[dropcap]Creighton[/dropcap] gets a chance to reboot their season tonight at Madison Square Garden, as they start the Big East Tournament. Four wins in four days and suddenly a disappointing 13-18 season would end with an NCAA Tournament bid. It’s highly, highly improbable — just south of impossible — but that’s the beauty of March. Anything is possible.
They’re the favorites in Vegas to win their first game anyway, thanks to DePaul entering the tourney losers of 10 of their last 11 games. As part of that stretch, the Bluejays won rather comfortably, relative to pretty much every other Creighton conference game this year, last month in Chicago 75-62. If they get past DePaul, their side of the bracket does NOT contain Villanova, which is good. It does contain one of the worst matchups in the league — Georgetown. Other than Providence, no Big East team is a tougher matchup for the Jays, and the Jays lost two games by a combined 42 points to the Hoyas this year. Not to mention the quick turnaround, as that quarterfinal game starts about 20 hours after the end of the first round game. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. First things first: the DePaul Blue Demons.
Losers of seven straight games and ten of their last eleven, DePaul’s defense has allowed opponents to shoot 48% or better in seven of those contests. In the two games since the last meeting between these two schools, the Blue Demons have lost to Butler 67-53, blowing a three-point second half lead by allowing Butler to go on a 24-2 run, and lost to Marquette 58-48 in an uninspiring performance. Those were their two lowest offensive outputs of conference play, and when a team that plays poor defense also suddenly can’t score, it’s a recipe for a bad time. Early in the season, they were equally porous defensively, but scored enough to make up for it, at least some of the time. Now, not so much. How bad is it?
The Blue Demons score 69.6 points per game but allow 73.4 per contest, and nine of their 12 losses in the league were by 10 or more points. They’re the anti-Creighton — rather than losing late in the game time after time, DePaul gets soundly beaten time after time. At least they don’t have the nagging sense of “what if” that Creighton does; DePaul is legitimately bad and has no real argument to the contrary.
Four men average in double-figures, a group led by reigning Big East Freshman of the Year Billy Garrett Jr. (12.4 ppg., 3.8 apg.). He scored in double-figured in 10 of the first 15 Big East games this year, including 20 against St. John’s, but failed to break double-digits in each of the last four games. That downtrend has coincided with him not getting to the free throw line as much as he did prior to that; 40.9% of his points come from the free-throw line but he’s attempted only eight total free throws over the last four games, including two games where he didn’t get there at all — vs Creighton and at Marquette.
Second in scoring is Myke Henry, the 6’6″, 230-pound Illinois transfer who’s averaging 12.1 points per game in his first year for the Blue Demons. He’s cooled off significantly in conference play; he averaged 14.4 points in 13 non-conference games including 29 against Stanford, 24 against Lehigh, and 22 against George Washington, and is averaging just 10.3 in Big East games with his highest scoring output being 19 vs St. John’s. In two games against Creighton this year, he’s scored 16 total points on 6-14 shooting.
Jamee Crockett, a 6’4″, 205-pound senior, is third on the team in scoring at 11.8 points per game. He’s the only four-year senior on the roster, and is one of three players to start every game this season. Crockett has scored in double-figures in 21 games this year, and has been one of the few bright spots down the stretch for DePaul — he’s averaging 15.3 points while shooting 49.5% (49-99) over the last eight games. Against Creighton this year, he’s scored 22 points in the two games, going 8-20 from the field with 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.
Their fourth player averaging in double figures is Tommy Hamilton IV, a 6’11”, 255-pound sophomore center who’s split time coming off the bench and starting in the middle. Hamilton IV averages 10.0 points a game this year, but has seen his average dip to 7.5 points in conference games with just four games in double figures.
When Hamilton doesn’t start (and why would he against Creighton, given what his backup has done to the Jays?), Forrest Robinson, a 6’10”, 230-pound senior generally gets the nod. Robinson averages 6.4 points a game for the season, but torched the Bluejays with five three-pointers in the first five minutes of the game in Omaha last month, and followed it up with 14 points on 6-7 shooting and 2-3 from three-point range in the rematch in Chicago. Robinson is a really tough matchup for Creighton’s big men, because he stretches the floor and forces them to guard him both on the perimeter and in the paint, which strains their defense. He averages 3.1 rebounds against the rest of the Big East, and 7.0 rebounds against Creighton. He averages 6.1 points against the rest of the league, and 17.0 against the Jays. As the Jays have devoted energy to stopping the Blue Demons other weapons, Robinson has taken full advantage. The third time around, it will be interesting to see what Greg McDermott has in store — will they focus more on Robinson at the risk of letting Garrett, Jr., Crockett, or Henry go off? Or will they continue focusing on those three, and figure Robinson can’t beat them alone?
