Men's Basketball

Polyfro Primer: Creighton at #25 Georgetown

Creighton’s Big East opening road trip continues Saturday in Washington, D.C. when they take on the Georgetown Hoyas. Either Creighton or Georgetown will be 0-2 in the Big East after Saturday’s game, by virtue of both teams dropping their openers on the road on New Years Eve. The Jays lost at Providence 65-53, while the Hoyas lost at Xavier 70-53; it’s worth noting that of the five games in the Big East New Years Eve Marathon, the home team won all five.

It’s the first time since 1994-95 that Creighton will start league play with two straight road games. The upside of that? Creighton will end league play with consecutive home games for the first time since 1998-99. In a league where it will be tough for road teams to pick up wins, that means the knife cuts both ways — the Jays might get off to a tough start, but they’ll have an excellent chance for a good finish.

Creighton shot 19-for-53 from the field in Wednesday’s game at Providence, as their three-point shooting woes continued. Most of their offensive success came from their big men. CU’s four front-line players combined to make 11-of-15 shots from the floor, including Geoffrey Groselle (6-for-9), Toby Hegner (2-for-2), Zach Hanson (2-for-3) and Will Artino (1-for-1). That’s notable because those four players will have to contend with Andre The Giant, er, Josh Smith on Saturday — Georgetown’s 6’10”, 350-pound center. In a conference full of Big big men, Smith is the biggest, and one of the best.

In the Big East’s media conference call earlier this week, Xavier coach Chris Mack noted, “If it’s a one-on-one battle in the post, Josh Smith wins that against virtually any player in the country. He’s too big, he’s too talented and he’s too strong, and his teammates do a great job of looking for him.” That’s saying something, because Xavier is maybe the only team in the league with a player capable of playing Smith straight up. The Musketeers’ 6’10”, 270-pound Matt Stainbrook defended Smith one-on-one on Wednesday, and held him to 10 points and four rebounds, both below his season averages (12.6 points, 6.3 rebounds).

Will the Jays employ a double-team on Smith, as they did on Saint Mary’s 6’10”, 270-pound center Brad Waldow? That strategy held Waldow, who averages 21 points a game, to 11 points but led to open shots for other players, contributing to the Gaels winning on the Jays’ home court. It seems unlikely the Jays will double him, at least not all the time, because Georgetown’s other players are vastly superior to the Gaels’ who torched them. Chief among those players is D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, the Big East preseason Player Of The Year.

Smith-Rivera leads the Hoyas with 15.0 points per game and 3.5 assists a game, though he didn’t have his best game against Xavier. He scored 18 points on 5-9 shooting, but had zero assists and four turnovers. Contrast that with his performance against Indiana last Saturday, where he scored 29 points — including 24 in the second half and overtime — and made five three-pointers, with four assists and no turnovers. That’s the typical Smith-Rivera game; the way he played against Xavier was an aberration.

Newcomer L.J. Peak averages 9.6 points per game, but was almost entirely taken out of the game by Xavier’s zone on Wednesday. He likes to attack the rim from the top of the key, but was unable to do that against a paint that was clogged up. When he got a shot off at all — and he took just five shots — it was a jump shot, and that’s not his game.

How Creighton defends Georgetown is really a secondary concern, though. Their defense hasn’t been great, but it’s been adequate to win in most — if not all — of their losses. Compared to a year ago, they’re forcing more turnovers, coming up with more steals, and holding opponents to a lower overall shooting percentage. If you’re into advanced metrics, they’ve improved their Adjusted Defensive Efficiency by nearly six points; it’s now under the D1 average, instead of over it as they were a year ago. They’re far from a great defensive team, but they’re improved, and despite giving up 35 points to LaDontae Henton on Wednesday, defense is not the reason they’re struggling to win games.

That’s because alhough the defense is improved, it’s not improved nearly enough to overcome an inability to make shots. They’re merely an average team from three-point range — making 34.2% of their threes, slightly above the D1 average of 33.7% — and when you’ve made that the centerpiece of your offense and you’re attempting the 11th most three pointers in the country as a percentage of your overall shots, that’s a problem. And yes, that’s a real stat: 46% of the Bluejays’ shots are three-pointers, and only 10 teams have taken more as a percentage of their overall shot attempts — while 149 teams have a better shooting percentage from out there.

Let It Fly works if you have shooters making shots. When you don’t, it just leads to a whole bunch of missed shots, and a 9-5 record through 14 games.

