On Friday night the Creighton women’s basketball team dropped their third game in a row in a 65-61 home loss to Villanova. It left the Bluejays still looking for their first win of 2015 and according to coaches and players the common theme of those losses is the need to improve defensively.
“It’s my job to be more accountable to improving our defense,” head coach Jim Flanery said. “But we all have to be reflective about that, too, because we’re good enough offensively. Our offensive numbers are plenty good enough for us to be winning basketball games, but we’ve still got some issues defensively.
“It’s not necessarily size or quickness related as much as it is experience and repetition related. I’ve got to hold them more accountable, but we have to make a jump there or we’re going to be in a position where we’re going to be okay on nights where we’re really good on offense we’re going to win maybe, but on nights where we’re just pretty good on offense we’re going to come up on the short end like we have the last three nights.”
Creighton’s main area of concern is a lack of communication on that end of the floor, especially against teams that run as many actions as Villanova. Flanery may have accepted blame for the shortcomings in that area, but junior guard and preseason Big East player of the year Marissa Janning said that despite the lack of experience on a team where eight of the 11 active members are underclassmen, there is no excuse to be quiet on that end of the floor.
“We’re a really good offensive team. We have people that can really score, and the three games we have lost in conference it’s been by one or two possessions,” Janning said. “It’s defense. It’s communication. It’s holding yourself accountable for the on-ball defense. As confident as we are on offense, we have to play with that chip on our shoulder on defense, too, and say ‘you’re not going to get by me.’ Whether it’s a cut or a drive you just kind of have to be that jerk in your mind, like, ‘you’re not going to get to the basket on me.’ People are going to get by you in games, it just happens. But I think it’s important for us and it gives you that extra effort if you motivate yourself like that.
“Obviously there are times where we’ve forced bad shots or we turn over the ball, but we don’t turn over the ball that much as a team. Kind of like Villanova. I just think is huge with us, and it’s not just posts and it’s not just guards, it’s a collective effort. That is our downfall right now.”
Flanery believes that inexperience is probably the main factor in why his team struggles to assert itself and communicate on defense, but like Janning, he also thinks failing to talk is not an acceptable reason to be losing games.
“They’re 19 and 20 and they don’t think it’s quite as important as it is,” Flanery said. “That doesn’t make them bad kids or unusual, but what I’ve told them that our margin for error is small. I just don’t like to lose games because you don’t want to open your mouth.”
Things won’t get any easier for Creighton when the bright lights are shining as they try to work out their issues on the practice floor. The Bluejays got back to work on Saturday morning at D.J. Sokol Arena to prepare for one of the top teams in the league in St. John’s, who brings a 12-3 overall record and 3-1 mark in Big East play to Omaha on Sunday afternoon. After facing the Red Storm they will hit the road for three straight games against Providence, DePaul, and Marquette.
St. John’s won’t be as deliberate in what they do compared to what Creighton faced on Friday night against Villanova, but the Red Storm have plenty of weapons capable of exploiting the Bluejays’ struggling defense inside and out. Junior guards Aliyyah Handford (19.6 points per game) and Danaejah Grant (18.1 points per game) are currently second and third, respectively, in the Big East in scoring, and 6-foot-2 senior forward Amber Thompson leads the conference with 12.1 rebounds per game.
“St. John’s is not as disciplined as Villanova, but they are very good,” Janning said. “They have a couple of girls in Handford and Grant both averaging about 19 [points], and they have Amber Thompson on the inside. The defensive plan is going to be completely different than Villanova, because they don’t play like that really at all. But I think the concentration is going to be defense. We just have to be sharp on offense and then pick it up on defense. I can’t say that enough, I really can’t.”
Tip-off between the Bluejays (8-8, 1-4 Big East) and Red Storm (12-3, 3-1 Big East) is set for 1:05 p.m. on Sunday afternoon at D.J. Sokol Arena. St. John’s holds a 3-2 edge all-time in the head-to-head meetings including winning two out of the three times the teams met last season.