The coaches were back to work on Thursday at the Championship Center (Williams / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
Greg McDermott’s team got back to work at the Championship Center after taking a day off on Wednesday to rest and recover after their season-opening win over Western Illinois on Tuesday night. Senior guard Kaleb Joseph brought the team together before the actual pre-practice huddle with the coaches to get everyone locked in before the session got underway with some individual ball movement drills.
Decision making on offense was a main area of focus once 5-on-5 started. McDermott stressed the importance of using jump stops and driving to the paint with the purpose of making a play for a teammate instead of forcing their own offense in traffic. During his post-game press conference on Tuesday, he noted guys were “trying to bring the offense to us” instead of trusting the ball movement and the teammates around them. The first few possessions were a little sloppy on Wednesday, but after some more assertive instruction the playmaking in the paint was much sharper.
Photos from Tuesday’s opener vs. Western Illinois
Marcus Zegarowski was the last player off the practice floor on Thursday (Spomer / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
Practice wrapped with a horror film of sorts, narrated by assistant coach Paul Lusk. The film highlighted the dogfight that Creighton has in store for itself against an East Tennessee State team that is almost recklessly relentless on the offensive glass. The Buccaneers hauled in a 27 of their own misses in their loss to 74-68 loss at Georgia State on Tuesday night, and Lusk warned the team their effort against Western Illinois will get them “punked” by ETSU on Sunday afternoon.
- Sophomore center Jacob Epperson participated in the early and later portions of practice after missing Tuesday’s season-opener. Epperson walked through some baseline out of bounds sets with the first unit, then got up and down during the early portion of the 5-on-5 work. He watched the rest of practice from the sidelines before rejoining his teammates for some full court sprints at the end of practice.
- After a breakout performance in his official Creighton debut on Tuesday, sophomore Damien Jefferson carried over his strong play to the practice floor. During 5-on-5, he buried a corner three, forced a turnover by sealing off an entry pass into the post, and reenacted some of the solid defense he displayed the other night when he helped hold Western Illinois’ Isaac Johnson to 1-for-7 shooting after halftime.
- Sophomore guard Ty-Shon Alexander made some really sound decisions in the paint on Thursday. After a mistake on the first possession, he shored up his fundamentals and started using jumpstops, pivots, ball fakes, and vision really effectively. He had four assists against the Leathernecks, but he also turned it over three times. He seemed sharper with the ball on Thursday, and several of his teammates acknowledged it as the session progressed.
- Junior forward Martin Krampelj was given the day off to rest his surgically repaired knee. He’s not at risk to miss any games, however, as this is just part of the long-term plan to manage his workload. In fact, for now, every eligible player on the roster is expected to be available to play against East Tennessee State.
- Freshman point guard Marcus Zegarowski was the last man off the practice floor on Thursday. Zegarowski had 8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and no turnovers in his collegiate debut on Tuesday night, but McDermott noted that he’s still playing catch-up with his conditioning level after missing the whole summer with a back injury. Zegarowski pushed through the fatigue to get through an extra 30 minutes of footwork and shooting.
Listen to the Bluejay Beat after Tuesday’s opener: