Marcus Zegarowski has emerged early in his Bluejay career as a team leader (Spomer / WBR)
Quincy McKnight knew it. His Seton Hall teammates knew it. And they let Marcus Zegarowski know early on Sunday afternoon that they knew it.
In his first action after missing three games with a broken bone on his right hand, Creighton’s true freshman point guard looked a little unsure of himself at times as he tried to dribble, pass, and shoot with a white pad wrapped around his ball-dominant hand, and the Pirates did their best to make him even more uncomfortable.
“It affected my dribbling a little bit the first game back,” Zegarowski said. “Seton Hall players were actually telling me that they knew I couldn’t really dribble with my right hand with that cast on. I felt as if they knew, so I was just trying to do my best to try and not hurt the team by putting myself in a position where I turn the ball over.
“My teammates told me before the game that they like to talk stuff. It was just tough for me because there was a cast on my hand, so they weren’t wrong.”
Although not totally the same player he was prior to suffering the injury early in a 76-54 win over Xavier back on February 3, the Bluejays did get an obvious boost from the return of the freshman floor general, especially on the offensive end of the floor. Zegarowski finished with eight points, four assists, and only two turnovers in 35 minutes. However, for the fourth game in a row, Creighton couldn’t close out a win at the end and Zegarowski himself seemed to be affected by both the padding on his shooting hand and a little bit of doubt when he hesitated to fire up an wide open three-pointer in the final minute that could have potentially tied the game, but instead resulted in a turnover.
“I thought about it more on the offensive end,” Zegarowski said after practice on Monday. “Defensively I was fine with it, but offensively it was tough to dribble on the palm area. It was hard to get a good grip, and obviously the shooting I’m not yet that confident with it. But we did some remodeling of [the pad] on the palm area so I can have more of a grip on it when I shoot. Today I felt really good with it, so I look forward to our next game because I’ll shoot with lots of confidence.”
Zegarowski is doing everything he can to stay on the court, even playing with a broken finger (Spomer / WBR)
The 6-foot-2 point guard from Hamilton, Massachusetts ran the show in practice as usual the last two days as the team prepared for their upcoming game on Wednesday night at DePaul, and although he didn’t let it fly very much during live reps, he did get up a healthy amount of catch-and-shoot and pull-up threes at game speed during the tail end of each session on Monday and Tuesday. He buried 63.7 percent of those shots on Monday, and looked to have a bit more of his swagger back as he upped that mark by a full three percentage points on Tuesday before packing up his stuff and heading for the airport. Given the situation, the last two days have been about enhancing how he feels mentally as much as how he feels physically. Otherwise he wouldn’t be back on the court in the first place.
“The team always comes first,” he said. “I would let Mac know like, ‘listen, I feel like I’m a liability for us.’ But I feel like I can play confidently with this hand. It was also tough [against Seton Hall] because I’ve only played with the little cast for two days, and I also was sick the three days prior, so I really only had one practice the last two weeks and then a game. I feel like this time around it’ll be a different circumstance and I’ll be more confident, and I feel like my teammates will be more confident in me to make some plays.
“I’m a competitor. I want to play for my teammates. I see them working every day. We lost three games in a row, and I’m not saying if I played it would have been a different outcome, but I feel like I can help this team win. Now, obviously this last game I came back and we still lost, so that was tough feeling, but I think I can bring a lot to this team.”
Being sidelined for 10 days also provided the future of Creighton’s program with an opportunity to hone some of his intangibles, particularly his leadership skills as they look to put a stop to a four-game skid that has dropped them to 13-13 overall on the season and 4-9 in Big East play, which is currently tied for last place in the league along with Providence.
Zegarowski is confident and will continue to contribute wherever he can. (Williams / WBR)
“Sitting back and watching gave me a different perspective on the practice floor, so when I got back I wanted to implement that part of my game and just be more of a leader,” Zegarowski said. “That’s one thing the coaches have been getting on me about, because they feel I can be more of a leader on this team being the point guard and the guy that runs the offense. That’s one thing I’m really take pride in is being more of a leader.
“I have to be able to tell somebody what I think, and it doesn’t matter who it is. It could be my best friend, but I have to let my teammates know what I think and then we can talk it out. That’s the only way we’ll get better. That’s the only way we’ll kill this losing streak is if we talk things out, and I feel as if I’m in a position to do that. And I will do that.”
Projected Starting Lineups
Creighton (Overall: 13-13, Big East: 4-9)
- G Marcus Zegarowski (Fr. | 6-2 | 180) – 10.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.2 apg
- G Davion Mintz (Jr. | 6-3 | 185) – 10.1 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.1 apg
- G Ty-Shon Alexander (So. | 6-4 | 195) – 16.5 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.6 apg
- G Mitch Ballock (So. | 6-5 | 205) – 10.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.4 apg
- F Martin Krampelj (Jr. | 6-9 | 235) – 12.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 57.7% FG
DePaul (Overall: 13-11, Big East: 5-8)
- G Devin Gage (So. | 6-2 | 195) – 8.6 ppg, 3.9 apg, 3.1 rpg
- G Eli Cain (Sr. | 6-6 | 200) – 12.5 ppg, 3.6 apg, 3.3 rpg
- G Max Strus (Sr. | 6-6 | 215) – 17.2 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 2.5 apg
- F Paul Reed (So. | 6-9 | 210) – 11.6 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 1.3 bpg
- F Femi Olujobi (Sr. | 6-9 | 258) – 13.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 62.8% FG