Bluejay Beat Podcast:
Key Stats:
Turnovers were the headline stat coming into the game, and Creighton did turn it over 19 times. But St. John’s was only able to turn those into 17 points because the Jays limited their “live ball” turnovers. That’s something the staff has focused on — zeroing in on the turnover issues in micro instead of macro terms.
“We’ve told the guys, if you get into trouble and you get stuck, pick up your dribble and pivot,” McDermott said on his postgame radio show. “You’ve got five seconds to make a decision. And if you get a five-second call, we take a five-second call. But don’t throw it up for grabs and put us in a three-on-two or a two-on-one scramble. It’s better to hand the ball to the ref and let us go set up our defense.”
Scoring wound up being the headline stat coming out of the game. The Bluejays got career nights from Alex O’Connell (28), Arthur Kaluma (20) and Trey Alexander (11) and they matched the most points they’ve scored this season as a team (87). O’Connell has now scored 11 points or more in seven straight games, and has taken over the team’s scoring lead at 13.5 points per game.
He’s made 18-of-33 (54.5%) from three-point range through five Big East games, and in the last two games, has been even better than that — he was 4-of-6 against Xavier and 6-of-9 against St. John’s. For comparison, in 11 non-conference games, O’Connell made 16-of-55 (29.1%). A year ago, he was 13-of-41 (31.7%). At Duke, he made 73-of-202 (36.1%) in three years — ultimately, that’s probably about where O’Connell will end up this year once he regresses back to the mean, but the Jays will happily ride his current red-hot hand as long as it lasts.
And yet O’Connell’s defense was the real star of the show on Wednesday night. Arguably, no one has defended the Big East’s leading scorer, Julian Champagnie, better than O’Connell did. Champagnie had scored in double figures in 39 consecutive games entering Wednesday, and in the first half he was 1-of-10 from the floor — the one he made came off of a broken play where he sprung open for a three-pointer, and O’Connell didn’t even end up as the closest defender to him. Of the 17 points he scored, 12 came in the final 13 minutes of the game when the outcome was all but decided. And to get those 17 points, he needed 21 (!) shot attempts.
“I think Alex’s defense is the reason we had the lead at halftime, I really do,” Greg McDermott said. “He frustrated Champagnie, he made him take tough shots, and some of those tough shots led to fastbreak opportunities for us. When we got out in transition and moved the ball, we kinda got whatever we wanted tonight.”
And how about this stat, courtesy of Friend of WBR Jacob Padilla:
Before tonight, Julian Champagnie had played 5 games against high-major opponents this season. He averaged 25.8 points, including two games of 30+. Providence was the only one of those five opponents to hold him under 25 (11 points on 5-19 FG). Creighton held him to 17 on 7-21 FG tonight.
Meanwhile, the Big East’s second-leading offensive rebounder, Posh Alexander, was held without a single offensive rebound. CU’s defense also held him to season lows of nine points and one steal.
The offensive fireworks get the attention, and rightfully so, but the Jays defense was the reason this game turned into a blowout.
“100% our defense is a team effort,” Arthur Kaluma said in a postgame radio interview. “It starts with our scout team, and the look they gave us in practice of how St. John’s would play us. They gave us such a great prep in practice for tonight. We all know how hard they work and how serious they take our prep, even though they don’t play as much in games, and it’s amazing. They have the hardest job of any of us. They have to learn an opponent’s entire playbook in what, a couple of days? Amazing.”
Greg McDermott agreed with that assessment. He missed Monday’s practice and most of Tuesday’s after a minor medical procedure, and he said “I got the practice film Monday night, and I just about jumped through the computer screen. The job that our scout team did not only offensively simulating how St. John’s would play, but more importantly in showing us their full-court pressure and their quarter-court defense, was terrific.”
Recap:
Creighton led for all but nine seconds of the game, and had briefly taken a 13-point lead at 20-7 with just under 14 minutes left on a dunk by Ryan Kalkbrenner. But St. John’s slowly chipped away, and when the Big East’s leading scorer, Julian Champagnie, finally made his first field goal of the night with just under five minutes left to cut the lead to 35-28, you couldn’t help but wonder if they’d failed to put the Red Storm away when they had the chance.
Alex O’Connell did not share those thoughts. He answered with a four-point play, sinking a three where he drew a foul and made the free throw. 20 seconds later, after a steal by Rati Andronikashvili, he drained another three. 42-28 Creighton in the blink of an eye. O’Connell had scored 10 straight points, including three consecutive made 3-pointers, and despite a 30-second timeout by St. John’s coach Mike Anderson to stem the tide, his team was never again within single digits of the Bluejays.
Then O’Connell came up huge to start the second half. He had two 3-pointers and three free throws during the game’s decisive stretch.
Point guard Ryan Nembhard spent most of that decisive stretch on the bench after picking up two quick fouls — his second and third of the game — in the first two minutes of the second half. It presented a bit of a quandary for the Jays. Do you trust freshman Rati Andronikashvili as the primary ball-handler against St. John’s’ ferocious press? Do you mix it up and have all of your guards fight the full-court defense, sacrificing transition opportunities in the process?
The answer wound up being neither. Freshman Trey Alexander was given the task, and to the surprise of many, he thrived. Ahead 52-37 when he checked in, Alexander scored eight points in a 20-8 run, and assisted on six others. He did a little of everything, from driving into the teeth of the defense and scoring through contact:
To draining three-pointers:
To setting up teammates for buckets.
Alexander said on the postgame radio show that it had been a while since he last played point guard — it was probably his last year of playing in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) for under-17 prospects, he thought.
“But those teams didn’t full-court press like St. John’s does,” Alexander noted. “We work on ball-handling every single day I’m in the gym before I do my warmups, because I want to know that if I do get in a situation where I’m handling the ball, that I can deal with that pressure and trust my handle. That’s a part of the game that separates people nowadays.”
McDermott said that about two or three weeks ago, the staff decided to try Alexander at the backup point guard spot in practice during one of their COVID breaks. They thought Rati Andronikashvili would be more comfortable, at least for now, off the ball. They’ve been pleased with how quickly he’s picked things up, and when Nembhard’s foul trouble sent him to the bench Wednesday night, it was time to try it in a game.
“I told him in the locker room, I’ve seen Posh Alexander give guys fits,” McDermott said. “For a freshman that doesn’t play point very often to have to bring it up against that dude one-on-one — I mean, I remember Zegarowski wanted it out of his hands as quick as possible last year, and Marcus is pretty doggone good! Trey just took his time. He was really methodical. He kept the ball low, he got us into our offense, he got in the paint and set his feet, and made some good plays for his teammates. And, when Alex wasn’t guarding Champagnie, Trey had that assignment. It was good to see him shine tonight.”
Alexander said that the scout team and their film study taught him a lot about how Posh Alexander would defend him should the situation arise. Namely, that Alexander moves his feet extremely well, that he’s great at tipping the ball out of your hands without fouling, and at staying in front of you when you drive.
“He’s really just a great defender,” Alexander noted. “So I tried to limit myself to one move and either get by him or give it up, rather than play with him.”