Inside the Box Score:
Creighton was sloppy with the ball, committing 17 turnovers, and as a result they took 17 fewer shots than Arkansas. But when they did get a shot off, they were incredible for the second straight day in Maui — they made 31-of-53 overall (58.5%) and 7-of-14 from three (50%). And they made 21-of-29 from the line.
Ryan Nembhard was outstanding, leading the Jays in scoring with 25 points and scoring every way possible — he was 10-of-12 from the line, 3-of-4 from three-point range, and even had a dunk in traffic. He also had five assists against just two turnovers in 36 minutes.
Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting, showing no signs of the rolled ankle he suffered the day before. Telling John Bishop on the postgame radio show that it felt fine, he added, “Once you get the adrenaline going, it goes away. When I woke up this morning, it was really stiff, but we did some stretching before we headed over to the gym. We got in the pool at the hotel and did some movement stuff to loosen it up, actually.”
Baylor Scheierman added 20 points with seven boards and three assists, playing all but 30 seconds of the game. “Everybody that played was huge. But Baylor hit some big shots,” McDermott said. “He’s got a calmness about him, and an ability to read situations. We had him be the screener on a couple of those plays for Kalkbrenner, because he’d hit so many threes we didn’t think they’ve leave him. That’s part of giving up yourself for the team. Doing your job, set a good screen, and it got us a couple of layups at critical times.”
For Arkansas, they really were carried by Anthony Black and Ricky Council IV — those two combined for 50 of their 87 points, taking 37 of their 70 shots. Both were nearly unstoppable for stretches of the game, and the Jays may not play a more athletic pair of guards again this year.
Recap:
Have you exhaled yet?
In what might be the most entertaining game we see all season, #10 Creighton outlasted #9 Arkansas 90-87 in an instant classic from Maui. The Razorbacks pushed CU to the limit — and maybe beyond — but the Jays had an answer for every shot, a counterpunch for every play, proving emphatically to the people who’ve doubted their lofty preseason ranking that the hype is real.
“Unbelievable game,” Greg McDermott said on his postgame radio show. “Maybe one of the best college basketball games I’ve ever been a part of.”
“This was a big-time matchup,” Ryan Nembhard added. “They’re a great team, and all credit to them because they pushed us to our limit.”
The Jays shot lights-out in the first half, making 55% of their shots overall and 5-of-10 from three-point range, and led for all 20 minutes. Nembhard started the scoring with a three in the game’s first minute, and added another a couple of minutes later in a sign of things to come.
The half saw the Jays assist on 10 of their 17 made-baskets, including this pass that Baylor Scheierman zipped to Ryan Kalkbrenner for a dunk behind the defense:
But with a 40-30 lead with 1:21 to play, they squandered a chance to put the game out of reach. Arkansas ended the half on a 6-0 run, and it was on — combined with a 12-5 Razorback run to begin the second half, they took their first lead at 46-45 before the first media timeout. Offensively, they took as many threes (5) in the first five minutes of the half as they’d taken in the entire first half. And after going 0-for-5 on those shots in the first, they made 3-of-5 to open the second.
Defensively, the Razorbacks adjusted their gameplan to stick closer to the Jays’ shooters on the perimeter.
“But that opened up driving lanes for us,” Nembhard said. “It made sense because we made a lot of threes in the first half, but we adjusted too.”
Creighton’s counter-adjustment was to take advantage of their aggressiveness on the perimeter, use pump-fakes and pass fakes to drive around the Razorback defenders, and drive into the paint. Often, they initiated contact and drew fouls; they were in the bonus after five minutes and the double-bonus before the under-12 timeout. The repeated foul calls enraged Eric Musselman and the Razorback staff; they were warned once and called for a technical after continuing to complain to the officials. They continued their theatrics for most of the half at almost every whistle. You can see Musselman chase after the officials instead of go through the handshake line at the end of this celebration video, restrained by his assistants:
McDermott was diplomatic on his postgame radio show, saying only that “there was a lot of chaos out there in the second half with some of the things that happened, but I was pleased that our guys kept their composure.”
Musselman danced around it on his postgame radio show, saying “I’ve coached a lot of games, a lot of years, never seen anything like it…you can’t overcome what we saw. We’ll never face more adversity. I can’t see it, facing more adversity than we faced tonight.”
Kalkbrenner had no subtlety whatsoever. “It’s super important to keep your poise in moments like that,” he said on the radio show. “Someone on their bench lost their cool and got a technical, and we got two free throws off of that. They lost by three. If that doesn’t happen this might be a different game. Last year, we weren’t very experienced and might have handled a situation like that differently. This year, our experience is showing. We don’t lose our heads, we don’t do any of that. We stay calm. We’ve been there and done that. We’re just going to do our thing and come out with a win.”
