Creighton knew they were in for a war in the trenches for 40 minutes on Thursday afternoon, they just didn’t know that Providence would be using smaller soldiers than they normally do. 6-foot-9 sophomore Kalif Young is in the starting lineup most days and 6-foot-10 freshman Nate Watson scored 20 points against the Jays in the first meeting in Omaha this season. Those two combined to play eight minutes in Creighton’s 72-68 overtime quarterfinal loss to Providence. For most of the afternoon, the tallest player on the floor for Ed Cooley’s Friars was 6-foot-8 forward Rodney Bullock. Despite rolling out a smaller lineup, they still hauled in 16 offensive rebounds and 45 all together for the game.
“Our metric said they [go small] about 20-22 percent of the time on the year,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “Probably wasn’t anticipating 90 percent of the time today.”
Bullock along with Alpha Diallo (6-foot-7), Jalen Lindsey (6-foot-7), and Isaiah Jackson (6-foot-6) grabbed 36 of the team’s 45 total rebounds and 12 of the 16 that came on the offensive glass, leading to 12 second-chance points, including Diallo’s put back to tie the game with 12 seconds left in regulation. Creighton tried to counter with a smaller lineup of their own after the coaching staff felt their five-players in Toby Hegner and Jacob Epperson were starting to become consistent targets for Providence on the offensive end. But no matter what they tried, it wasn’t enough to win that area of the game, which proved to be as crucial as any.
“We put a lot of emphasis on them being a great offensive rebounding team, you know it’s going to be physical,” Jays junior guard Khyri Thomas said. “There’s no way they’re not physical and getting that many rebounds on the offensive end. We had to be the tougher team tonight in certain situations, especially rebounding. Some of those rebounds I wish would have ended up in our hands, but you can’t wish, you gotta go get ’em. You have to take them.”
Freshmen Trio Ace First Test at MSG
Jacob Epperson (pictured), TyShon Alexander, and Mitch Ballock were ready for the big stage in NYC (Spomer / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
One major bright spot for the Jays in a losing effort on Thursday was the inspired play of their freshmen — Ty-Shon Alexander, Mitch Ballock, and Jacob Epperson. They combined for 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting in their first game ever at Madison Square Garden, the “Mecca of Basketball.”
“They played great,” McDermott said. “In the guts of the game we had those three guys out there a lot. We’re excited about their future and today is another experience for them to build on.”
Alexander, who finished with four points, one rebound, one assist, one steal, and no turnovers in 22 minutes, was stout defensively. Often winning matchups that didn’t favor him physically by staying down on shot fakes, keeping his hands high and his feet moving. Ballock had 12 points, four rebounds, and two assists while guarding the bigger, stronger Alpha Diallo for 35 minutes. And Epperson, who lit a spark on both ends of the floor to help Creighton take a 30-26 halftime lead, finished with nine points and a career-high 5 blocks.
“At The Garden obviously there is a lot of history, but it was just another game honestly,” Ballock said. “We’re freshmen, but we’re not really freshmen. We’re 30 games deep, so now we’re kind of getting the hang of things. Hopefully we can keep getting better, keep getting more comfortable, and keep making an impact to help the team win. Even going into the NCAA Tournament it’s about just staying confident and comfortable and doing what we need to do to win.”
Getting Right For the NCAA Tournament
Mitch Ballock wanted that last shot back, but coach Mac and the team have trust in Ballock and would do it again (Spomer / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
The mood in the team locker room was understandably down after a rare one-and-done showing in the Big East Tournament especially when you got to Mitch Ballock’s locker. One of the last few guys still in his game uniform, Ballock had one very good reason to more disappointed than everyone else. His wide open three in the final seconds that would have tied the game clanged off the front iron in overtime to seal the team’s fate, providing the freshman guard with a moment he wanted to shake off, but couldn’t.
“I want it back,” Ballock said of the shot he has made thousands of times in games, practices, and on his own time in the gym.
“Obviously it’s a one time thing and you can’t do it again. If you mess up you can’t do it again, you just have to live with it. I wanted it back right when I let it go, I just felt it was a little short and I didn’t really give it a chance. It’s kind of eating at me, but you just have to put it in the past and move on I guess.”
Greg McDermott doesn’t have any regrets about that final play, other than the result. If he had to do all over again, he’d run the same play, the same way, to the same guy. Why? Preparation.
“All you can control is your preparation,” the Jays head coach said. “I work in the same building where we practice. So I know how much time this guy spends in there working on those situations. And I know how much time Mitch spends in there — usually because the music he plays is a little different than everybody else’s, so I know it’s him, him or Tyler Clement.
So they’re in there, working at it, preparing themselves for that moment. As long as you can look at yourself in the mirror and say: ‘You know what, I prepared myself, I just missed it.’
And I’m confident, I think Marcus would agree with me, that we’re very comfortable with Mitch taking that shot in that situation. It was a great read. And we got the shot we wanted. We just missed it.”
Easier said than done given the stage it was, but now it’s time to reset the mind and move on, because in two days they’ll find out their first round opponent for the NCAA Tournament and they won’t have much time to hook and get ready for an unfamiliar foe if they are dwelling on the previous game.
“We don’t want to go home early, but in our minds at the beginning of the year we wanted to make a run in the NCAA Tournament,” Ballock said. “I think we have a chance to do that. We don’t fear anybody. We’ll play whoever and we want to show everybody what we have.
“This one is going to hurt and sting a little bit. We have to live with it right now, but tomorrow we have to let it go, get back to the drawing board, find out who we draw, pick it up and go back at them. Hopefully we can get into the tournament and do what we need to do.”