Bluejay Beat Postgame Podcast:
A slumping basketball team was dealt another crushing blow when the Creighton Bluejays, losers of three straight games in Big East play, found that starting forward Ronnie Harrell, Jr. was a gameday scratch due to a severe infection in his left foot, making the daunting task of beating Villanova, one of the best teams in all of college basketball, seem nearly impossible. However, when senior guard Marcus Foster walked into the locker room at the CenturyLink Center Omaha, he saw something in his teammates that let him know nothing was going to get the Bluejays down on this day.
“I just saw that a lot of people had that look in their eyes like they were ready to step up,” Foster said. “I remember seeing Ty-Shon — I always mess with him about being nervous before games, and today he was just sitting there looking locked in and I knew he was going to have a good day and do whatever it took.
“We didn’t know Ronnie was going to be out, but we had a little team meeting last night and I think guys really put some good things out there. There were honest with themselves. People admitted that they were in the wrong about how we were playing, but guys knew we had to fix it and we got out there and we fixed it … that mindset we had leaving that team meeting that we were going to come out and do whatever it takes, that’s what was going to happen today for us.”
Both teams came out of their corners slinging haymakers at each other, and for the first five minutes, the short-handed Jays matched the 3rd-ranked team in the nation punch for punch. Each team buried four threes, mostly with a hand in their faces to draw even at 15-15 by the first media timeout with 15:41 to go in the first half. It was the first sign to those in attendance that despite the adversity, the Bluejays were going to be in the fight.
“They had 15 points at the TV timeout, but so did we,” Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said. “If we’re playing selfish basketball it’s 15-6 or 15-7 and we have an uphill battle. I thought [Foster] made a lot of great plays for his teammates.”
Sophomore point guard Davion Mintz really got the crowd going when he recovered in time to block Villanova guard Phil Booth’s shot after getting beat off the dribble, a sequence that was capped off when junior guard Khyri Thomas buried a three from the right wing on the ensuing possession to give the Jays a 20-17 lead with 13:11 on the clock.
Khyri Thomas hit his first 5 attempts from 3-point range en route to a Creighton win over #3 Villanova (WBR/Spomer)
Thomas brought the hometown crowd to its feet several times in the first half by starting a perfect five-for-five from the 3-point line. His fifth trifecta of the opening period put Creighton in front by one, and the Jays stretched the lead to four when Mintz stole a ball along the baseline and went coast-to-coast for the finish at the rim to make it 33-29 with 5:38 to go before halftime.
The Wildcats responded how they normally do when faced with these situations — execute flawlessly without much flashiness and methodically take control of the game. They moved in front, 40-35, behind an 11-2 run toward the end of the half, but Creighton hadn’t punched themselves out just yet as Foster crossed up Booth at the top of the key and buried a step back three over the redshirt junior guard’s outstretched hand just before the buzzer to cut the deficit to 40-38 at the break.
Foster and Thomas combined for 29 first-half points, knocking down a total of seven 3-pointers between them. Though they went into the locker room trailing by two, the Bluejays won all of the battles you need to win in order to give yourself a chance against Jay Wright’s Wildcats. Creighton only committed four turnovers to Villanova’s five, and picked up just five personal fouls in 20 minutes, same as their nationally-ranked foe.
To begin the second half, Creighton posted up Khryi Thomas on the low block to tie the game on the first possession. Villanova responded by scoring five in a row, but Creighton once again kept swinging away, answering with a 12-4 run to take a 52-49 lead with 12:23 remaining. The freshmen tandem of 6-foot-5 guard Mitch Ballock and 6-foot-11 center Jacob Epperson connected on a pick and roll for an alley-oop to give the Jays a one-point lead, then Epperson got free and laid one in off the glass to make it a three-point game.
The Jays pushed the lead to six on a mid-range jumper at the elbow by Thomas, but the battle-tested Wildcats — who rarely, if ever, get rattled — landed what appeared to be a game-changing blow with an 18-4 run — sparked by open threes from Donte DiVincenzo and Omari Spellman — to take a 68-60 lead, with 4:30 remaining.
McDermott took a timeout as his team brought the ball across half court, and he reminded them that there aren’t any 8-pointers in the game of basketball.
“We talked about one possession at a time,” he said. “Sometimes if you’ve watched Marcus play, he likes to hit home runs. We just talked about how the only way to get this thing even is with a score and a stop, a score and a stop.”
His team listened. The first play out of the timeout resulted in Epperson throwing down another lob on the back end of Villanova’s zone defense, and the second resulted in a corner three for Foster to cut the deficit to 68-65 and force Wright to burn a timeout with 3:41 to play.