That calmness and poise was on full display in a second half that featured 10 ties and 10 lead changes, all in the final 15 minutes. The first heated stretch started when Arkansas’ Trevon Brazile put them ahead 48-47 with a jumper at the 15:43 mark; Nembhard answered by drawing a foul and making two free throws. Brazile hit another jumper, and Nembhard responded by drawing another foul and making two more free throws. Ricky Council IV nailed a three-pointer to put Arkansas ahead 53-51, and at that point the Arkansas bench was T’d up. Nembhard made two more free throws — six in 72 seconds, if you’re counting — to tie the score at 53.
Creighton took the lead moments later on a three by Francisco Farabello, and held on to the lead for several minutes thanks to timely buckets from Kalkbrenner and Scheierman. Then the intensity ratcheted back up with around nine minutes to play, and stayed there for the rest of the night. Council hit a long three to give Arkansas a 64-63 lead, and Nembhard again drove into the paint and drew a foul. Two more free throws gave CU a 65-64 lead and put Arkansas’ bench on edge again. The Jays responded with a stellar defensive possession, ending with a Kalkbrenner block and a fastbreak dunk from Arthur Kaluma.
Seconds later, Scheierman pulled up from the logo at center court and sunk a three to make it 70-64 Bluejays.
Arkansas had an answer — Council stole the ball from Trey Alexander and drew a foul, then hit a pair of free throws. Davonte Davis hit a contested three. Anthony Black drove to the rim and scored, and it was 72-71 Bluejays. After a jumper from Kaluma pushed the lead out to 75-71, the game reached it’s boiling point.
Brazile scored on a putback with 3:44 to go to keep it a two-point game. Kalkbrenner answered with a dunk. Brazile nailed a three-pointer. Nembhard — NEMBHARD! — followed with an emphatic dunk in traffic.
With Creighton’s crowd going crazy, another three by Brazile 15 seconds later silenced them and sent Arkansas’ crowd into a frenzy.
“You don’t get very many opportunities like this, where the gym is half full of each fan base,” McDermott said. “Every play in that second half was a momentum swing. Their half of the crowd was into it and we couldn’t hear ourselves think, and then our half of the crowd was into it and they couldn’t hear themselves think.”
Kaluma broke the tie with a short jumper, and then Arkansas’ Jordan Walsh tied it again with two free throws. Kalkbrenner put the Jays ahead for good with an up-and-under dunk with 1:12 to go, but the drama wasn’t over. After two missed free throws from Kalkbrenner, a three by Black with three seconds left cut the lead to a single point.
Alexander iced the game with a pair of free throws, and one of the wildest, emotional games in recent memory — one of the best Creighton games I’ve seen in four decades of watching them — was over. A 90-87 win between two Final Four caliber teams.
“This was a big-time matchup. They’re a great team, and all credit to them because they pushed us to our limit,” Nembhard said. “We played in a lot of big-times games last year. A lot of high-intensity games, a lot of games with a lot on the line. But we’re all poised in those situations because of it. We all remain calm, we all know what we need to do.”
Kalkbrenner added, “This environment was awesome. The fans on both sides were going crazy. Arkansas talks a lot of stuff during the game, too, and that makes you want to go at them even harder so that at the end of the game you can look at them and say, ‘Yeah, you talked all that for nothing.’ This is a satisfying win. They’re going to win a lot of games this year, they’re a high-level team.”
With the win, the Jays now play another ranked team — #14 Arizona — for the Maui Invitational title. The Wildcats are the fastest team in America, averaging 77.6 possessions per game, and the most efficient, too (their 70.0 effective field goal percentage ranks #1). They’ve made 47.4% of their three-pointers, 2nd best in D1, and 69.5% of their two-pointers, #1 in D1. They’ve topped 100 points three times in five games.
The Wildcats ran over, around and occasionally through a physical (and really good) San Diego State team in the nightcap Tuesday, winning 87-70. They had five players in double-figures, including 21 each from their outstanding guards Kerr Kriisa and Courtney Ramey.
“We’re going to play another ranked team. Hopefully we have enough left in the tank,” McDermott said. “But we’re going to get two hours more rest than they are. So we got that going for us. Noon tomorrow is going to come quick.”
“We’re not done yet,” Nembhard added. “We came here to win the tournament. We didn’t come here to get second place.”
