[dropcap]Two[/dropcap] days after their defense was shredded by Villanova to the tune of 85 points and 68% shooting, Creighton plays host to a Georgetown Hoyas team that has historically given them fits and appears to have righted its’ ship after some early struggles. One of the big questions entering the game is whether the Jays will shake up the starting lineup, given Coach Greg McDermott’s postgame comments on Saturday.
“It’s one of two things,” McDermott said after the game. “Either what we’re doing technically is wrong, and I have to evaluate that and try to put them in better positions to be successful. Or the people I have out there doing it are the wrong people, and I have to get some different people on the floor. And I’ll evaluate that as well.”
He elaborated on that Monday, telling the World-Herald that he needed to look at their final game prep before deciding who was best suited to stem the defensive tide. Outside of Providence, G’Town is the Big East team Creighton has matched up the worst with over the first two years in the league, and the results show it. The Hoyas swept three games from the Jays a year ago, including an embarrassing 67-40 loss in Omaha, and their version of the Princeton offense combined with the players they have running it have caused major headaches for the Jays.
Georgetown was widely expected to contend for the Big East crown this year, but was wildly inconsistent in the non-conference — their resume includes two inexcusable home losses to Radford and UNC Asheville, a slightly more understandable home loss to a salty Monmouth team, and two close losses to Top 15 foes in Maryland and Duke. They also have nice wins over Wisconsin and Syracuse, even if both teams are having relative “down” years, and brought a 7-5 record into Big East play.
Then they beat DePaul 70-58 in Chicago and Marquette 80-70 at home to right the ship, so to speak, and come into Omaha with a 2-0 mark in the league. Six of their top nine players are freshmen or sophomores, and with half a season under their belt, they appear to be hitting their stride just in time to play the Jays. That figures.
Preseason All-Big East guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera leads the Hoyas with 15.0 points per game and 1.7 steals per game, while also averaging 4.1 assists per game. The Jays held him to just five points in the first meeting a year ago, but he was damn near unstoppable in the other two — he led the Hoyas in scoring in both games, going off for 24 in Omaha on 9-17 shooting and 25 in the Big East Quarterfinals, including 12 in a game-deciding 15-4 run. DSR is precisely the type of guard the Jays have traditionally struggled to defend one-on-one: a big, athletic guard that can put the ball on the floor, shoot from outside, and distribute to his teammates. They played such a guard a month ago when they faced off with Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, and it didn’t go so well. Hield had 33 points, including nine in the final five minutes of a close game.
Two other Hoyas average in double figures, with a third right on the cusp. Isaac Copeland averages 12.3 points, while L.J. Peak is at 10.1 a game. Bradley Hayes isn’t far behind (9.5 ppg.) and averages 7.9 rebounds a game. And while freshman center Jessie Govan isn’t averaging big numbers, he’s coming off a nice game against Marquette’s great frontline, scoring 11 points with five rebounds and four blocks.
Hayes, in particular, will be an interesting matchup to watch. The 7’0″, 275-pound senior has been a beast for the Hoyas in the middle, and with Geoff Groselle coming off an uninspiring performance against Villanova’s Daniel Ochefu, can he prove that was a one-game detour? Or will he be taken completely out of the gameplan again by a big, physical center?
For that matter, the 6’9″ Copeland will also be a difficult player for CU to defend. Unless the starting lineup changes, it seems likely that Cole Huff will be matched up with Copeland at the beginning. If Toby Hegner gets the nod, he’ll draw the assignment of slowing down the Hoyas’ second leading scorer. Whoever is on him, preventing him from driving the baseline and hitting close-range jumpers that are mostly uncontested, like Villanova’s forwards did at will Saturday night, is key.
The Hoyas have received great contributions from their bench all year, with that group averaging 21.2 points, 14.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game, led by junior forward Reggie Cameron, who has scored at least seven points seven times this season and is averaging 6.3 points and 2.4 rebounds a game. Georgetown’s freshman class — Marcus Derrickson, Govan and forward Kaleb Johnson — has combined to average 17.5 points, 10.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.
The Jays are favorites to win, according to both Vegas’ books and KenPom’s algorithms, which is a little bit surprising given how poorly the teams match up with one another. One reason might be Georgetown’s relative trouble defending the three-point shot — they allow opponents to shoot 35.3% from three-point range, eighth worst in the Big East and nearly as bad as Creighton. If you figure the Jays aren’t likely to misfire as often as they did against Villanova, and take into consideration the fact that Georgetown remains an unpredictable bunch despite beating two teams from the bottom half of the league to open Big East play, maybe predicting a Jays victory isn’t so ridiculous.
