[dropcap]Creighton’s[/dropcap] defense has shown marked improvement since being torched by Villanova on January 2. In the three games since, Bluejay opponents have shot just 39.8 percent (66-166) overall and 31.7 percent (19-60) from three-point range, averaging 61.0 points per game. Their defense now ranks 70th nationally in “adjusted defensive efficiency” per KenPom.com, the highest it’s been this late in the season during the Greg McDermott Era.
And though their offense struggled mightily against Providence, the Jays were not pushed around by the Friars as they’d been in the two years prior. Even with their two primary big men in foul trouble most of the night, they out-rebounded Providence 17-10 on the offensive glass and 46-43 overall.
That offensive clunker was the type of game the Jays have occasionally had in recent years, but unlike almost all the others, it wasn’t a blowout loss because their defense and rebounding didn’t let it get away from them. If you believe the offensive performance was a statistical outlier, and not indicative of a new norm, there are certainly things to be very encouraged about in that game.
Still, it stings because the Jays are looking like a team on the fringe of the NCAA Tournament bubble — right now they’re probably in a group of 15-20 teams on the wrong side of the bracket, and as such letting a marquee win to differentiate themselves get away is costly. Doubling down on that loss by losing to a team they should beat would be even worse, and that’s where they find themselves on Sunday.
The DePaul Blue Demons have lost eight of their last nine games, including all five in Big East play so far, and have lost by an average of 10.4 points in conference play. Though they’ve shown signs of life under first year head coach Dave Leitao, they’ve also shown a lot of the same problems that plagued them in recent years under Oliver Purnell. Chief among them: they turn it over at a higher rate than any other team in the league. In their six wins, they’ve averaged 12.7 turnovers a game, or one more than Creighton’s average in all games; in their 11 losses, they’ve averaged a whopping 15.6 turnovers a game, including 20 against Stanford, 19 against Seton Hall and 17 against Butler. Yikes.
Those kind of mental mistakes were the bane of Purnell’s squads, and it’s continued this year. They’ve got talented players, but shoot themselves in the foot far too often to be successful in a league like the Big East.
The Blue Demons don’t have a starter shorter than 6’6″, making them a difficult team in theory for a team like the Jays to guard, and are led by Billy Garrett, Jr. The junior guard averages a team-best 14.1 points and 3.8 assists a game, has reached double-figures in points in 13 of their 17 games, and had three-straight 20-point games against George Washington, Georgetown and Seton Hall. As in his first two years, Garrett gets to the line a lot and makes the shots when he gets there — 82 of his 240 points have come at the line, and he shoots 83.7% from the stripe. The Jays have done a good job of holding him in check in six career meetings, however, as Garrett has only scored in double figures once.
Senior forward Myke Henry is their second-leading scorer at 13.8 points a game, and also averages 6.1 rebounds a game. He’s had one double-double and four games where he scored in double-figures with nine rebounds so far this year, including a massive 22-point, 10-rebound effort against #18 Butler last week where he played all 40 minutes. He is turnover prone, and gives it away an average of twice per game. Henry had two nice games against the Bluejays last year, with 11 points and 5 boards in Omaha, and 10 points and 9 boards in the Big East Tourney. He struggled against them in Chicago, though, logging five points and one board while fouling out in only 16 minutes.
Tommy Hamilton IV is their third-leading scorer, pouring in an average of 8.9 points a game and grabbing a team-high 6.8 rebounds. Despite his 6’11” frame, he’s a deft shooter from outside, and in games where he makes multiple three-pointers, the Blue Demons are 3-0. In games where he makes zero three-pointers, they’re 0-8. He’s had several huge games thus far, including 19 points and 9 rebounds against Butler, 9 points and 7 boards against Georgetown, and 10 points with 7 boards against Northwestern. The Jays have historically done a nice job defending Hamilton, allowing him to score more than 9 points just three times in six games and allowing him to make more than one 3-pointer only twice.
Freshman Eli Cain has been a nice addition, averaging 7.8 points and 3.2 boards in his first season. The 6’6″, 201-pound Cain has started the last 15 games, and had some big games in the non-conference — 20 points on 8-11 shooting against Chicago State and 16 points against #20 George Washington, among six games in double figures — but has struggled mightily in Big East play. He’s shot just 9-36 from the field in conference games, including just 4-13 from three-point range and 5-13 from the line.
