Recap:
With ten minutes to go on Saturday night, Creighton was clinging to a one point lead. They’d just snapped a nearly seven minute scoring drought where they missed 13 consecutive shots and had 14 straight empty possessions, turning a 48-38 lead into a 49-48 deficit. Ryan Nembhard scored four straight to put the Jays back ahead, and then two unexpected things led them to victory.
The first? A burst of production from the much-maligned bench. Shereef Mitchell used a shot fake to change his defender’s direction and then kicked it back to Mason Miller at the top of the circle, who promptly drained a three. And then two possessions later, Nembhard drove into the paint to collapse the defense, kicked it out to Mitchell in front of the Bluejay bench, and he nailed a three to give the Jays some breathing room at 58-53.
Then came another scoring drought, this one lasting just over three minutes. Holding on to a 58-57 lead, Arthur Kaluma hit three 3-pointers in a row to build a 67-57 advantage. Unexpected? On this night it was. Kaluma had made just 2-of-8 from the floor prior to that barrage, including 0-of-3 from deep. He had three fouls and four ugly turnovers, making one poor decision after another. To say it was not his best night would be an understatement. And yet when they needed someone to step up and carry them to the win, Kaluma was the guy.
“I just remember sitting on the bench,” Kaluma said on the postgame radio show. “I was like ‘Man, I just got to stay patient. Wait for my time.’ When I came in, I just had this rush of confidence come over me. And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m ready to play this game.’”
Here’s how bad Kaluma’s night had been: St. John’s basically dared him to shoot the first two. On what became three-pointer #1, when he caught the pass from Nembhard, the closest Red Storm defender was four feet away and looking the other direction. It was about as wide-open as it gets. Swish.
The second three was even more open — three Red Storm defenders blanketed Nembhard and Mitchell on the perimeter in front of the Bluejay bench. There wasn’t a defender within seven, maybe eight feet of Kaluma. Even after he caught it, the closeout from David Jones came late as he stayed in the paint to help double Ryan Kalkbrenner. Another swish.
They covered him tighter by the time he launched the third one, but it was too late. Kaluma was in the zone. His shot in front of A.J. Storr was just like the first two — it touched nothing but net. FS1’s Tim Brando called it “the dagger”, and he was exactly right. Nine straight from Kaluma had made it a 10-point Bluejay lead in the blink of an eye.
Then he took the ball into the paint on the next possession, driving downhill and using a killer shot-fake to create room for Kalkbrenner — and then he dumped a pass off to the big man for a dunk. But it was really created by the three shots prior to it; when defenses have to respect his three-point ability, it makes stopping his dribble penetration just about impossible. This is the Kaluma that we saw in the Big East and NCAA Tournaments last March, and the one NBA scouts salivate over. Forget the first 35 minutes of the game; when they needed someone to take over and make sure they left Queens with a win, Kaluma was special.
From there the Jays iced the game at the line, making 8-of-8 free throws in the final minute to close it out.
At the start of the game, it looked like Creighton might not need any late-game dramatics. In fact, it looked like they might blow a dysfunctional St. John’s team out of their own gym. They got 14 of their first 23 points from the bench, as Shereef Mitchell, Mason Miller and Francisco Farabello all drained three-pointers.
Following a 10-2 run late in the first half, Creighton led 35-24. The run featured a hook shot from Kalkbrenner, three-pointers from Nembhard and Baylor Scheierman, and this hammer slam from Kaluma.
If it hadn’t been for nine turnovers, CU might have broken the game wide open — they had 1.62 points per possession in the first half when they actually got a shot off. Six of the nine turnovers were live-ball turnovers leading to points the other way.
“We knew we were gonna get a run in the second half,” McDermott said. “We talked in those timeouts about sticking with our plan, taking care of the basketball…Those live-ball turnovers early in the half and in the first half were a big reason they were able to hang around.”
