![\"Doug](\"http:\/\/whiteandbluereview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/mcdermott-soaring-villanova.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n#10 | February 16, 2014 | McDermott Scores 39 on 13-17 Shooting against #6 Villanova<\/strong><\/p>\n In your biggest games, you need your biggest player to play like it, and when #6 Villanova came to town Doug McDermott set the tone. He scored his team\u2019s first 11 points,\u00a0hitting back-to-back threes to start the game to the delight of the capacity crowd which roared at ear-splitting decibel levels. Against one of the nation\u2019s best defenses, he went 13-17 overall, 4-6 from three-point range and 9-9 from the free-throw line en route to 39 points.<\/p>\n Coach McDermott told 1620AM after the game<\/a>, \u201cHe\u2019s very dedicated to wanting to help this team win. I\u2019ve been coaching a long time, and even if he wasn\u2019t my kid I don\u2019t know that I\u2019ve ever been around a player that has a knack for big games the way Doug has a knack for big games. One of my assistants came in before the game into the locker room and said, Doug is LOCKED IN. He said, \u2018I like it when Doug is locked in.\u2019 (laughs) And I said, \u2018That makes two of us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n #9 | March 4, 2012 | McDermott Carries Jays to Title, Scores 33 Points<\/strong><\/p>\n Because of MVC Tournament Most Outstanding Player Doug McDermott, the Bluejays assured themselves of a return to\u00a0the NCAA tournament in 2012, as the sophomore carried them to an overtime victory in the MVC Title Game.\u00a0Here\u2019s what Ott wrote while basking in the joy of an MVC title<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cGreat players take over the most important of games, and McDermott did so Sunday afternoon in front of a national broadcast television audience. He scored 12 straight points during one stretch of the second half, cutting into Illinois State\u2019s 4-point lead and answering every Redbird run with a pick-and-pop three-pointer or a nifty finish in the frontcourt. Jon Ekey played solid defense against McDermott, and the sophomore Player of the Year in the Valley\u00a0still\u00a0<\/em>managed to score 33 points, grab 6 rebounds, and carry the Jays and Creighton Nation on his back to a tournament title.<\/p>\n As the game dragged on and it became evident Illinois State wouldn\u2019t surrender, McDermott started to display \u201cThe Look\u201d \u2014 that poise, that body language shown by a tremendous individual and team player when he decides it is time to take over a game. As a frontcourt player, McDermott is dependent on teammates to find him in good spots to score. Gibbs and Young did that, and Dougie Fresh rewarded them with finish after finish. His 33 points tied Nate Funk for Creighton\u2019s single-game record in a Valley tournament game. But all apologies to The Dimer; McDermott\u2019s was more impressive given the stage (championship game, versus the semifinals) and the fact his game was close (Funk\u2019s 33 came in a 75-58 blowout against Missouri State in 2007).\u201d<\/p>\n \n #8 | December 9 and 15, 2012 | McDermott Scores 30+ in Back to Back Games<\/strong><\/p>\n During two December nights in his junior year, Doug McDermott torched back-to-back teams for 30 points, becoming the first Bluejay since Bob Harstad in 1990 to accomplish that feat. First, he lit up Akron with 30 points on 10-15 shooting and a career-high 6-8 from three-point range. In the first half,\u00a0McDermott used a between-the-legs dribble to get space from a defender, then drained a three-pointer over 7-foot center Zeke Marshall. The next trip down, McDermott\u2019s spin move left Marshall in the dust as CU took its first double-digit lead of the game. Those two plays start at the 2:15 mark of this highlight reel.<\/p>\n \n In their next game, he was even more impressive, lighting up the Cal Golden Bears for 34 points.\u00a0In a first half when his teammates struggled to make shots, McDermott scored 18 points on 6-8 shooting, including 2-2 from three-point range and 4-4 from the line. He made as many field goals as the rest of the team combined in that first half, with the rest of the Jays going 6-23 from the floor and 1-9 from three-point range. The phase \u201csingle-handedly kept his team in the game\u201d is over-used in basketball, because it is still a team sport,\u00a0but this is one of those times where it\u2019s absolutely the truth<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n #7 | January 11, 2013 | The Showcase in Springfield<\/strong><\/p>\n The first half of this game went about as well as Missouri State could have hoped for \u2014 they more or less held Doug McDermott in check with 11 points, the rest of the Bluejays were missing tons of open looks, and they played just well enough themselves to keep the crowd invested. There were four ties and 10 lead changes, as neither team could pull away from the other.