Rashaun Stimage, a 6’9″ senior, leads the team (and ranked eighth in the league) with 22 blocks and averages 5.5 points and 3.9 rebounds a game. He’s only scored in double-figures twice, and is a turnover machine — he has one assist and 16 turnovers. Stimage did have a nice game against the Jays in Chicago a year ago, scoring 10 points with four boards and three blocks, but he was all but invisible in the other two — he had zero points in only five minutes of action in Omaha, and two points with one rebound in the Big East Tourney matchup.
Though they’ve got some nice players, the Blue Demons are 0-5 in the league for a reason and are a team the Bluejays should beat. Should they pick up the win, they’ll end the first-third of the conference schedule 4-2 with three road wins. I know the Providence loss hurts, but on New Years Eve almost everyone would have been thrilled with a 4-2 record in the first six games. That’s eminently possible, and given the improvement on defense, this is a Creighton program moving in the right direction.
Quick Notes on the Blue Demons:
- Top three weapons off the bench: R.J. Curington (3.6 points/1.6 boards); Darrick Wood (6.0 points/2.5 boards); and Aaron Simpson (7.9 points/2.6 boards)
- DePaul has outrebounded its opponent in 12 of 17 games this season after doing it just
seven times in 32 games a year ago - Over the last 13 games, DePaul is shooting .389 (91-234) from three point range after going just 7-for-40 (.175) from behind the arc in the season’s first three games
Bluejay Bytes:
- Creighton has won the sixth game of its conference slate in 18 of the last 21 seasons.
- Isaiah Zierden played all 40 minutes in Tuesday’s game. Since the start of the 2001-02 season, Zierden is just the second man to log a “complete game”. Antoine Young had three such games in 2010-11 and before him no Bluejay had done it since Ryan Sears on March 15, 2001 in an NCAA Tournament loss to Iowa.
- All 12 of Creighton’s wins this season have come by double-digits. Nationally, only Saint Mary’s (15), North Carolina (14), Purdue (14) and Villanova (13) have more double-figure conquests. Creighton is also one of 11 teams nationally that have picked up all its wins by double-figures. Of those teams, CU’s 12 wins are second-most, trailing only Saint Mary’s (15).
The Series:
DePaul and Creighton have met 28 times, with the Blue Demons winning 16 of them. The teams met 12 times between 1977 and 1986, with the Jays winning the first and last games in that stretch and DePaul winning ten straight in between to make up the bulk of their edge in the overall series. Since joining the Big East, Creighton has won five of six meetings, and has eliminated the Blue Demons from the Big East Tournament two straight years.
The Last Time They Played:
On March 11, 2015, Creighton defeated DePaul 78-63 in the play-in round of the Big East Tournament behind 22 points from James Milliken, continuing a late-season surge that saw him average 14.8 ppg during his previous five games and make 12 of his 24 three-point attempts heading into the quarterfinal matchup with Georgetown that wound end their season.
Gratuitous Linkage:
In Dave Leitao’s first season back on the DePaul bench, the Blue Demons have showed progress if not success. This feature from the DePaulia student paper talks to the coach about the struggles in changing the losing culture of the program.
This Date in Creighton Hoops History:
On January 17, 2004, 24th-ranked Creighton rebounded from their first loss of the season — and the loss of Tyler McKinney to injury — to defeat Evansville 72-53 at the CLink (née Qwest Center). Four players scored 12 points or more, with Brody Deren leading the way with 15, and they had 20 assists and just 10 turnovers in a return to form after being upset three days earlier by Greg McDermott’s Northern Iowa squad at the UNI-Dome.
The loss dropped Evansville, coached by current Bluejay assistant Steve Merfeld, to 2-11 overall and 0-9 on the road.
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day:
I love everything about this video — the throwback to 60s and 70s TV clips with the giant chroma-key background and listing of the band members’ names at the beginning, not to mention the song is badass. One of my favorites of 2015, so it’s a shame I’m just getting around to using it here in 2016.
The Bottom Line:
This trip to Chicago will go much better than the last trip there a month ago, and the Bluejays will take out their Loyola frustrations on DePaul.
Creighton 82, DePaul 69