It’s a bigger game for Creighton than it is for G’Town given their starts and what’s ahead — a Jays win puts them at 2-1 heading to Seton Hall on Saturday and gives them a shot of confidence that they never managed to get a year ago, while even with a loss G’Town would be 2-1 with their next two against DePaul and St. John’s. For that reason, I’ll go with Vegas and KenPom and predict the Jays get it done.
Quick Notes on the Hoyas:
- Georgetown averaged 4.7 blocks and 5.3 steals through 12 non-conference games, and had 6.0 blocks and 7.5 steals in their first two Big East games.
- In the win over Marquette on Saturday, D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera scored 15 points — including the team’s final 12 points in the last 2:09 of the game — and handed out a career-high eight assists.
- The Hoyas average 74.6 points per game while shooting 44.6 percent from the field and 75.4 percent at the line. Georgetown has held teams to 38.7 percent shooting from the field and 68.6 points per contest.
Bluejay Bytes:
- Though it could change tonight, Creighton has used the same starting line-up in every game this season, the only Big East team to do so. Last season Creighton used 10 different starting line-up combinations, its most in any season since using 11 pairings in 1994-95.
- Creighton has scored 80 points or more in all 10 wins thus far. Georgetown is 1-3 when allowing more than 80 points this season, and have allowed 81.0 points per loss this winter, compared to 61.7 per victory. The number 64 is important tonight: in six all-time meetings with Georgetown, Creighton is 2-0 when scoring 64 or more points, but 0-4 when scoring less than 64.
- Isaiah Zierden is leading the Big East Conference with 37 three-pointers made, five more than Xavier’s Trevon Bluiett and St. John’s Federico Mussini. Last year through games of January 4th, Zierden was also leading the league in three-pointers made, as his 40 were two more than Kellen Dunham’s (Butler) 38.
The Series:
Creighton is 2-4 all-time against Georgetown, including a 1-1 mark in Omaha. The Hoyas have won the last four meetings, including a three-game sweep of the Bluejays last winter that included a Big East quarterfinal victory that ended Creighton’s season.
Greg McDermott is 1-5 all-time (1-4 at Creighton) against Georgetown and coach John Thompson III, while Thompson is 4-1 against Creighton.
The Last Time They Played:
Creighton used a 9-0 run late in the second half to take a 51-45 lead on Georgetown in the Big East Quarters, and clung to a 53-49 lead with 3:12 to play after a Devin Brooks layup. The Jays couldn’t close, though, and Georgetown ended the game on an 11-2 run, with Smith-Rivera scoring nine of them. The Hoyas won 60-55, with Smith-Rivera scoring a game-high 25 points.
Gratuitous Linkage:
“You know who really loves the Big East? The people in the Big East. The teams that are new to the league are so delighted to be in a conference that is built around basketball and is run at a first-class level. The teams that have been around for a while are pleased to be getting some of the oxygen that Syracuse and UConn and Louisville were sucking out of the league for so many years.”
That’s how the Sporting News’ Mike DeCourcy starts his conference breakdown, which is good primer of what’s ahead for the league (even if he’s not terribly high on the Jays).
What the Other Side is Saying:
Their always-entertaining game preview wasn’t up yet at press time, but the comments on Casual Hoya’s “Sleeping With The Enemy” post — where they talk to WBR’s Patrick Marshall about the matchup — give some sense of the mood surrounding the game. Also he gets called names by a Nebraska fan hanging out in the comments of a Georgetown website, which is fun! If by fun you mean pathetic.
This Date in Creighton Hoops History:
On January 5, 2013, Creighton defeated Indiana State 79-66. For much of the night, it looked like the scrappy Sycamores might upset the 11th ranked Bluejays, and with 13:44 to go in the game, Doug McDermott headed to the bench after picking up his third foul, and the Jays down 44-41. The details of how they erased that deficit sans McDermott are in the Morning After if you’re curious but the Cliffs Notes version is this: Gregory Echenique and Ethan Wragge, rattling backboards and breaking hearts in equal measure.
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day:
Time to get back in the saddle, Jays.
The Bottom Line:
Bluejays 78, Hoyas 76