<\/p>\n Then the second half came, and like a buzzsaw, whatever hopes of an upset Missouri State had were chopped down by an All-American who put on the type of performance people will tell their grandchildren about decades from now.\u00a0That\u2019s only slightly hyperbolic<\/a>. He scored all of Creighton\u2019s points in an 18-5 run that pushed the lead out to 50-32, making an absurd\u00a014 straight baskets without a miss<\/em>. Doug\u2019s 44-point game at Bradley last year might have resulted in more points, but this was something altogether different. I mean, he\u00a0outscored the Bears 28-25 all by himself in the second half<\/em>.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what Ott wrote after the game<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t poke the bear.\u00a0<\/strong>In essence, that\u2019s what Action 3 News television sports director Chase Williams and broadcaster extraordinaire (and WBR contributor) Nick Bahe warned no one in particular Friday night. With the early minutes of Creighton\u2019s road game at Missouri State proving a bit chippy and very physical, the gentlemen bringing the TV broadcast back to the living rooms and sports bars in Omaha proved prophetic. Be careful how physical you get with Doug McDermott, Bears; most of the time he excels in the face of such confrontation.<\/p>\n And so began what for our current purposes we\u2019ll call The Showcase in Springfield.<\/p>\n McDermott scored 39 points in 33 minutes, setting the JQH Arena record and single-handedly pulling the Jays away from a game Bears team in the second half. McDermott missed just one shot in the second half, going 10-11 from the field, 3-3 from three-point range, and 5-5 from the free throw line. His 28 points in the second half were more than the entire Missouri State team combined (25). He also doubled up his own teammates during the second stanza, 28 to 14.<\/p>\n The Bears pressured McDermott and fellow frontcourt mate Gregory Echenique early and often. McDermott missed three of his first four field goal attempts. But from the 12:11 mark in the first half until the 4:13 mark in the second half, McDermott couldn\u2019t miss. Seriously.<\/p>\n McDermott started the second half on a personal 18-5 scoring run that saw the Bluejays distance themselves from MSU. He made 14 consecutive shots at one point. The biggest applause among the Bears faithful in the second half came when McDermott\u00a0finally\u00a0<\/em>missed. At that point, though, MSU fans had paid witness to the greatest player in recent Missouri Valley Conference history.<\/p>\n Perfect low post position leading to lay ups. Baseline pull-up jumpers. Quick-release three-pointers from the top of the arc. Fade-away, fallback jumpers. Left-handed scoop shots in the lane. Dribble-drives against helpless defenders. Put-back tips in the paint. It was all on display against Missouri State.\u201d<\/p>\n \n #6 | January 7, 2012 | Career-High 44 Points in win at Bradley<\/strong><\/p>\n In this January, 2012 game, Doug McDermott had one of the greatest single-game offensive performances in the storied history of Creighton Basketball. His 18 field goals were one away from the all-time school record, and his 44 points were the most by a Bluejay since Benoit Benjamin scored 45 in a January, 1985 game. At several points during a second half where he scored 31 points, the television crew of Travis Justice and Nick Bahe were so amazed that they were reduced to incredulous giggling. Who could blame them? As he did in the game the previous month against Tulsa, Doug McDermott was playing on a different level than everyone else on the court. Bradley threw every defensive strategy known to man at him in an attempt to at least slow him down, to no avail.<\/p>\n Hilariously, at one point, the Bradley P.A. announcer inside Carver Arena said after a basket with obvious frustration, \u201cDoug McDermott, two more points.\u201d\u00a0As I wrote after the game<\/a>, \u201chis ability to break opposing teams\u2019 confidence apparently extends to public address announcers now, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n In his postgame piece, Ott gushed<\/a>, \u201cI\u2019m banging away at the keyboard while hoisting a cold Heineken to honor McDermott, who etched his name among some fairly special company in the Creighton record books tonight. McDermott\u2019s 44 points are the sixth highest total in a single game in the program\u2019s history, and the highest output since Benoit Benjamin scored 45 points against Indiana State in 1985. In back to back games in 1985, Benjamin made 18 field goals against Southern Illinois and Indiana State. No one at Creighton has made 18 field goals in a game since that week nearly 22 years ago \u2014 until tonight. McDermott went 18-23 from the floor, tying him with Benjamin (x2) and Eddie Cole for the second-highest field goal makes in a game in CU history (Bob Portman (x2) and Wally Anderzunas share the record with 19 makes).