Given their “quality” of play the last month, and the last week in particular, the Blue Demons appear from the outside to be a team whose season is circling the drain. Creighton, on the other hand, is playing their best basketball of the year, and is a couple of possessions away from owning wins over a pair of NCAA Tournament teams in the past week. You never know in March, and nothing’s a given with this Creighton team, but man, this sure looks like it ought to be a win, doesn’t it?
Quick Notes on the Blue Demons:
- This is DePaul’s eighth appearance at Madison Square Garden for the Big East Tournament; they’re 2-7 all-time in Big East postseason play with a second-round appearance in 2009 and a quarterfinal appearance in 2014.
- DePaul holds a 10-20 all-time record in conference tourney action with two appearances in conference tournament championship games in 2000 and 2004. The Blue Demons dropped a 56-49 decision to Saint Louis in the 2000 Conference USA title game, and a 55-50 defeat against Cincinnati in the 2004 Conference USA finals. In addition to those championship game appearances, the Blue Demons also reached the semifinals in the 1992 and 1993 Great Midwest Tournaments.
- DePaul’s 241 three-pointers this season are a new single-season team record. The 2007-08 team previously held the top mark with 231 three’s. The Blue Demons enter the Creighton game averaging 7.8 three’s per game this season.
Bluejay Bytes:
- The 10th seed has won its first game of the Big East Tournament in four of the previous six years, and five of the previous nine campaigns. Last year the 10th seed was DePaul, who upended seventh-seeded Georgetown in the first round. This will be Creighton’s 34th all-time conference tournament appearance, but first in a “first round” game that would advance to the team to the quarterfinals, and first trip as a 10 seed.
- Creighton has won its last 11 conference tournament games decided by four points or less.
- Creighton is 8-2 in its last 10 conference tournament games when playing an opponent with a better seed than the Bluejays.
- Senior guard Austin Chatman enters the Big East Tournament with 991 career points. He stands nine points shy of becoming the 39th member in program history to reach 1,000 career points.
The Series:
DePaul owns a 16-11 lead in the series, but the Bluejays have won six of the last seven meetings. Creighton is 4-1 in the series since joining the Big East, and 1-0 against the Blue Demons in the Big East Tournament. That 84-62 Bluejay victory in last year’s quarterfinals was highlighted by 27 first half points from Doug McDermott.
Greg McDermott is 4-1 against DePaul, and coach Oliver Purnell. Purnell is 1-4 when facing Creighton.
The Last Time They Played:
On February 24 in Chicago, Creighton jumped out to 22-7 lead to start the game, then held on after DePaul fought back to tie the score at 40. The Bluejays never surrendered the lead, with seniors Austin Chatman and Will Artino both scoring twice during a late 9-0 run to return the lead to double-figures. James Milliken scored 18 points to lead the Jays, while Forrest Robinson led DePaul with 14 points.
Gratuitous Linkage:
Will Oliver Purnell be back next year? He’s in year five of a seven-year contract that pays him almost $2M a year, and he’s gone 54-104 in those five seasons — including 15-65 in the Big East. The Chicago Tribune writes,
“DePaul’s 12 victories this season are tied for the most since he took over in 2010. The Demons’ seventh-place finish in the Big East marks the first time since 2007-08 they didn’t finish last in the conference. DePaul’s six victories in the Big East doubled Purnell’s previous high of three. Will that be enough to save his job?”
This Date in Creighton Hoops History:
On March 11, 1999, Creighton made its’ ninth NCAA Tournament appearance, first since 1991, and the first of Dana Altman’s tenure. Their opponent? The Louisville Cardinals. Creighton used a 22-7 second-half run to take the lead and then made all 10 of their free throws down the stretch to ice the 62-58 win. Here’s our Bluejay Rewind segment on that game.
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day:
In honor of Creighton’s 1980s hip hop photo shoot in NYC for Fox Sports 1 yesterday…
The Bottom Line:
Vegas says Creighton wins by four. I say they win by eight.
Bluejays 74, Blue Demons 66
