Staring a six-game losing streak in the mirror, Greg McDermott’s Bluejays entered what felt like a make-or-break three-game stretch at home against Butler, DePaul, and Seton Hall needing to figure out a way to win all three in order to recapture their Maui mojo before a two-game road swing at No. 4 UConn and No. 18 Xavier.
Check. Check. Check.
Ryan Kalkbrenner looks to be back to himself based on Tuesday’s game (Juszyk / WBR)
After beating Butler by 22 on December 22nd and DePaul by 15 on Christmas Day, Creighton punctuated the two-week home stand with perhaps their best performance of the season in an 83-61 whooping of a Seton Hall team that had really only been starched one time all year (at now No. 3 Kansas on December 1st). Creighton shot 11-of-27 from 3-point range, dished out 22 assists on 29 made baskets, and led by as many as 32 points — Seton Hall’s largest deficit of the season — on three different occasions in the second half. Junior Ryan Kalkbrenner and sophomores Trey Alexander, Ryan Nembhard, and Arthur Kaluma all scored in double figures. Alexander, Nembhard, and senior Baylor Scheierman had five or more assists. And Alexander, Kaluma, Nembhard, Scheierman, and redshirt freshman Mason Miller each knocked down two 3-pointers. On the defensive end, Kalkbrenner tied his career-high with six blocked shots to spearhead an effort that saw the Bluejays limit the Pirates to 41.5% shooting from 2-point range and 26.3% shooting from beyond the arc.
McDermott figured the first 30 minutes of the game was as well as his team has played all season up to this point.
“I was really proud of attention to detail, especially in the first half to hold them to 22 points,” the 13th-year Bluejay head coach said. “”Defensively, I thought our guys were locked in. I thought we were active. Offensively, we moved it. Anytime we can have 22 assists on 29 makes, that’s how we want to play.”
Trey Alexander set the tone for that defensive activity less than 30 seconds into the game. Seton Hall third-year point guard Kadary Richmond woke up on Tuesday morning leading the Big East in scoring at 18.3 points per game on 56.0% shooting to go along with 6.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists in conference play. On his team’s first defensive possession of the night, Alexander sat down in front of Richmond and beat him to the basket to entice a push off and an early first foul on the Pirates primary offensive catalyst.
Trey Alexander performed on both the offensive and defensive end against Seton Hall (Juszyk / WBR)
Alexander, who was coming off of a career-high 32-point, Christmas Day performance in the win over DePaul, produced that exact same offensive output between his 15 points and six assists against Seton Hall, but added in a defensive effort that limited perhaps the hottest player in the Big East to one assist, two turnovers, and four points on 2-for-7 shooting from the floor.
“We watched a lot of film and knew that he’s very good going downhill,” Alexander said. “If you beat him to the spot like I did the first play of the game then he’s going to get those charges and you can get him in foul trouble. That’s kind of what I tried to do. I tried to set the tone early on the defensive end and get the game started off well.”
That defensive tone was crucial as Creighton got off to a slow start on the offensive end by scoring on two of their first nine possessions of the game. An offensive rebound by Arthur Kaluma that found its way back to him for a wide open three in front of Seton Hall’s bench appeared to light CU’s fuse offensively. That was followed up by 3-pointers by Scheierman and Alexander on two of the following three possessions. Leading 13-10 with just over 11 minutes remaining in the opening half, Creighton got three straight dunks by Kalkbrenner, a left corner three by Mason Miller, a 10-foot hook shot in the lane by Kalkbrenner, then another three by Miller in the span of six possessions to open up a commanding 27-12 advantage.
Creighton cooled off for a few minutes after that with a 3-pointer by Scheierman being their only bucket over the six possessions that followed after the surge by Kalkbrenner and Miller. Ryan Nembhard reduced that to minor sputter by scoring his first 10 points of the night to close out the final 3:33 of the first half. Creighton’s sophomore floor general hit a pair of free throws, back-to-back threes, and a scoop lay-in in the final seconds to cushion his team’s lead from 13 to 21 at the break.
“He came in and did normal Nembhard things,” Kalkbrenner said. “But I think the bigger from that is we didn’t let that stretch affect our defense. Then the offense came and Nembhard hit some big shots for us.”
Seton Hall came out and got quick buckets by Richmond and third-year guard Femi Odukale, but the positive momentum was short-lived as Creighton held them scoreless on nine of their next 10 trips up the floor to extend the lead to 61-29 and effectively reduce the remaining 13:32 to a formality.
The Pirates became the third straight opponent to get held below 0.90 points per possession for a whole game by Creighton. The Bluejays held Butler, DePaul, and Seton Hall to 42.4% shooting on 2-pointers and a 25.9% mark from beyond the arc in the three games combined. Considering that this Pirates squad had a win at Rutgers and one-possession losses to Providence and Xavier teams who are the last remaining teams still sporting a 0 in the loss column in Big East play this season, tonight might stack up as the best defensive performance of the three.
At least, that’s the reigning Big East Defensive Player of the Year sees it.
“I think today more than any of our other games we were connected on defense,” Kalkbrenner said. “We kind of got away from that during our little skid there and we’ve started coming back together. I think today was our best all-around effort as far as being connected and helping each other out on defense.
“I think our connectivity has grown these past three games from where it was when we went on a little skid there. That’s going to be the key for us all season. When we are that connected and we are playing defense like we are supposed to be — sometimes we won’t hit shots, but being connected is what is going to keep us in those games. That’s going to be the key for us all year, not just the upcoming road trip. If we are going to win the games that we want to win then we’ve got to do that.”
Next up on the docket for suddenly surging Bluejays, who now at 9-6 overall and 3-1 in conference play, is back-to-back road games against top 20 opposition, beginning with the fourth-ranked UConn Huskies (14-1, 3-1 Big East) on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. central time in Storrs, CT showcased on FOX.
“When you have an opportunity like we have to go on the road against two top 25 teams, if you’re a basketball player nothing gets you more excited,” fourth-year guard Shereef Mitchell said. “That’s what you work for. You work for moments like these. Coming off the six-game losing streak, this little winning streak is really going to help us go to Connecticut feeling confident.”