Meanwhile the drama for St. John’s was an unavoidable storyline. Andre Curbelo sat out a third straight game after being ejected from the Seton Hall game earlier this month for throwing his goggles in anger; he was asked by the New York Post’s Zach Braziller before the game if he was still on the team and Curbelo responded “You tell me.” That’s never a good sign. Curbelo’s Long Island Lutheran High School teammate, talented sophomore Rafael Pinzon, was suspended before the game indefinitely for not meeting team standards. When asked for an update after the game, head coach Mike Anderson snapped at the media and said “We’re talking about the game right now.”
In spite of that dysfunction, the Red Storm made a push early in the second half. With the Jays ahead by 12, St. John’s used a 17-4 run to take the lead. Dylan Addae-Wusu had the highlight, a monstrous one-handed dunk over Kalkbrenner.
Moments later, Joel Soriano blocked a shot and Kolby King scored in transition to give the Red Storm the lead 49-48 with 11:53 left.
“They changed their ball screen coverage at halftime and we didn’t adjust to what was open very quickly,” McDermott said, “so part of the reason I think we missed the shots was we weren’t necessarily getting the shots that we usually get. That’s a credit to St. John’s and their defense, but you know they’re the way they pressure that they’re always just an eyelash away from turning the game around. They got the crowd into the game and for us to be able to take that hit and still find a way to win was a credit to our guys.“
But the Red Storm lead was extremely short lived, as 20 seconds later Nembhard drew a foul, made two free throws, and put CU back ahead for good. Then Miller and Mitchell created some separation, and Kaluma slammed the door shut.
“We’re happy to get out of here with the win,” McDermott said. “We certainly didn’t play our best basketball but St John’s deserves most of the credit for that.”
The win moves CU to 18-9 and 12-4 in the Big East, one game behind first place Marquette. It sets up the biggest game of Creighton’s season — a showdown between #11 Marquette and the #18 Bluejays with the Big East regular season title on the line, and seeding in the NCAA Tournament as well. Earlier on Saturday, the NCAA Tourney selection committee revealed the top 16 seeds, and the Jays were just outside that group on the ‘5’ line. The committee said on CBS that the difference between Marquette and Xavier — both ‘4’ seeds — and Creighton was razor thin. So a Bluejay win on Tuesday is bigger than just the conference title. It could be the difference between a protected seed or not.
Inside the Box:
Arthur Kaluma started the night 2-of-8 from the floor and 0-of-3 from deep; he ended it with 13 points (nine in the final five minutes), five assists, and six rebounds. He was the star Creighton needed him to be.
“It was awesome,” McDermott said. “You know Art probably hasn’t you know shot it as well as he would like this season, at least to his standards, but works every day on his shooting and you hope that that extra work will pay off. He hit some really big ones for us down the stretch.”
But how about the Bluejay bench? They came in averaging 11.0 points per game, dead last in the Big East and sixth-worst in all of D1. On Saturday they had 20 — nine from Shereef Mitchell, eight from Mason Miller and three from Francisco Farabello, back from an illness that cost him three games. Mitchell looks like a different player over the last week or so, similar to the pesky defensive ace that he was prior to his injuries a year ago — but with a better jump shot. He has seven made 3-pointers this year, and four have been this week (one against Providence, three on Saturday). His nine points are the most he’s scored since November 30, 2021 against North Dakota State. Prior to that, the last time he scored nine or more had been against St. John’s on January 9, 2021, when he scored 10.
Miller, meanwhile, added eight points on a pair of threes and two free throws. He grabbed three tough rebounds where he simply scrapped and wanted the ball more than the bigger, taller players around him. And while his defense wasn’t great at times — heading into a timeout early in the second half, FS1’s cameras caught McDermott lighting him up for failing to stop a straight-line drive on two straight possessions — he’s a better, more confident player than he was at the start of the season and seems to be emerging as a consistent bench presence down the stretch.
Joel Soriano entered the game with a nation-leading 21 double-doubles but finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. He’s had a double-double against every Big East opponent this season except Creighton, as he missed one in Omaha as well.
The Jays have now won six straight against St. John’s, sweeping them in six of 10 seasons as Big East rivals. Creighton is now 15-5 against the Red Storm since joining the Big East, including a 6-2 mark inside Carnesecca Arena.
Highlights:
Interviews: