Will Wednesday night be the game where Creighton snaps this ungodly nine-game losing streak that has spanned 40 days? Or will the streak reach double-digits and put them perilously close to a winless month of January?
That’s really hard to do, incidentally. We like to kick Rick Johnson and his Era around here, but even he never had a winless month where more than a totally arbitrary number of two games were played — in his worst year, 1993-94, he won three games in December, two in January, and two in February. Unless my research is incorrect, the Jays have not had a winless month where they played more than two games since 1952-53, when they lost all four games played in January as part of an 11-14 campaign. Lose tonight, and #21 Georgetown stands between the Jays and that dubious achievement.
A lot of time has been spent worrying about the Jays’ slow starts and how to combat them — I touched on it in my Q&A with Rumble In The Garden yesterday — but a new, equally distressing problem has cropped up the last two games:
Turnovers.
The Bluejays have committed 19 turnovers in each of their last two games, and their opponents have converted those into 42 points (21 in each contest). That’s surprising, because CU had just 36 total turnovers in its previous four league games, and had averaged just 11.47 turnovers per game in its first 19 games of the season. Hell, they hadn’t had 19+ turnovers in any game since January of 2012, and hadn’t done it two straight games since January of 2008. Uncharacteristic, to say the least.
For Coach Greg McDermott, it must feel like he’s trying to plug a leaky boat — except new holes keep springing up before he can plug the existing ones. First it was the offense not being able to make shots. Then it was getting off to poor starts. Next it was being unable to close out close games. Then it was the defense blowing assignments on a consistent basis. Now it’s not being able to control the ball.
All of which makes tonight’s opponent either the worst possible opponent or the best possible opponent. St. John’s is a team that is as diametrically opposed to Creighton as you can find in the Big East. A year ago when they played in Omaha, McDermott mentioned on the 1620AM postgame show that “One of the referees said late in the game, ‘This is a really hard game to officiate because these two teams don’t fit together. What you’re trying to do and what they’re trying to do are two totally different things.’”
St. John’s is long, athletic, looks like they’re playing without a script a lot of the time, and frequently makes plays that make you question their basketball IQ. Creighton is not long, not as athletic, runs a lot of set plays or at the very least, plays that they’ve practiced before, and for all their faults, generally plays smart basketball. Oh, and Steve Lavin’s recruiting is top-notch, but his in-game coaching ability is questioned even by St. John’s fans — while Jays fans think the opposite about Coach Mac (struggles to get top recruits, but is one of the best game prep and in-game coaches around).
D’Angelo Harrison leads the Red Storm in scoring at 19.1 points per game. One of the most dynamic scorers in the Big East, Harrison has scored 20 or more points in nine of the last 13 games. The 6’4″ guard can score from anywhere on the court, with 12 multi-three games to his credit.
Sophomore guard Rysheed Jordan, also 6’4″, averages 13.9 points a game for the season, and since returning from a leave of absence earlier this month, has increased his average to 16.8 points a game while shooting 46.8% from the floor.
And then there’s the best rim-protecting duo in the Big East (and maybe the country): Chris Obekpa and Sir’Dominic Pointer. The two big men have combined for 106 blocks this year, or 61 more than Creighton’s entire team. That means there won’t be much offense generated at the rim, and the Jays will need to knock down jump shots. That’s how teams have beaten St. John’s, particularly in Big East play. It’s also something the Jays have struggled mightily to do.
Pointer is the better offensive player, averaging 11.8 points per game to go along with 7.3 rebounds a game. Obekpa is the better defender, averaging the fourth-most blocks in D1 at 3.4 per game, while scoring an average of 7.1 points and grabbing 7.8 rebounds a game.
The game plan for a Creighton win is this: don’t let St. John’s get out to an early lead. Keep the game close, and then let St. John’s lack of depth catch up to them in the second half (where their defense and rebounding have been much worse). Make jump shots, because there’s not going to be much available in the paint. And if the game’s close, St. John’s has a tendency to get careless with the ball and with their shot selection. Creighton needs to use that to their advantage.
Quick Notes on the Red Storm:
- St. John’s is among the national leaders in several statistical categories. The Red Storm ranks fifth with 6.7 blocks per game, 11th with 8.8 steals per game, 18th with a +3.7 turnover margin and 39th with a 39.0 field goal percentage defense.
- St. John’s played its final non-conference game of the regular-season Sunday versus #5/6 Duke at Madison Square Garden. The Red Storm led by 10 with 8:35 remaining in regulation, but the Blue Devils managed to escape with a 77-68 victory. Despite the setback, St. John’s finished the non-conference portion of the schedule with an 11-2 record (.846), its best mark since going 10-1 (.909) in 1990-91, losing only to a pair of top-10 teams – No. 5/6 Duke and No. 10/8 Gonzaga. St. John’s signature non-conference wins came against Syracuse, Minnesota, Saint Mary’s and Long Beach State, four teams with top-100 RPIs.