<\/p>\n Poor Bradley really had no chance. Pop in a tape of the game, sit back, and watch McDermott score with almost any possible low post move. Then track him as he picks and pops on the perimeter, knocking down three of the five 3-pointers he attempted.\u00a0The Braves tried to play him one-on-one, they tried to double-team him. It didn\u2019t matter. McDermott either went around, over, or even through the defense en route to the hoop.\u201d<\/p>\n \n #5 | February 18, 2012 | McDermott Makes Improbable Bucket, Leads Win over Long Beach<\/strong><\/p>\n In their 2012 BracketBuster game, a talented, hungry Long Beach State team led by Casper Ware came to the CenturyLink Center determined to leave with a win.\u00a0With 4:30 to play, Long Beach State led 76-69<\/a>, answering every Creighton run with a run of their own, and though the crowd was trying\u00a0valiantly\u00a0to keep the Jays in the game, time was running short. The fans knew it. The Jays knew it. Long Beach State knew it.<\/p>\n Doug McDermott made a cross-court pass to the far wing, where a wide-open Ethan Wragge fired up a three-pointer. The shot missed badly, but flying seemingly out of nowhere was McDermott, who in one motion caught the ball, redirected it, and tipped the ball in. It was the sort of play that said to his teammates and to the Creighton fans, \u201cWe\u2019re winning this game.\u201d Literally.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was a little more vocal during our timeouts than he usually is,\u201d Greg McDermott said in his postgame remarks on AM590. \u201cHis statement was, \u2018We\u2019re not losing this game. We are NOT losing this game!\u2019 I kept hearing it out of him, and that\u2019s the natural progression for Doug as a leader. He believed we were going to win, and he certainly made winning plays for us tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n From the moment that ball dropped through the bottom of the net, everything changed.<\/p>\n Creighton outscored Long Beach State 10-3 from that point forward, taking confidence from Doug McDermott\u2019s example. They played their most inspired defense of the season, with freshman Austin Chatman fighting through screens to stay in the grill of LBSU point guard Casper Ware, forcing him into wild shots and taking them out of their offensive flow. They made clutch play after clutch play, from McDermott\u2019s rebound and putback with just under two minutes left to cut the lead to two, to Gregory Echenique\u2019s running hook shot to tie it at 79 with 90 seconds left, to Echenique ripping down his most ferocious rebound in a career full of ferocious rebounds with 48 seconds left, to Echenique forcing a turnover to set up the final possession after Chatman turned it over on a dubious over-and-back call.<\/p>\n All of those plays over the final four minutes, inspired by Doug McDermott\u2019s tip-in and his words in the huddle, put the Jays in position to win, and gave Young the opportunity to seize his signature moment \u2014 making his patented off-balance running jumper in the lane, this time just as the clock read all zeroes.<\/p>\n Doug\u2019s unbelievable one-handed tip-and-shoot is at the 4:03 mark of this highlight reel, but you might want to stick around and watch the rest, too. Look closely during the scene of the students rushing the court for a shot of McDermott closelining one of the Jays Dancers accidentally!<\/p>\n \n #4 | December 19, 2011 | McDermott Scores 35 on 16-23 Shooting, Impresses Tulsa Coach<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to remember a day when this was true, but in December of 2011, Doug McDermott wasn\u2019t yet a household name among college hoops fans outside of the MVC footprint. That all changed after his performance at Tulsa.\u00a0Patrick Marshall wrote afterward<\/a>, \u201cDoug McDermott went out and scored a career high 35 points on 16-of-23 shooting, in the process showing off moves that everyone has been watching all season \u2014 spinning left, spinning right, hook shot, jump shot. Tulsa did not have an answer for him. On a play in the second half as the shot clock was running out, McDermott nailed a long three pointer with a hand in his face that basically epitomized the night he was having. He then connected on another three pointer 30 seconds later, upping his three-point shooting percentage to 57.5%. Remarkably, he now has nine straight games scoring more than 24 points.