Ty-Shon Alexander and the Bluejays didn’t want any letdowns (Juszyk / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
After a choppy-at-best end to the first half on Saturday night, Creighton didn’t mess around and let DePaul build any momentum out of the locker room. The Bluejays assisted and scored on each of their first eight possessions of the second half, outscoring the Blue Demons 18-3 over a 3-minute and 45-second span to build a 29-point lead and never look back en route to a 93-64 victory.
“We didn’t want any let downs,” junior guard Ty-Shon Alexander said of the second-half barrage. “We wanted to lock in defensively, and as soon as we did that we ended up bringing the lead up … our guys really put it on them.”
The Charlotte, N.C., native went 8-of-12 from the floor, including 3-of-5 from 3-point territory to lead all players with a season-high 24 points in 33 minutes. He also dished out a career-best eight assists, only turned the ball over one time, and added five steals and a blocked shot in another brilliant performance on both ends of the floor. With his team leading 42-28 to start the second half, Alexander scored five points and dished out three assists, accounting for 12 of Creighton’s 18 points during a tidal wave of transition offense that the 17,000-plus in attendance at the CHI Health Center Omaha won’t soon forget.
The eight-possession sequence went like this:
- A give-and-go on the left wing between Alexander and sophomore forward Christian Bishop that resulted in a slashing layup 6-foot-5 shooting guard.
- Sophomore point guard Marcus Zegarowski stripped DePaul point guard Charlie Moore, flipped a pass over his head to junior guard Mitch Ballock, who took one dribble into the front court before floating a lob up to the rim to junior forward Damien Jefferson for the alley-oop slam.
- Ballock rebounded a missed shot, hit Alexander on the wing, who then hit Zegarowski in the corner with a touch pass for an open 3-pointer.
- After a quick timeout by DePaul, Creighton forced another miss, then executed another give-and-go with Bishop. This time he found Zegarowski with an on-the-money bounce pass that led the Bluejay floor general straight to the rim for a reverse layup.
- Zegarowski tipped a post entry pass to Ballock. Ballock took one dribble, hit Alexander in stride across mid-court, who put a lob right at the rim for another alley-oop finish by Jefferson.
- A back-door bounce pass from Zegarowski to Alexander for an and-one layup.
- Jefferson rips down a defensive rebound, dribbles to the top of the logo, and hits Bishop in stride right under the basket for an easy one-handed dunk.
- Jefferson steal. Outlet to Bishop. Flip to Alexander. Back to Bishop for the alley-oop.
Creighton’s execution of the game got the crowd into it (Juszyk / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
Eight possessions, eight assists, 18 points on the scoreboard, 67 seconds off the shot clock, and the end result: a 60-31 lead with 16:15 left to play.
“That was exciting,” Alexander said. “Everybody on the team was smiling and being happy. I was trying to see if Mac was going to laugh or smile at least, but he just kept a straight face every time. When we do that the game is just fun. It’s fun for us and the potential for our team is very bright.”
“Ty-Shon and I were talking in the back that was probably the craziest stretch we’ve had since we’ve been at Creighton,” Ballock added. “When you get the crowd into it, it really helps you elevate your game on both ends of the floor and you just play with more intensity. Hopefully we can find that on the road too when the crowd is against (us), but when you have stuff like that and everything is just going the right way it’s pretty fun.”
The spurt was maybe less than an inch away from being 21 points on nine possessions with nine assists, but Ballock’s catch-and-shoot three in transition from the center-court logo was on line, but just a touch long.
“When stuff like that happens and you get the crowd going every once in awhile you have toss up a 35-footer,” Ballock said as he cracked a bashful smile while sitting next to head coach Greg McDermott. “You just have fun with it. When the crowd is having fun, we’re having fun. We play off each other. If we start with energy then they bring the energy. It’s a game within a game, and it’s fun, man.”
Creighton’s lead grew to as large as 33 points and never shrank any lower than 23 the rest of the night. Junior point guard Charlie Moore led the Blue Demons with 20 points and five assists, but 13 of those points came after Creighton had already taken a 30-point lead in the second half, and he was also forced into six turnovers. Between Moore, senior guard Jalen Coleman-Lands, junior forwards Paul Reed and Jaylen Butz, the Bluejays held DePaul’s top four scorers to 31 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, and 11 turnovers. The Bluejays tied a program record with 18 steals, which they converted into a season-high 30 points off turnovers.
“We talk about scheme and we talk about game plan, but at the end of the day we just have to be us with the energy and intensity that Mac talks about on a day-to-day basis,” Ballock said of the defensive effort on DePaul’s core four. “We have the ability on the defensive end to make teams really struggle. They have to earn their buckets. We have the ability to do that — all five of us. When we are hooked up we are pretty scary on the defensive end, and tonight was one of those nights. We control what we can control. We can control them shooting tough shots and we did that.”
Eleven of the 12 members of Creighton’s active roster scored at least one point in the win, including the four players who joined Alexander in double figures. Jefferson and Ballock each finished with 12, while Zegarowski and freshman point guard Shereef Mitchell added 11 points apiece.
See photos from the game courtesy of Ken Juszyk
Creighton improved to 20-6 on the season and moved to a 9-4 in Big East play. Their win over DePaul paired with Seton Hall’s loss at Providence means there is just one game separating the Pirates and Bluejays atop the Big East standings. CU will now head back out on the road for a 7:30 p.m. tip at Fiserv Forum against Marquette as they look keep pace in the race for their first Big East regular season title.