- St. John’s is 39th in the nation holding opponents to a 39.0 field goal shooting percentage this season. In the last three Big East contests, the Red Storm kept Marquette (Jan. 21), DePaul (Jan. 18) and Providence (Jan. 14) all below the 40.0 percent mark. St. John’s has a 12-1 record in games when the opposition is shooting under 40.0 percent from the field
- St. John’s has shot 40.0 percent (26-of-65) from downtown in its four road contests. The Red Storm had its top 3-point shooting performances of the season in wins at Providence (58.8 pct, 10-of-17) and at Syracuse (56.3 pct, 9-of-16)
Bluejay Bytes:
- Creighton has won 10 or more league games 18 consecutive seasons. The only other school with at least 18 straight years of 10 or more league wins is Kansas (who’s done it 20 straight years) but with their 0-8 start this year, CU must win their next 10 league games to extend this impressive streak of consistency.
- Per STATS Inc., Creighton was the nation’s only team that had three different losses by three points or less from Jan. 10-24. Creighton owns four losses by four points or less during its current nine-game skid. Those four losses have featured eight shot attempts in the final minute that could have tied the game or put the Bluejays ahead, all but one of which were missed.
- Austin Chatman has moved into sixth in Creighton history on the career assist chart, and now owns 457 in his career. With one assists on Wednesday vs. St. John’s, Chatman can surge into the top-five.
The Series:
St. John’s leads the all-time series with Creighton by a 6-3 count, but the Bluejays are 3-0 in Omaha. Greg McDermott is 1-1 against St. John’s and Steve Lavin, while Lavin is 1-1 versus Creighton.
The Last Time They Played / This Date in Creighton Hoops History:
I think this might be the first time in the history of Primers where I’ve combined these two sections. I wasted 15 minutes trying to verify that before I got bored with the task, anyway.
On January 28, 2014, Creighton defeated St. John’s 63-60 on Doug McDermott’s dramatic three-pointer with 2.8 seconds left. It’s worth re-reading our postgame recap, because that was a fun game, but here’s the snippet describing the final moments:
“McDermott would get the ball the next time down the floor, but this time his shot misfired; St. John’s had a chance to tie or win the game with the shot clock off. They opted to go for the tie, but as Rysheed Jordan began his drive, he was fouled by Chatman. The St. John’s guard who had done so much to fuel the comeback calmly sank both free throws looking into the teeth of the student section, and tied the game at 60.
Would the Jays set up a play for McDermott? Would St. John’s allow the best player in the country to even touch the ball? On the Creighton radio broadcast, Nick Bahe speculated that they would not — that St. John’s would double him, and make someone else beat them. Whichever guard had the ball when it crossed half-court would be the player that would have to make the play. Instead, Lavin went down with the ship, opting to defend the final possession straight-up, just as they had all night. Isaiah Zierden put a spectacular screen on the player assigned to guard McDermott, St. John’s shot-blocker extraordinaire Chris Obekpa — putting his backside into him and pushing Obekpa back, allowing McDermott to catch the ball and get just enough of a view of the rim to put up a shot.
Was there any doubt the shot would go in? McDermott told the media afterward that although he didn’t see it go in, he knew it was destined to go in the second it left his hands, and the roar of the crowd let him know he was right.”
Actually, you know what, you should just watch the Highlight Reel. It’s seven minutes of bliss, and much-needed therapy after a month of losses.
And then check out a frame-by-frame look at McDermott’s game-winner through the lens of WBR photographer-extraordinaire Mike Spomer.
Gratuitous Linkage:
Rumble In The Garden breaks down St. John’s second-half defensive lapses in conference play, showing how their ability to disrupt shots has been significantly worse after halftime than before, and posits why that is. Must read stuff before this game.
What the Other Side is Saying:
“Following the mentally and physically draining game that they played on Sunday, Creighton is the best team in the conference for St. John’s to be playing on Wednesday night.
Although there is almost nothing for them to gain from a win in this one, there is really everything to lose for the Red Storm, as a loss would be a major hit to their tournament resume. A tournament team would have no trouble dismantling a subpar opponent like Creighton, even on the road, and we’ll see if St. John’s can do so on Wednesday night.”
St. John’s vs Creighton: Johnnies take to the road in search of second straight Big East win, Rumble In The Garden
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day:
This losing streak has soured my mood, and with it, darkened the music I’m listening to. Today it’s thrash metal. Specifically Anthrax singing about killing zombies.
The Bottom Line:
Another heartbreaker for the Jays.
St. John’s 65, Creighton 63
