“How ‘bout them Bluejays!” said senior guard Grant Gibbs when he addressed the crowd after his Creighton Bluejays defeated the Wichita State Shockers 91-79 in a winner-take-all regular season finale at the Century Link Center in Omaha on Saturday afternoon. For five players — center Gregory Echenique, and guards Grant Gibbs, Josh Jones, Taylor Stormberg, and Joe Kelling – it was the final home game of their Creighton careers.
Behind a legendary performance from junior forward Doug McDermott the Bluejays captured their first regular season conference title since 2009, and their first outright regular season title since 2001. McDermott scored 41 points on 15-of-18 shooting. He grabbed six rebounds, dished out three assists, and in just 32 minutes of action he became the first player in NCAA history to score 40 or more points without missing a two-point field goal or a free throw since 2002.
“He was pretty good,” said Gibbs half-heartedly when asked about the performance of his All-American teammate. “From the jump he was efficient. We just tried to keep getting him the ball. I’ve said before where he’s had 25-30 [points] and it didn’t feel like he did, but that was an extremely loud 41. Every one of his buckets was huge, and he was in a great rhythm. Probably the best performance I’ve seen and been a part of.”
McDermott is now just 11 points away from breaking Rodney Buford’s school record for most points in a career.
Gibbs, a senior from Marion, Iowa, scored 12 points and handed out eight assists in his final regular season game at the Century Link Center Omaha. He and McDermott combined to score 35 points on 12-of-15 shooting in the second half. The Jays as a team shot 71.4% in a second half that saw them score 55 points against one of the best defensive teams in the conference.
“I didn’t sleep much last night anyway, but if you told me they were going to score 80,” said Creighton head coach Greg McDermott. “Our offense was very efficient. It was similar to the way we were playing earlier in the year. The ball was moving, we made the extra pass, we played inside/out, and we were able to do that against maybe the best defensive team in our conference.”
As big as McDermott’s performance was, it was the play of the Creighton reserves midway through the second half that put some distance between the Bluejays and Wichita State. McDermott sat at the 13:05 mark with his team leading 53-46. Wichita State cut that lead to 55-52 in a little over a minute after McDermott went to the bench. Fortunately for Creighton sophomores Will Artino and Austin Chatman along with fourth-year junior Ethan Wragge were up for the challenge. Artino kicked things off by grabbing a missed layup by sophomore Avery Dingman and laying it in the basket. Then Wragge drilled three-pointers in a span of 41 seconds. Finally, Chatman knocked down a three of his own, he then scored on a layup in transition after a steal by Wragge. Before you knew the trio had rattled off a 14-2 run in just over three minutes to give Creighton a 69-54 advantage with 7:28 left in the second half. The run was punctuated with a deep three-pointer by Grant Gibbs as he was falling out of bounds that brought the sellout crowd of 18,613 (second-largest in school history) to its feet.
“I did not think it was going in, but it snuck in there,” said Gibbs, he then sarcastically added, “Credit a great pass from Jahenns [Manigat].”
Despite shooting 64% as a team in the second half Wichita State would get no closer than six points after that run as Creighton clinched the regular season title and the top seed in next weekend’s Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in St. Louis, Missouri. Although the journey hasn’t ended, Coach McDermott praised his seniors for what they have accomplished up to this point.
“Their legacy speaks for itself. We won a conference tournament title and regular season title in their junior and senior year, and that’s stuff that dreams are made of. It takes a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication, and a lot of unselfishness. I’m a firm believer that it all starts with your leadership, and our seniors have done a fantastic job in that regard,” McDermott said.
Creighton will play either Bradley or Drake in their opening game of the MVC Tournament on Friday, March 8, at 12:05 p.m. at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
Game Stats:
Wichita State / Creighton
Score: 79 / 91
FG/FGA/FG%: 29-55 (52.7%) / 33-47 (70.2%)
3FG/3FGA/3FG%: 7-21 (33.3%) / 11-21 (52.4%)
FT/FTA/FT%: 14-18 (77.8%) / 14-16 (87.5%)
Rebounding: 21 (Off: 7, Def: 14) / 24 (Off: 2, Def: 22)
Assists: 19 / 21
Turnovers: 10 / 13
Steals: 11 / 2
Blocks: 2 / 0
Scoring Leaders: Williams (18) / McDermott (41)
Rebounding Leaders: Hall (6) / McDermott (6)
Assists Leaders: Williams (6) / Gibbs (8)
Steals Leaders: Cotton (4) / Manigat, Wragge (1)
Blocks Leaders: Hall, Orukpe (1) / None