul not only hung around, they almost pulled off the upset. They kept the deficit under ten points most of the night, helped by a great job of crashing the offensive glass to give themselves second-chance buckets. The way the Jays were dominated on the glass was reminiscent of the loss at Providence; in fact, if you looked just at the key stats — poor three-point shooting, double-digit deficit on the boards — you’d wonder how in the world Creighton was winning.

Gibbs did indeed return, playing 21 minutes, with seven points, eight assists, five rebounds and a steal. He looked timid his first few minutes on the floor, constantly adjusting his knee brace during stoppages, and during one sequence opting not to dive on the floor for a loose ball. But as the game wore on and he played more minutes than planned due to foul trouble and Devin Brooks having the flu, he got back into the flow and played a spectacular game.

DePaul’s rebounding kept them in the game, and after a run halfway through the second half, they cut the lead to just 59-58 with seven minutes to play. There was palpable uneasiness in the arena, as visions of last Tuesday night’s blown lead late in the game against St. John’s — and of potentially losing at home to the last place team in the league (ugh) — crept into people’s minds.

Nonsense, said Doug McDermott. He immediately took the ball to the rim on the next possession, drew a foul, and made both free throws to give the Jays some cushion. They got a defensive stop, and then Wragge chopped down a t(h)ree to make it 64-58. DePaul answered with a layup by Billy Garrett, but that would be their last stand. McDermott rattled off a personal 9-0 run to ice the game, going 7-8 at the free throw line and 1-1 from the field over a three-minute stretch.

Early on, DePaul had tried to double-team McDermott, but after he burned them by passing out of the double teams to open teammates, the Blue Demons switched to covering him one-on-one and trying to stop everyone else — the same strategy St. John’s had employed last Tuesday. It ended in much the same way, with McDermott going for 30+ and his team winning the game.

That probably gives the rest of the Big East heartburn. Take away Ethan Wragge’s threes, and Doug McDermott will torch you for 30 or 40 points. Double-team McDermott, and Wragge will bury long threes on you all night long. With Creighton playing them on the same side of the court, they’re forcing opponents to make that choice. It’s more “pick your poison” than a choice, honestly.

Quotables:

“Doug keeps getting 30 plus. They have a choice to make. The last two teams took Ethan away and Doug scored 39 and 32. We put them on the same side of the floor and wish them (opponents) good luck.” -Greg McDermott in postgame press conference

“Doug gets a little antsy on 3-point shots if he doesn’t make a couple in a row. He turned down a couple that I would have preferred he would have shot, but his movement was so good. He had a couple of multiple curls to the basket on the same possessions. That kind of activity when you’re getting knocked around takes a lot out of you. He played a lot of minutes, and he stepped up and made big free throws and big plays when we needed him the most.” -Greg McDermott in postgame press conference

“It was really rejuvenating to get back out there with my teammates. I have a little work to do to get back to 100 percent but for the most part, it felt good. I just need to get my legs and my wind back. Four years of chemistry with Doug didn’t affect four weeks of being out.” -Grant Gibbs in postgame press conference

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