Bluejay Beat Podcast Presented by Courtdate:
Key Stats:
Creighton committed a turnover on 20.0% of their possessions, and gave up an offensive rebound on 25.0% of Georgetown’s missed shots. Those are almost impossible numbers to overcome when your defense is also surrendering 1.15 points per possession. It’s frankly amazing that this game was as close as it was.
And so they spoiled the second career double-double from Christian Bishop (14 points on 5-of-7 shooting, 10 rebounds) where he also drew nine fouls on the Hoyas’ big men. They spoiled a hard-fought game from Mitch Ballock where he made four 3-pointers, and has floor burns for days from all the times he dove to the floor after a loose ball. And they spoiled a gutsy seven point, five rebound effort from Damien Jefferson, who looked to have suffered a serious injury five minutes into the game and panicked Bluejay fans everywhere. That he returned looking no worse for wear to play 27 minutes after laying on the court in pain and yelling clearly audible expletives is the only silver lining from this one.
CU led 13-10 when Jefferson went down. The Hoyas made six straight shots after he limped to the locker room. His absence played a significant role in Georgetown’s first half surge; he’s perhaps the one player they can’t afford to lose, even moreso than Marcus Zegarowski, because while they can replace Jefferson’s production there’s no apparent replacement that can do all the little things he does on both ends of the floor. Antwann Jones committed two silly turnovers in eight minutes while blowing multiple defensive assignments. Alex O’Connell didn’t take a shot in six minutes and was a step slow defensively, as well.
The Jays have their work cut out for them in the next month. Going at it without DJ would be awfully difficult.
Recap & Analysis:
When you play with fire, eventually you get burned. For the third straight game, Creighton dug themselves a double-digit hole in the first half, and this time there was no late-game rally to save them. The result: a stunning 86-79 loss to Georgetown in a game they were favored to win by 14, on “Creighton vs. Cancer” night no less.
The Jays were once again slow out of the gates. On this night, their defense, or lack thereof, was the main culprit. Georgetown — at or near the bottom of the Big East in multiple offensive categories — made 11 of their first 14 shots (including their first five 3-point tries). Many of them were barely contested, the result of missed rotations, pick-six turnovers that led to runouts, and sloppy execution.
“This game was lost in the first 17 or 18 possessions,” Coach Greg McDermott said on his postgame radio show. “We talked a lot about not allowing Blair and Pickett to get started because they’re guys that once they get started, they roll all game.”
But that’s exactly what happened. Jamorko Pickett and Jahvon Blair made a combined 7-of-9 from three point range in the first half, and the resulting adjustments left the smaller Jays susceptible to being torched in the paint by the Hoyas’ litany of big men. In the second half, with CU’s defensive plan locked in on the perimeter, Georgetown attacked inside. 18 of their 42 second-half points came in the paint. Another 14 came at the line. On their four offensive rebounds after halftime, they scored nine points.
“You have to pride yourself on the scouting report, just being solid, playing fundamental basketball,” Mitch Ballock said. “Sometimes when you deviate from the plan, it shows up. That’s completely on us. It has nothing to do with anything else.”
This is no longer an aberration. So it begs the question, what’s behind the Jays’ slow starts? They came out against Providence a step slow and with a lack of focus or attention to detail, fell behind 25-6, and lost despite a furious rally. They came out unfocused against Seton Hall and surrendered 54 first half points, needing their largest come-from-behind rally in eight seasons to win. They were flat most of the night against DePaul, and if not for a 10-2 run to end the game, would have lost.
“It’s just being man enough to look yourself in the mirror and say you messed up,” Ballock said. “We’ve been talking about it. At the end of the day, we’ve got to do something about it. We’ve got to fix it.”
So that’s where we sit on February 4. A Creighton team expected to accomplish great things coming off of a Big East regular season crown is instead looking in the mirror to figure out why their season is sputtering. And make no mistake, it is: with this loss, the Jays’ NET ranking is now 34. That’s 7-10 seed territory.
They’re 8-2 against Q1 and Q2, which is quite good, but own three Q3 losses, all at home, which is the most of any team in the at-large discussion (top 60 NET). The last time Creighton had ANY losses to a Q3 team was 2017. That’s quite bad.
Simply put, they’re a lot closer to being a bubble team than to a protected seed. That’s an unbelievable statement to write about this team, but home losses to Providence, Marquette and Georgetown will do that. And with road games at Marquette and Georgetown next — followed by Villanova at home — the next week could prove pivotal in the trajectory of the Jays’ season.
Pink Out is More than Just a Game:
Instead of leaving on that sour note, I’d rather share stories from our readers about what the Pink Out means to them. The stories speak for themselves so I’ll get out of the way and let them do just that.
A word of caution: have your kleenex ready.