Khyri Thomas provided a spark to the Bluejays in the victory (Streur / WBR) CLICK TO BUY
Five days after suffering what they feared might be a season-ending loss to eventual Big East Tournament champion Seton Hall at Madison Square Garden, the Creighton men’s basketball started out on the path that leads back to the “Mecca of basketball.” In front of a little more than 6,300 fans at the friendly confines of CenturyLink Center Omaha, the 4th-seeded Bluejays pounded the 5th-seeded Alabama Crimson Tide, 72-54, in the first round of the 2016 National Invitation Tournament on Tuesday night.
Junior point guard Maurice Watson Jr. led the way with a game-high 20 points, while senior center Geoffrey Groselle posted a double-double with 12 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Groselle also blocked three shots, and helped Creighton dominate on the boards and in the paint.
“Their big guys were much more physical than our guys inside,” Alabama head coach Avery Johnson said. “[Groselle] had a double-double. They got all of the loose balls. They did it all tonight, so give them credit.”
“That just showed will power. They were willing their team to win. They had great chemistry on the floor, and one of the things I was concerned about with our team was are we willing to play the type of basketball we played more in the last two months, or are we ready for the season to come to an end. We just didn’t have that energy. They didn’t have that look in their eyes when I came in at halftime, and that’s partly my fault. I’m the responsible adult here. I’m the coach. I’m the one that’s getting the bucks to make this thing work, and they’re the kids on scholarship. So this is a learning lesson for me in terms of how to better prepare your team, but at the same time, we just didn’t have the effort, the energy, or the focus.”
Both teams seemed to lacked a little pop in the early going with one exception: Creighton freshman guard Khyri Thomas. Reentering the starting lineup — due to an injury to junior guard Isaiah Zierden — Thomas gave the Bluejays a spark right away. After Groselle won the opening tip, Thomas wasted very little time attacking the basket and earning a trip to the free throw line where he made one of the two foul shots.
After playing only two minutes in the Big East Tournament Quarterfinal loss to Seton Hall, Thomas went into Tuesday night’s game with a free and easy mindset, focused on not letting mistakes affect his play.
“When I don’t think about my mistakes and play with energy everything just kind of falls into my hands,” the product of Omaha Benson High School said. “I haven’t been playing like that in the Big East Conference. I thought it’s the Big East Conference, I want to win, but I don’t want to make a mistake, so I just got in a slump. I came out here to just leave it all out there, because it’s win or go home. That’s what I did.”
He didn’t light up the stat sheet in the first half, but his aggressiveness on both ends of the floor eventually rubbed off on his teammates. Trailing by two with just under ten minutes remaining before halftime, Creighton ripped off a 13-2 run, which was capped off by a blocked shot from Groselle and a wide open 3-pointer from the right corner by freshman guard Ronnie Harrell Jr. to give the Bluejays a 25-16 lead with 3:45 to go in the half.
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See the gallery of photos from photographers Adam Streur & Brad Williams.
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The Crimson Tide cut the deficit to six points on a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Justin Coleman, but Creighton scored the final five points of the first half to take a 30-19 lead into the locker room.
“We were able to get the crowd into it. We were kind of going through the motions it felt like, and we were waiting for that one spark to get something to happen,” Creighton junior forward Cole Huff said. “We got it and we were able to push the lead right before halftime, and we were able to keep it like that the rest of the game.”
Alabama cut the lead down to single digits on two occasions to begin the second half, but Khyri Thomas provided the bookend plays starting by finishing a lob from Huff with a two-handed slam dunk and nailing a 3-pointer from the left corner as part of a 9-0 run that opened the lead up to 41-23 with 15:28 left to play.
The Crimson Tide trimmed the lead down to 58-48 on a 3-pointer from the right wing by junior forward Shannon Hale with 5:14 remaining, but Thomas again provided the counter punch for the Bluejays. First, he tracked down a loose ball after his teammate, senior guard James Milliken, had his shot blocked while driving down the middle of the lane. The rejection found Thomas along the base line, and he put it up off the glass and in. On Creighton’s next offensive possession, Watson Jr. found his young teammate wide open at the top of the key. Thomas barely hesitated to rise up and knock the shot down. The lead only continued to grow from there.
Thomas finished the evening with 15 points, eight rebounds, and three steals in 33 minutes against Alabama after totaling just 14 points, 12 rebounds, and no steals in his final seven games of the regular season.
“He attacked right off the jump, which was good to see,” Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said of his freshman guard’s big night. “I told him before the game to just go have some fun. Quit worrying about things and just go play. Khyri has continued to come in the gym. He’s continued to work on his game, and there are a lot of reasons that this game is important. I don’t know that we could find one that’s more important than him getting a little bit of swagger back, because having to go through the summer and the off-season performing the way he performed in the Big East — he’s not a confident person to start with — this is really invaluable for him, so I’m glad it happened.”
Geoffrey Groselle recorded a double-double in the victory (Streur/WBR) CLICK TO BUY
Creighton held Alabama to 17-of-60 shooting from the field, including an 8-of-31 mark from the 3-point range. The 28.3% field goal percentage is the lowest for the Crimson Tide in a single game since February 23, 2011 when Auburn held them to 26.2% shooting.
“That was a heck of a performance by our team,” McDermott said. “Outside of the game with Kentucky in the SEC Tournament, you’d have to go back a ways to find a game where someone had beaten Alabama that handily. I just thought defensively our guys were locked in for a one day prep to take away the shooters.”
Justin Coleman led the Crimson Tide with 18 points on 6-of-15 shooting. Alabama leading scorer, and SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year, Retin Obasohan was limited to just 13 points — nearly five points below his average for the season — on 3-of-10 shooting from the floor.
“I thought [Khyri] and James did a great job on Obasohan,” McDermott said. “Watching the SEC games he was fantastic, and I thought keeping a fresh guy on him, and our pace I thought wore into him a little bit as the game went on. Except for that little flurry by Coleman, defensively we were really solid. I’m really proud of our team, and happy for Geoff and James that they got another game at home, and could win in front of their home fans.”
The loss left Alabama with a final record of 18-15 in their first season under former NBA champion point guard Avery Johnson. The win improved the Bluejays to 19-14, and they will now await the winner of Wednesday’s game between No.1 seed St. Bonaventure and No. 8 seed Wagner. If Wagner pulls off the upset, then Creighton will get another home game. Otherwise, they will return to New York sooner than they had hoped to take on the Bonnies.
“I want to play another home game,” Huff said. “We just came from New York. We don’t want to go back there until the NIT Final Four, but it is what it is. If St. Bonaventure wins, then we’ll have to go way back out there.”
No date, time, or location is set for Creighton’s second round game, but should Tuesday night’s win over Alabama be their final home game of the season, senior center Geoffrey Groselle is glad he got to say goodbye on a high note.
“It was very special to play in front of the home crowd again,” Groselle said. “I really enjoyed it. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to come back here and play again, but we’ll just have to wait and see. It’s out of our hands with that, but it was very special. I’m so glad that I could give the fans one more show. I’d like to thank everyone that showed up today. It was a big win for us.”
Postgame interviews with Head Coach Greg McDermott, players Geoffrey Groselle, Maurice Watson, Jr., Cole Huff, Khyri Thomas and Alabama Head Coach Avery Johnson