\u201d<\/p>\n That long three as the shot clock was expiring \u2014 a turnaround, spinning, heave of a shot from 30 feet out \u2014 is the play everyone remembers from this game, and rightfully so. Was it a spectacular play? Sure. It\u2019s what it symbolizes, though, that makes it so memorable. For a lot of Bluejay fans, it was the moment when they realized McDermott was going to be more than just a really good player, but one of the best to ever play for Creighton. I can remember sitting at the Olympic Sports Bar with the Bluejay Banter guys watching the webcast of the game \u2014 remember webcasts? \u2014 and being completely dumbfounded at that shot. No one does that. Well, mere mortals don\u2019t do that. Doug did. And from that moment on, the secret was out.<\/p>\n But don\u2019t take it from me. Here\u2019s Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik from his postgame press conference, in what\u2019s now become a legendary rant on Doug:<\/p>\n \u201cI tell you what, that was one impressive performance by Doug McDermott. I thought the guy single-handedly broke the spirit of my team. In particular, my three seniors and sophomore post players. He was terrific. We really wanted to defend the three-point line against them. They make 10 three\u2019s a game. We did a really good job on (Jahenns) Manigat. He gets one shot, no three\u2019s. We did a really good job on Ethan Wragge. He\u2019s an excellent three-point shooter. My goodness, it really surprised us how good McDermott was, particularly in the post against size, how good his strength is, how good his stamina is, how good his feet are, and how good of hands he has. He was very impressive to me, tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n The shot-clock buzzer beater comes at the 4:10 mark in this highlight reel. You might want to watch the whole second-half clinic, though. It\u2019s thoroughly enjoyable.<\/p>\n \n #3 | January 28, 2014 | McDermott\u2019s Game-Winning Three Ruins St. John\u2019s Comeback<\/strong><\/p>\n Prior to hitting the game-winner at St. Joseph\u2019s earlier this year (spoiler alert: it\u2019s next on our list), Doug McDermott had never made a last-second shot to win a game for the Bluejays, which was a surprising thing to a lot of people. That one came on the road,\u00a0making the game-winner against St. John\u2019s a special moment<\/a>, and barring a repeat against Providence tonight, in all probability a once-in-a-career moment. Knocked to the ground on the shot, after McDermott\u2019s game-winning three-pointer dropped through, he laid on the court for a few seconds not for dramatic effect, but to soak in the immense roar of the fans inside CenturyLink Center.<\/p>\n He was the likely Wooden Award winner as the best player in the country before, but with that shot, he\u2019d given voters his \u201cWooden Moment\u201d \u2014 an indelible memory that all but clinches his coronation. It lit up Twitter like a Christmas tree, with dozens of national analysts from ESPN, Fox, CBS, NBC and elsewhere proclaiming that after that shot, in that moment, every other contender for the award was now playing for second place.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a moment.<\/p>\n With the game tied at 60, would the Jays set up a play for McDermott? Would St. John\u2019s allow the best player in the country to even touch the ball? On the Creighton radio broadcast, Nick Bahe speculated that they would not \u2014 that St. John\u2019s would double him, and make someone else beat them. Whichever guard had the ball when it crossed half-court would be the player that would have to make the play. Instead, St. John\u2019s coach Steve Lavin opted to defend the final possession straight-up, just as they had all night. Isaiah Zierden put a spectacular screen on the player assigned to guard McDermott, St. John\u2019s shot-blocker extraordinaire Chris Obekpa \u2014 putting his backside into him and pushing Obekpa back, allowing McDermott to catch the ball and get just enough of a view of the rim to put up a shot.<\/p>\n Was there any doubt the shot would go in? McDermott told the media afterward that although he didn\u2019t see it go in, he knew it was destined to go in the second it left his hands, and the roar of the crowd let him know he was right.<\/p>\n The shot comes at the 6:30 mark of this highlight reel. I dare you to not get goosebumps as you re-watch it.<\/p>\n \n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n