Bluejay Beat Podcast:
Recap & Analysis:
Time after time a year ago, opponents with a height advantage against the Bluejays discovered that mismatches can go both ways as CU used pace and spacing to run those bigger players ragged. Opponents often were forced to go small to combat the Bluejays, which didn’t work either.
“Good offense, it doesn’t really matter who you’re playing. It’s ball movement, it’s spacing, and it’s decision making,” Greg McDermott said after Wednesday’s win. “Those decisions are about passing and making the extra pass, they’re about shot selection and the difference between a good shot and a great shot. We have the skillset where we can pull just about any big away from the basket and make him defend what we want to do offensively. We don’t get too concerned with height.”
In March when these two teams last met, Creighton finished the game making 12 of their final 13 shots. Perhaps remembering how that game ended, Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard changed up his lineup and went small right from the tip — 7’2″ center Ike Obiagu, who ranked second in D1 in blocked shots entering the game and is perhaps their most important defensive player, came off the bench for the first time this year. Willard’s plan blew up in his face when Creighton made their first seven shots in opening up a 17-4 lead; going back to the March meeting, it meant the Jays had made 19 of their last 20 shots against the Pirates. By the time Obiagu checked in at the 13:37 mark, Seton Hall trailed 18-9. They were never closer than seven the rest of the way.
Willard said on his postgame radio show that the lineup change was “totally my fault.” But that’s what Creighton did repeatedly to opponents a year ago — if they weren’t running bigger teams off the floor, the threat of doing it led opposing coaches to pull their bigs off the floor and go small.
In the game’s first minute, the Jays previewed what was to come. Christian Bishop came out on the perimeter, bringing his defender with him, and then slipped to the basket for a wide open dunk. The Seton Hall defenders looked at each other in disbelief.
When Ryan Kalkbrenner checked in for Bishop, he continued the same plan. This dunk midway through the half came after he, too, dragged his defender out to the perimeter and then slipped back to the basket.
Surrounding those bigs with shooters the defense has to worry about makes dunks like that possible. The 13-0 run that built that initial 17-4 lead featured a pair of threes from Marcus Zegarowski, a three from Denzel Mahoney, and two midrange jumpers from Damien Jefferson.
βCoach always talks about the first four minutes,β Jefferson said. βJust jumping out and doing what Coach wants us to do, executing his offensive game plan and doing it the right way.β
And while Mitch Ballock was scoreless in the first half, his presence changes the way teams defend everyone else. On multiple occasions, his defender was taken out of the action because he was defending Mitch standing near midcourt. He creates space on the floor for his teammates simply by being there; his willingness to pull the trigger from 35-40 feet away and make the basket means that his defender has to guard him even when he’s that far away.
With six minutes to play in the half and CU up 25-17, Seton Hall had an opportunity to change the direction of the game when Marcus Zegarowski headed to the bench with his second foul. But Damien Jefferson had other ideas. He scored nine straight points for the Jays in a variety of ways, starting with this drive into traffic:
On the next one, he took seven-footer Ike Obiagu off the dribble and scored at the rim:
He buried a three from the corner:
And he capped off the spurt by intercepting a pass intended for Mamukelashvili and racing for a fastbreak dunk.
It was eerily similar to the one from March’s win, but this time instead of getting posterized at the rim, Mamu made a business decision and pulled up. Smart guy.
And so instead of changing the direction of the game with Zegarowski on the bench, Creighton instead outscored Seton Hall 12-9 during those six minutes. Jefferson scored four of their five baskets, and had the assist on the other.
“If opponents are going to sit in the paint and plug things up with his defender, stay close to Marcus and stay close to Mitch, well, somebody has to take away the rim-roll,” McDermott said on his postgame radio show. “And if you’re going to use DJ’s man to do that, guess what, DJ’s going to drive the close-out or he’s going to hit the wide-open three.”
It wasn’t just offense, of course. They were also doing the little things that win games, like this battle for a loose ball where two Bluejays hit the deck, including the seven-foot freshman Kalkbrenner who seems to get better every game.
They led 37-26 heading to halftime, having weathered the storm with their All-American point guard in foul trouble. McDermott’s message at halftime? Come out locked in defensively, because Seton Hall had consistently beaten teams in the first four minutes out of the half. In fact, they had been at 1.33 points per possession in those first four minutes in Big East play coming in.
The Jays took his message to heart. They made nine of their first 13 shots, with six different players scoring. They opened up a 20-point lead before the half was six minutes old. Zegarowski hit a three:
Ballock hit a three:
And Kalkbrenner took advantage of the attention to the perimeter to slip to the rim for a lob dunk:
Shots were falling from everywhere. Their defense was making everything tough for the Pirates. And when Antwann Jones splashed home a three with 8:47 to go, the Jays led by 30. Kevin Willard called timeouts, experimented with lineups he hadn’t used all year, and nothing could stem the tide.
“This is one of the best defensive performances that my teams have had in the 11 years I’ve been here. I thought we were really connected, we followed the scouting report extremely well,” McDermott said. “I didn’t see this coming. I have a lot of respect for Seton Hall and they were playing well coming in. But we were really good tonight.”
Shereef Mitchell, who got extended minutes in the first half because of Zegarowski’s foul trouble, played extended second half minutes because the score was out of control. His on-ball defense was superb, as his ability to stay on an opponent’s hip without fouling changed Creighton’s entire defensive plan. As a freshman, Mitchell played 100 miles per hour almost all the time, which led to high peaks and low valleys. In his sophomore year, he’s learned to still play fast but stay in control while doing it — as his feel for the game has increased, he’s been able to use his speed to force an opponent to play faster than they want to.
“The opposing point guard just wants nothing to do with him,” McDermott said. “Reef allows us, with his pressure, to not worry about someone beating him off the dribble. We stretch out a little bit more when he’s on the floor. That lets us get more deflections, and turn those into offense on the other end.”
Absurdly, Creighton eventually led by as many as 42 (!) after a three-pointer from Jacob Epperson. Of all the ways this game could have gone, building a lead of 40+ points was certainly not one of them.
Creighton started the year 8-2 and 4-1 in the Big East without playing their “A” game. They found ways to win games when they weren’t at their best. On Wednesday, we finally saw what their “A” game looks like, and it’s terrifying. This was a glimpse of their ceiling — boatracing an NCAA Tournament caliber team out of the gym with a combination of offensive skill and defensive execution at the same time that we’ve seldom if ever seen in the McDermott Era.
Key Stats:
Creighton is now up to 26th in defensive efficiency according to KenPom, making them the best defensive team in the Big East by that metric. Bart Torvik ranks them even higher; his T-Rank ranks them 19th in team defense, also best in the Big East. If you prefer more traditional metrics? They’ve now held eight of their 11 opponents this year under 40% shooting; they did that 11 times all of last year. They’ve held four straight opponents under 36%; they’ve only done it eight other times EVER in Big East play.
Damien Jefferson is a big reason. He’s now averaging four steals a game over the last seven games. His length and athleticism allow him to disrupt ball handlers and get into passing lanes, and give their defense teeth on the perimeter. Meanwhile, the shot blocking and shot altering of Christian Bishop and Ryan Kalkbrenner give the defense teeth on the inside. They had three blocks officially in this game, but altered at least six others by my unofficial count, and the threat of them at the rim undoubtedly changed the decision to shoot on countless others.
