Bluejay Beat Wrap-up Show:
Opening Night 2018 wasn’t often pretty, and against a team picked ninth in the Summit League, it was far closer than anyone expected it to be. They had no answer for Western Illinois’ Kobe Webster, who was exactly as advertised — a volume shooter that took a third of his team’s shots en route to 24 points, and an aggressive player who led his team in rebounding with 10 despite standing just six feet tall. He scored his team’s first seven points, as CU’s defense committed the cardinal sin of allowing an opponent’s best shooter to get in a rhythm early.
On the other end of the height spectrum, the Jays struggled against seven-footer Brandon Gilbeck. The reigning Summit League defensive player of the year tied an arena record with seven blocks, despite playing through foul trouble for much of the night and logging only 18 minutes. He might very well have been in double digits for blocks if a couple of close foul calls had gone his way.
Meanwhile with a young rotation of players trying to find roles — and a coaching staff unsure at this early stage where those players best fit — Creighton looked disjointed, lacked confidence, and appeared to be a team in search of a floor leader. After sputtering for the better part of 10 minutes, they were tied 15-15, and they proceeded to make just one of their next seven shots, turn it over four times, and surrender a pair of far-too-easy three pointers in a tremendously ugly stretch of basketball.
A timeout by Greg McDermott stopped the run, but only temporarily turned the game around. The Jays scored on their next six trips down the floor, including a three from Ty-Shon Alexander, a steal and layup in transition from Damien Jefferson, and a second 3 from Alexander to tie the game at 28. Unfortunately, defensive lapses — namely two three pointers by Webster in the span of 20 seconds — gave Western Illinois a six-point lead again at 36-30.
Those defensive lapses reared their head again when, after retaking the lead 40-38, they let Ben Pyle get loose for a three on the wing. Suddenly, instead of exiting an ugly first half with a lead, they looked to be heading into the locker room behind. A buzzer-beating three from Mitch Ballock saved them from that fate, but not from the reality of giving up 41 first-half points, losing the rebound battle 22-19, and leading by only two despite making 9-14 from behind the arc.
They looked much better in the second half. Leading 49-47 three minutes in, they scored on 11 of their next 15 possessions. That 19-5 run — turning a two-point lead into a 68-52 advantage over the course of six minutes — was the decisive stretch of the game. The Jays’ newcomers made most of the key plays, including Jefferson scrapping for a rebound in traffic and putting it back:
Samson Froling nailing a three:
and Marcus Zegarowski putting the ball on the floor and driving to the rack:
The 78-67 win was closer than expected, and leaves them with a lot of questions heading into Sunday afternoon’s game, especially on the defensive end. It also featured some promising individual performances, chief among them Damien Jefferson. The transfer from New Mexico had eight points and 12 rebounds in his Bluejay debut, bringing energy, scrappiness, and aggressiveness to the floor. Yes, it was against Western Illinois, but a lot of rebounding is positioning and a willingness to fight — and that translates to results no matter the opponent. His 12 rebounds are the most for a Bluejay in his first game since 1975 (!) and the first time a Bluejay recorded 10 or more in his debut since the tough-as-nails Nick Porter did it in 2005 (!!).
Mitch Ballock dished out five assists, and Ty-Shon Alexander had four, as the pair of sophomore guards combined for 25 points and 9 assists. Alexander added six boards, a block, and a steal. It was a solid debut for two players the Jays desperately need to make a big leap forward in their second season on the Hilltop.
On the negative side, they were really bad at the line, making just 9-20 — actually shooting better from behind the arc (46%) than they did from the line (45%). That’s probably — hopefully — not going to be a trend, and adding five or six made free throws to their score makes this a different game.
And not all of the newcomers played well. Grad transfer Connor Cashaw struggled badly, scoring two points, turning it over four times, getting lost repeatedly on defense, and generally looking like a player adjusting to a new (and very different) system than he’s used to. He started and played 10 first half minutes, and got in for less than a minute of the second half. McDermott didn’t seem concerned after the game, and Cashaw is expected to play a big role going forward. More concerning was Jacob Epperson being held out with an undisclosed injury; McDermott hopes he returns to the practice floor later this week, but given his ongoing knee issues — which date back to last season — his health is definitely a worry for a CU team that desperately needs his defensive instincts in the paint.