Quick Notes on the Hoyas:

  • Georgetown has played three games against teams that are ranked in the top-25 this season, including a win over then-No. 18 Florida, 66-65, in overtime. They have a strength of schedule ranked No. 12 in the country, and have also played No. 4 Wisconsin and No. 13 Kansas
  • D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera became the 45th player in program history to pass the 1,000-point mark during the win over Indiana last Saturday. He now has 1,026 career points and ranks 41st all-time for G’Town
  • John Thompson III is 235-108 in his 11th season at Georgetown

Bluejay Bytes:

  • Creighton is 21-119 all-time against teams that are nationally-ranked in the Associated Press poll, including a 1-0 record this season after beating No. 18 Oklahoma on Nov. 19th. However, in the Greg McDermott Era, they’re a significantly better 3-4
  • Isaiah Zierden is the son of Washington Wizards assistant coach Don Zierden, whose team calls the Verizon Center — site of Saturday’s game — home
  • For the season, Creighton’s bench has outscored its counterparts, 394-225. That 28.2 points per game average is CU’s best since the 2007-08 club averaged 36.9 points per game
  • Creighton’s bench outscored the Providence bench, 29-5, on Wednesday. After starting forward Zach Hanson scored CU’s first bucket, the Bluejay reserves had CU’s next 13 points, and also had accounted for 20 of the team’s first 24 points when the Jays took their only lead at 24-22

Possibly Motivational, Probably Hilarious Quote of the Day:

“I’m a hunter, I go every year with my dad. The thing about deer is, they are very good at vision, the thing about me is, I am very good at hiding. In fact, I am better at hiding than they are.. at vision.” -Dwight Schrute (The Office)

The Series:

Creighton is 2-1 all-time against Georgetown after splitting the season series with the Hoyas a year ago. Greg McDermott is 1-2 all-time against Georgetown and coach John Thompson III, losing 54-49 in the 2006 NCAA Tournament while coaching at Northern Iowa.

The Last Time They Played:

Last March 4 in D.C., the Jays fell to the Hoyas 75-63. 30 seconds into the game, Ethan Wragge drilled a three-pointer from the corner. He wouldn’t make another one all night, the Jays wouldn’t score again until after the first media timeout, and it would be the only lead they’d have the entire game. They were bad from behind the arc — Jahenns Manigat went 0-5 and Ethan Wragge 1-6 — and worse inside, as Georgetown blocked eight shots and altered almost every other shot the Jays took at the rim.

The 14-point halftime deficit was their largest of the regular season, and though they used a 1-3-1 zone in the second half to slow down the Hoyas and get back into the game, they never really got untracked offensively and ultimately lost by 12.

Gratuitous Linkage:

Big East Coast Bias broke down Georgetown’s loss to Xavier and pointed out a whole bunch of interesting things from the game. Meanwhile, over at Casual Hoya, our own Creighton Otter answered some questions for them to preview Saturday’s game as part of their “Sleeping with the Enemy” segment.

This Date in Creighton Hoops History:

On January 3, 1990, Creighton toppled Notre Dame 77-75 in overtime at the Civic Auditorium. Thanks to 13 first-half turnovers by the Irish, Creighton built 34-26 halftime lead. They continued to lead for most of the second, and extended the advantage to 56-45 on back-to-back three-point baskets by Darin Plautz. With 1:21 left, LaPhonso Ellis missed a dunk for the Irish, Creighton’s Matt Roggenburk dove to the floor to grab the loose ball, shoveled it up the court to Duan Cole, and Cole zipped a pass to Bob Harstad for a breakaway reverse layup that gave CU a 62-53 lead.

ND finished the game on a 13-4 run to tie the score and force overtime. They capitalized on three Creighton turnovers and two missed free throws by guard Duan Cole (twice, he made the front end of a one-and-one only to miss the bonus), and a three-pointer at the buzzer by Jamere Jackson tied the game at 66.

In the extra period, Creighton scored the first six points thanks to three straight misses by ND, and three straight rebounds by Chad Gallagher. As they’d done at the end of regulation, though, the Irish fought back, and Monty Williams cut the lead to 76-75 on a jumper with 24 seconds left. A wild finish ensued — Jackson missed a shot to win the game, but the rebound rolled out of bounds. Then Harstad’s inbounds pass for CU sailed over Cole’s head out of bounds, giving the ball back to the Irish. Notre Dame drew up a play for Williams, whose shot at the buzzer was off and the Jays won.

Ellis grabbed an astounding 24 rebounds for the Irish in the game, while Gallagher countered for CU with 20 points and 9 rebounds.

Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day:

The Bottom Line:

As much as I hate to say it, Creighton is likely to return to Omaha 0-2 in the Big East after this one.

Georgetown 68, Creighton 56

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