Following a headline-grabbing win at Villanova, the Bluejays came back to Omaha stars of the college basketball world. Greg McDermott’s team held serve at home, too. After splitting a road trip out east against Providence and the Wildcats, the Jays won three in a row in front of sold-out crowds at the CenturyLink Center. The three-game win streak bookended a nine-day break from competition, a reprieve from play that allowed the Jays time to heal ahead of a brutal closing stretch of the Big East schedule.
Five of Creighton’s final eight regular season games are on the road, and the Bluejays dropped the first in that important backstretch. After blowing an 18-point lead but surviving a St. John’s upset bid thanks to Superman-type heroics from Doug McDermott, the Jays couldn’t keep the Red Storm at bay in Madison Square Garden Sunday night.
Grant Gibbs, playing in just his second game back from injury, said in a postgame radio interview that the team’s waning attention to detail cost Creighton a win in New York City. He mentioned the team’s lack of defensive intensity in the first half against St. John’s, during which Steve Lavin’s team hit nearly half of its shot attempts. But while the Bluejays improved defensive effort for stretches of the second half, their turnover issues reappeared — the Jays committed 9 of their 11 turnovers in the second half.
Still, the Jays had plenty of chances to pull away and leave the Big Apple with a close win. But missed free throws, another attention-to-detail facet of the game, ultimately put the Creighton offense in a tough position. Coupled with the inability to get McDermott a shot attempt during the last 8:41 of the game, the Bluejays struggled to score in the ways they’re used to.
The potent Bluejays offense has been in a bit of a rut since CU bludgeoned Villanova in Philadelphia a few weeks ago. Sure, everyone knew that Creighton likely wouldn’t recreate arguably the most impressive shooting performance in recent college basketball history. But after making 21 of 35 three-point attempts against the Wildcats (60%) and connecting on 57% of their field goals against Nova, the Jays have gone relatively ice cold.
In three wins and a loss, CU has shot just 31% from long range (26-84). The Jays failed to crack a 50% field goal shooting percentage in all four games, too. And in the loss to St. John’s, the Jays hit only 41% of their shots — the lowest shooting percentage since making just 34% of their attempts against George Washington in Anaheim on December 1.
Doug McDermott keeps getting buckets, but some of his teammates are suffering from a cold spell. Maybe it’s a Villanova hangover or something. But some of the stars of that epic win against the Wildcats struggled during stretches of Creighton’s next four games.
Ethan Wragge hit 9 three-pointers against Villanova. In four games since, he’s made 8 long-range shots total. He’s shooting a solid 44% during the stretch; respectable for an outside gunner but below his personal shooting percentage from three.
Jahenns Manigat scored 10 points against Georgetown after going for a season-high 19 points at Villanova. But in the last three CU games, Manigat has scored 10 points total and is 2-10 from three-point range. He’s still playing well defensively and protecting the ball, but his inability to knock down open jumpers as the third option for Creighton’s perimeter offensive has put more pressure on McDermott and lead guard Austin Chatman in the past few games.
Chatman’s averaged 9.2 points per game during Creighton’s last four contests, including double-digit scoring efforts against DePaul and at St. John’s. Unfortunately, Chatman wasn’t able to take advantage of some open three-point looks Sunday night, connecting on just 1 of 5 shots from long range in a 5-point loss to the Red Storm.
Still, this seems like picking a nit. The fact remains that despite playing far worse than they’re capable, Creighton nearly pulled out a road win against a surging St. John’s team. And even though the Jays aren’t shooting at the same torrid clip they’re capable of, they’re 4-1 in their past five games and are just one game out of first place in one of the nation’s strongest conferences. Plus, there have been some personnel issues the past few weeks — missing Gibbs on the court and then integrating him back into the rotation, missing Devin Brooks against DePaul due to sickness and then watching him struggle at St. John’s — that have left the Jays at less than full strength.
The schedule hardly gets easier at any point, though. The Jays hit the road for a trap-type game at Butler this week, then have a quick turnaround for a Sunday afternoon home game against Villanova. You can bet Jay Wright’s squad, at 21-2 entering the week, will be dead set on preventing a regular season sweep at the hands of the Bluejays.
Much was made during CU’s 9-day layoff about the February swoons of seasons past during Creighton’s time in the Valley. The Jays can ill afford to experience another multiple-game losing streak, since a regular season championship in their inaugural Big East season is still in the cards. Championship teams don’t tend to experience too many losing streaks; here’s hoping this season’s Creighton squad avoids such a spell.
