Bluejay Beat Podcast:
Trailing 65-60 in the first overtime period, Greg McDermott’s team was on the ropes after leading by as many as 17 points in the second half. They had allowed Marquette to score on seven of its final nine possessions in regulation, with six of those buckets at the rim. The Golden Eagles opened overtime with seven points on its first four trips down the floor.
It was about to become a harsh lesson in what happens if you fail to put a good opponent away when you have the chance. And then with 90 seconds left in OT, McDermott made a key tactical decision that turned the game back in his team’s favor. He switched them to a 2-3 zone. And over those 90 seconds, plus all five minutes of the second overtime, Marquette made just 1-of-9 from the floor and scored only four more points.
“Marquette exposed us a little bit in the paint but I also thought we were a step slow with some of the things we were doing,” McDermott said in explaining the switch. “We don’t give up those kinds of points in the paint very often.”
The zone stopped the bleeding, and opened the door for Alex O’Connell to save the day. First, he drained a pair of free throws with 20.6 seconds left to cut the lead to 65-64, and then after Marquette answered with a pair of free throws of their own, he did this.
Taking the inbounds pass from Ryan Hawkins, he dribbled around a defender and got a surprisingly open look at a three — and drained it as the horn sounded. It’s a play the Jays run all the time in practice, and when it mattered most, O’Connell nailed it to tie the game at 67.
“They almost knew that a shot was coming for me,” O’Connell said. “But I got a clean catch and I was able to get a clean look at the 3. And it went in.”
Why did Marquette choose not to foul up three?
“We normally, when there’s six seconds or less, do,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said of fouling in that situation. “It was a unique situation with the ball being on the side there. What we didn’t want to happen was them to throw it in and for us to go foul and then get into the shooting motion.
“Obviously when you watch the play back, you certainly would want to do something different. Either really, really play a lot more aggressive defensively or foul. But I’ve unfortunately seen it work out the wrong way both ways. I think for us, regardless of what we’re doing, it’s about executing it and finding a way. And I think it’s really important not to encapsulate a game in one play.”
I prefer to think of it as karmic payback for Sam Hauser’s buzzer-beater to force overtime for Marquette back in 2019 in a similarly-improbable situation. I’m not the only one who thinks so; no less an authority than Greg McDermott mentioned it in his press conference — and then doubled down by retweeting this after the game:
“(Referee) Bo Boroski had that game too,” McDermott said. “And I told him during today’s game ‘I still haven’t forgiven you for those .2 seconds you put back on the clock in that game.’ So it’s still in my mind. But you do this long enough, you’re going to be on both ends of these kinds of things.”
In the second overtime, Hawkins put the Jays ahead for good with a three-pointer with just under two minutes to play.
And then the dagger was delivered by Rati Andronikashvili on a designed play out of a timeout. Still clinging to that 72-69 lead that Hawkins’ three had given them, the Jays called time to regroup with 29 seconds to play. Assistant coach Al Huss had the idea to run the play through Andronikashvili — despite just 28 career points at that moment, and the presence of two players who had made game-winners in their careers in Hawkins and Ryan Nembhard.
“‘You’re gonna think I’m crazy, but I think we outta put it in Rati’s hands and space the three shooters,’” McDermott recalled Huss telling him on his postgame radio show. “I told him, I do think you’re crazy. But I also think it’s a great idea!”
So they ran an ISO play for Andronikashvili versus a bigger defender, and let him take advantage of his quickness with the ball to spin around the defender to the rim. The “crazy” idea worked — Andronikashvili laid it in, the Jays led 74-69, and the game was over for all intents and purposes.
“It was an emotional roller coaster, but we came out on top,” O’Connell said. “We’ll take a victory. A victory is a victory, especially in Big East Conference games on the road.”
That it came down to all of that was surprising, given that Creighton led most of the first half and took a 30-24 lead into halftime. It was especially surprising after they opened the second half with a 9-0 blitz over 87 seconds fueled by a pair of threes from Hawkins and one from O’Connell to go ahead 39-24.
But despite going up by as many as 17 when they led 41-24 moments later, Marquette began cutting into that lead little by little. Defensive breakdowns were attributed to fatigue by McDermott, who noted that the coaches had tried everything they could to simulate game speed on the practice floor over the past 15 days when the team was off, but the intensity of a Big East game — especially one on the road — is impossible to simulate. They “hit a wall,” according to O’Connell, and had to dig deep to find the resolve to win.
From the 17:07 mark when they had that 17 point lead until the end of regulation, they were outscored 31-14. But that resolve showed as they repeatedly had the answer for every Marquette run. When their lead shrunk to 48-44 with just over seven minutes left, they responded with a layup from Ryan Kalkbrenner and a three by Hawkins to go back up 53-44. When the lead was just 53-50 a couple of minutes later, Kalkbrenner sank a pair of free throws to give them breathing room. And when Marquette ultimately tied it at 56 with under a minute to go, Nembhard calmly drove inside the arc, and sank a step-back jumper to put CU ahead 58-56.
Marquette’s Oso Ighodaro tied the game on the next possession, and then the Jays’ defense held to send the game into overtime. Though it’s overlooked, McDermott’s decision to have his team commit three straight quick fouls in the final 30 seconds — they only had three for the half at that point — might have seemed strange on the surface. But it burned enough time to force Marquette into a quick final possession and no doubt changed the play they ran — and the shot they got.
“Really proud of our guys to keep playing until the final horn goes off,” McDermott said.
It’s an especially impressive win considering the travel issues the team faced getting to Milwaukee. One of the two charter planes they normally take on road trips had mechanical problems, and they considered bussing to the game before finding boosters who were going to the game anyway — and had a plane chartered — to catch a ride with. But three coaches, the redshirts, and the walk-ons stayed in Omaha because there weren’t enough open seats for them. They arrived in Milwaukee at 9:15pm Friday night and played a double overtime game 14 hours later. Goodness.
Key Stats:
There were huge lines everywhere you looked in this one. Rati Andronikashvili had a career-high six assists in 23 minutes, but more importantly provided cover for Ryan Nembhard during key moments of the second half and both overtime periods. The Jays have desperately needed a second ball-handler in Shereef Mitchell’s absence, and Andronikashvili’s emergence has been huge in that regard.
Ryan Kalkbrenner continued his campaign for All-Big East First Team with 20 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks while playing 44 of the 50 minutes — and only fouling once. It’s the fifth consecutive game with nine or more rebounds for Kalkbrenner, the longest streak by a Bluejay since Doug McDermott in 2011. And it’s his eighth straight game with multiple blocks, the longest streak by a Bluejay since Livan Pyfrom in 2001.
O’Connell had 17 points including the game-tying three in the first overtime. Hawkins had 18 points including the game-winning three in the second overtime, and played 47 minutes. The duo of Hawkins and Kalkbrenner inside combined for 38 points and 24 rebounds.
And how’s this for a stat? Creighton shot 36.1% from the floor (26-for-72), 11-for-31 from three (35.5%) and 12-of-19 from the line (63.2%) — and won. On the road. Defense travels, and the Jays’ defense once again came up big, holding Marquette down without fouling (the Golden Eagles only attempted seven free throws in a 50-minute game).
Oh, and this is fun: Creighton is 6-3 in Milwaukee since joining the Big East, and 4-0 at Fiserv Forum — the only visiting team to win there four times.