“The first one was my fault,” Wright said of Creighton’s execution out of the timeout. “I thought we had tired bodies, so we went 2-3 zone and Greg ran a great play — he got me on that one. On the second one we went for a steal, had to step, and we left Foster and he hits a three. One time Greg got me with a great play out of a timeout; we switch defenses and they run a great play. The next time we go for a steal, we’re sloppy, and they get a three. That’s what games like this are like. You know on the road in this league you’re going to play in great environments and you’re going to play against great teams.”
The Bluejays put together five consecutive stops altogether and added a baseline jumper by Foster, plus a pair of free throws by Ballock to take a 69-68 lead with 1:18 to play. National Player of the Year candidate Jalen Brunson put the Wildcats back in front with a layup over Epperson while drawing a foul. He hit the free throw to make it 71-69 with less than a minute to go, but the lead changed again on the ensuing Creighton possession when Foster hit Ballock in the right corner in front of the Jays’ bench for a go-ahead three with 31.9 seconds left.
“I was kind of surprised it got to me, honestly,” Ballock said of Foster’s setup.
“That’s because I’m an elite passer,” Foster interrupted, drawing a laugh from his teammate on the podium.
“Jalen was up in the gap a little high,” Ballock continued. “Marcus was sizing up his guy and he saw me, and obviously he’s an elite passer, so he made the play and I just had the confidence to knock it down.”
Villanova junior forward Mikal Bridges missed a go-ahead 3-pointer on the next possession and a 10-man free-for-all ensued as both teams tried to secure the rebound. After a few seconds of chaos and bodies flying and falling all over each other, Creighton Khryi Thomas sprinted out the madness with the basketball before getting fouled with just under 10 seconds left on the clock.
With a chance to make it a three-point game, Thomas missed the first free throw, then Foster fouled DiVincenzo on the rebound to send the Villanova guard to the free throw line with a chance to take the lead. DiVincenzo returned Thomas’ favor, however, by missing the first shot long off the back iron before hitting the second to tie the game. Bridges blocked Foster’s potential game-winning shot on a drive to the basket as the final seconds of regulation ticked off the clock.
Although his two best players went from nearly icing the victory to giving Villanova a chance to win in a span of less than a second, McDermott offered only some positive perspective in the team huddle before overtime.
“I told them you get to play five more minutes in the greatest game of your life, so let’s enjoy it — let’s go out and let’s throw some punches.”
Epperson won the tip and Creighton landed the first punch with Khyri Thomas driving to the basket and scoring off the glass. Villanova answered with a layup by junior forward Eric Paschall and back and forth it went. Epperson layup, Paschall again inside, then Mintz offensive rebound and stick back.
That’s when the Jays strung together three consecutive stops that allowed them to stretch the lead to 81-76 with 1:22 remaining. After a layup by Brunson cut the deficit to three, Mintz hit Thomas on the break to beat the full court pressure. Booth fouled Thomas before he could finish at the rim, which after a review was a ruled a flagrant one, awarding Creighton two free throws and the ball with a three-point lead with just over a minute to go. Thomas split the free throws, then Creighton executed a baseline out of bounds play to get Ballock an easy layup to make it 84-78.
Marcus Foster led all scorers with 28 points as Creighton upset #3 Villanova (WBR/Williams)
Marcus Foster went 5-for-6 at the free throw line over the final minute to finish with a game-high 28 points to seal the 89-83 upset in front of a raucous crowd of 18,321 at the C’Link. Foster also tied his career-high with eight rebounds. Khyri Thomas added 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting, and Mitch Ballock chipped in 13 points, a career-high eight assists, six rebounds, and three steals while starting in place of Harrell. That trio logged at least 43 of the possible 45 minutes on the afternoon with Thomas leading all players with 44.
“I had about three [moments where I felt tired],” Thomas said outside the team locker room after the game. “I told Mac, ‘I need one for a minute, just give me a minute’ and he just looked me off and I was like ‘it’s going to be one of those days.’ But then the timeouts started happening and I caught my breath with those.”
The win gives Creighton its 18th 20-win season in the last 20 years, and sets up a Senior Night game against DePaul on Tuesday night that, with a win, will clinch a first-round bye in the Big East Tournament and most likely lock up an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. Tip-off between the Bluejays and Blue Demons is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. with a senior night ceremony for Marcus Foster, Toby Hegner, Tyler Clement, and Manny Suarez taking place on the court immediately following the game.