Recap:
How closely contested was #24 Providence’s 94-86 double-overtime win over #18 Creighton? For just under 43 of the game’s 50 minutes — from the 14:57 mark of the first half until there was only 2:16 left in the second OT — neither team led by more than four points. In the meantime, there were 17 ties and 20 lead changes, as two of the nation’s best teams traded shot after shot, with neither backing down.
“It was a great college basketball game if you didn’t care who won. It had to be a lot of fun to watch,” Greg McDermott said.
For those that did care who won, it was still a great game — but one that felt like a missed opportunity. CU had the ball both at the end of regulation and at the end of the first overtime with chances to win it, and came up empty both times. In regulation, Arthur Kaluma forced a tough shot from Providence’s Bryce Hopkins, and when it missed, Ryan Nembhard secured the board. CU called timeout and drew up a play for Trey Alexander — but the Friars sniffed it out, double-teamed him the second he caught it, and aggressively trapped him at center court. Making something out of nothing, he got the ball to Baylor Scheierman, who got out of a trap of his own to throw a desperation lob towards the rim where he hoped Kaluma could tip it in. And it damn near worked.
“Ed Cooley did a good job of keeping us on our toes, and came with that trap, so they made us scramble and we didn’t get the look that we really wanted,” Nembhard said.
“We liked the matchup with Trey, but unfortunately they jumped it, and he did a good job of getting the ball out of there,” McDermott added. “Baylor made a helluva play to get the ball to Art, but unfortunately it didn’t go in.”
In the first overtime, Scheierman tied the game at 84 on a pair of free throws with 48.4 seconds left. And though Hopkins and Jared Bynum missed shots to put the Friars ahead, they corralled offensive rebounds both times. But CU’s defense held, forcing a shot clock violation that gave them a second chance at a buzzer-beater to win.
Perhaps remembering how Providence was able to set their defense after a timeout at the end of regulation, the Jays opted to play on this time. Nembhard took the ball the length of the floor, used a screen from Ryan Kalkbrenner, and got to the rim for a good look at a potential game-winner. But the Friars’ Devin Carter was there waiting, and he blocked the shot to send the game to a second OT.
Then the Jays ran out of gas. Providence scored the first five points of the second overtime, as heavy minutes by the Jays’ starting five took their toll — Alexander played 49 minutes, Kaluma, Scheierman and Nembhard played 47, and Kalkbrenner played 45. CU’s only points of the second extra period came on a pair of free throws from Kaluma with 15 seconds left.
“Credit to Providence. That was a big-time basketball game and they made a few more plays than we did,” McDermott said. “We had the ball at the end of regulation and overtime. It could have gone either way. We just won one of those on Saturday, and we were on the other end today.”
That’s underselling it a bit. In the face of a relentless Providence team desperate for a win to stay alive in the Big East title race, in front of a huge and rowdy crowd ready to explode at any given second, the Jays repeatedly answered their runs. As WBR’s Matt DeMarinis said on Twitter, Creighton’s composure all night long was championship caliber. It’s a shame they couldn’t find a way to finish it off.
Nembhard did his damndest to try. He started the game 1-of-6 from the floor but scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half and overtime, repeatedly getting downhill and scoring from everywhere and anywhere. With 3:12 to play he hit a step-back jumper to cut the Friars’ lead to 71-69. After Kalkbrenner blocked a shot on the other end, he sank a long jumper to tie the game.
A minute later, he drove into the teeth of the defense, twisted his body in ways it seems would be impossible to do, and banked in a reverse layup between two defenders. 73-71 Bluejays.
But Hopkins tied it on an equally-tough shot, and then the Jays couldn’t score on the final play of regulation.
“I don’t fault our guys’ effort,” McDermott said. “I thought even when we got down late in regulation, out of that timeout down four we came back and took the lead. And we did the same thing in the first overtime after falling behind. Really proud of our guys, unfortunately we didn’t quite have enough to finish it.”
Inside the Box:
Creighton’s started played all but 15 minutes of a possible 250 — they rode their best five as much as possible, and nearly escaped to tell the tale. Unfortunately, 45 minutes for Kalkbrenner, 47 for Nembhard, Scheierman and Kaluma, and 49 for Alexander took their toll and jump shots were short in the second overtime. They were a half step slow on defense. And Providence, who rode their starters ever so slightly less hard, took advantage.
Ryan Nembhard was brilliant, scoring 21 points on 11-of-17 shooting with 10 rebounds and three assists. Brilliant? You bet. He started 1-of-6 from the floor, and ended by making 10 of his last 11. The only miss? The blocked shot at the end of the first overtime.
Devin Carter was just as brilliant for the Friars, scoring 25 points on an almost identical 9-of-17 shooting. He had eight boards and two big blocks, including the one on Nembhard. Bryce Hopkins added 20 for the Friars but needed 21 shots to get there; he was an abysmal 6-of-17 from inside the arc.
To the extent that anyone was critical of the Jays after they left everything and more on the court, Baylor Scheierman was the one in the crosshairs. He took 12 three-pointers, making two, and had four turnovers. It made him an easy target. It wasn’t his finest night as a Bluejay. And yet they still almost won.
The 20 lead changes are tied for the most in a Bluejay game in the last 22 seasons (because 2001 is as far back as easily-sortable stats are available for college hoops), equalling the 20 lead changes against Illinois State on Feb. 13, 2010. The 17 ties were the most in any Bluejay game in those same 22 seasons.
