Key Stats:
Creighton’s sophomore trio of Mitch Ballock, Ty-Shon Alexander and Damien Jefferson combined to shoot 21-of-33 from the floor and 11-of-21 from three point range, dish out 11 assists, commit just four turnovers (one apiece for Ballock and Alexander, two for Jefferson), and score 56 of their team’s 93 points. Jefferson (6) and Ballock (7) were the team’s leading rebounders, too.
How good was Ballock in this one? He’s the first Creighton player with at least 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the same game since Bluejay Hall of Famer Ryan Sears had a 25/8/8 line at Southern Illinois on January 8, 2000. Ballock also had two steals, but The Ankeny Bulldog had three in that 2000 game against SIU (because of course he did).
“He was making the extra pass and doing good things with the basketball,” Greg McDermott said in his postgame radio interview on 1620 The Zone. “He’s all about the team. As good of a player as he is, and as good of a teammate as he is, he doesn’t care about anything except winning. Because of that I think he’s a guy his teammates really respect and listen to.”
Press Conference:
Recap:
To say Creighton’s destruction of Georgia State on Tuesday in the Caymans was unexpected would be a fair assumption. KenPom predicted a four-point CU win, the OWH’s Jon Nyatawa picked a one-point CU win, the Vegas line was -3 in favor of the Jays, and I predicted the same. Georgia State returns four starters off of a team that made the NCAA Tourney a year ago, is the odds-on favorite to win the Sun Belt this year, and will (barring something crazy) finish the year as one of the better wins on CU’s non-conference resume.
That’s what makes the first half so remarkable. Creighton bottled up GSU’s two playmakers, with all five defenders focused and locked in on stopping those two. It may have looked like a calculated gamble or even a risk — focusing so much on those two leaves open the possibility of someone else having a career night — but it wasn’t as much of a gamble as you’d think. GSU’s other players aren’t the type that create their own shots, instead mostly relying on D’Marcus Simonds and Jeff Thomas to create opportunities for them. So taking them out of commission shut down GSU’s entire offensive gameplan.
Simonds and Thomas averaged a combined 39.8 points entering the game, and were held scoreless over the final 15 minutes of the first half. They shot a combined 3-of-10 from the floor in the half, but all three of the makes came in the game’s first five minutes.
With those two essentially taken out of the game, Georgia State was rendered helpless offensively. As a team they were 0-for-10 behind the arc and 8-for-27 overall in the first half, bookended by two long droughts — they were scoreless for the game’s first four minutes, and missed all but one shot attempt over the final seven minutes. And because of all those missed shots — and lack of offensive rebounds — Creighton had ample opportunity to push the ball in transition, which in turn made Georgia State’s matchup zone far less effective.
Then Creighton’s offense went to work. They made 20 of their 33 first-half shots, including eight from 3-point range. They put together a series of short runs — 11-4 to open the game, and eight straight points to turn an 18-12 lead into a 26-12 advantage. And they ended the half on a huge 24-4 run, which included nine points from Jefferson in a variety of ways — a dunk, a three-pointer, a mid-range jumper, and a dribble drive.
“Just the threat of Damien making threes means defenses have to respect it,” Greg McDermott said on his postgame radio interview. “And he’s really worked hard on his shot. We’ve totally revamped his shooting fundamentals during the time that he’s been here, and he’s bought into that.”
Noting that Jefferson’s wrist injury over the summer could have derailed that momentum, McDermott praised his work ethic and was happy to see it pay dividends through two games in the Caymans.
“He made some great cuts against their zone, and he’s been active on the glass. Defensively, he allows us to switch on ball screens because he’s athletic enough to stay in front of anyone. This has been a great tournament for him from a confidence standpoint.”
Leading 52-24, what was expected to be a close game was over by halftime. That allowed them the opportunity to get bigger minutes for some of their bench players — Kaleb Joseph played 10 second half minutes, Connor Cashaw saw 11 minutes, and true freshman Christian Bishop saw his first court time as a Bluejay, logging four points, three rebounds and a block in five minutes. Though McDermott had said after the season opener that the decision had been made not to redshirt Bishop, when he didn’t get into the first four games some fans wondered if they were hedging their bets. That’s a moot point with Bishop’s debut, and though he remains a bit raw, his size and athleticism can help them defensively.
It also allowed freshman point guard Marcus Zegarowski to continue to get more experience. He finished with 14 points (5-of-9 shooting, 2-of-4 from three) with three rebounds and three assists in a career high 27 minutes.
“I’m seeing the things in Marcus that I saw when we recruited him: he has a tremendous basketball IQ, and it’s not often you can find a point guard who can score but also sees the things he sees and has such a great feel for the game,” McDermott said in his postgame radio interview. “When you watch him in transition, he is scouring the floor trying to figure out ‘where are my shooters?’. Sometimes going faster, sometimes going slower so he can let the shooters catch up if he needs to. Those are things that I’d like to say I taught him (laughs), but those are things he showed up with. His mom and dad are both basketball people. Obviously his brother Michael Carter-Williams is in the NBA. He’s a basketball junkie and he loves to win and loves to compete. And he does what he’s asked to do. This has been a lot to learn for a point guard in a short period of time, and the transition has gone incredibly smooth.”
The 93-68 win sets up what Creighton hoped to get entering the tourney — a crack at #16 Clemson in the title game. The Tigers won 27 games a year ago and advanced to the Sweet 16 as a five-seed after tying for third in the ACC. That team was incredibly balanced, boasting the #44 offense in terms of efficiency by KenPom, and the #7 defense. Four starters return from that squad, and they’ve begun the season 5-0.
Greg McDermott compared Clemson to a more experienced version of the Ohio State team we saw a week ago in Omaha — tough, disciplined defensively, with multiple playmakers inside and out offensively. They force a turnover on 21.2% of their opponents possessions, pressuring the ball and often hurrying you into bad decisions. Creighton hasn’t been great at controlling the ball even in their four wins, with a much higher turnover rate than a year ago; they have to cut down the careless passes and sloppy turnovers tonight.
A pair of senior guards in Marcquise Reed and Shelton Mitchell are dangerous players that break down defenses off the dribble. They get to the rim a lot, and when they do, they score nearly 60% of the time. Staying in front of them is easier said than done, but if Creighton’s guards allow Reed and Mitchell to run downhill into the paint all night, it’s going to be a long night.
And with senior forward Elijah Thomas, a 6’9″ 245-pound behemoth in the paint (he might actually be bigger than his listed numbers) to protect the rim defensively and grab rebounds, Creighton’s big men are going to have to play better than they have so far. Martin Krampelj, Samson Froling and Jacob Epperson combined for 10 points and 10 rebounds against Georgia State. That’s not going to work tonight. Clemson plays mostly man-to-man defense, which will probably lead to fewer open looks on the perimeter and more chances to score at the rim for CU’s bigs — if they can capitalize.
That’s a lot of ifs, and Clemson may very well prove to be too big of a challenge this early in the season. But with two wins where they showed massive improvement, Creighton’s already gotten what they needed out of this tourney. They enter the title game as an underdog to a very good ACC team, playing with house money (so to speak) and the chance to hang a banner. This would be a huge win — and with the rest of the Big East scuffling, would turn some heads in Creighton’s direction around the league. KenPom predicts a four-point Clemson win; Vegas favors Clemson by three.
I think Creighton’s hot shooting continues tonight, and they overcome all the ‘ifs’ for a big win.