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Key Stats:
WBR’s Matt DeMarinis wrote on Twitter that this was the most thorough ass-kicking Creighton had handed out all year — an A+ performance in every phase — and he’s right.
In the first nine minutes of the first half, Creighton outscored Butler 23-7, and in the first nine minutes of the second half the Jays outscored them 21-9. They set a tone the Bulldogs could never recover from, controlling the pace by running every chance they could and by defending without fouling — the Jays were whistled for just five fouls in the first half.
“You need them to miss a couple. I thought a couple of those shots early were contested and they made them anyway,” LaVall Jordan said. “So they got into a really good rhythm and everything kind of started to go in. You’ve got to be able to get to the foul line to dictate the pace. You’ve got to finish when you have the opportunities to just kind of slow them down and cut into that lead. And obviously we couldn’t do that.”
CU shot 66.7% (18-of-27) from the floor in the first half, and 6-of-10 from three point range. They cooled off but just slightly in the second, making 17-of-29 (58.6%). For the game they assisted on 22 of 35 made baskets, and turned it over just 12 times. Defensively they rendered Chuck Harris, who scored 29 on them a week ago, invisible — he had just eight points for the night, and three in the first half when the game was being decided.
Recap & Analysis:
If the last two games since Greg McDermott threw his program’s future into turmoil with inappropriate remarks to the team following the loss at Xavier were tough gauges for where the team was at, Thursday’s quarterfinal in the Big East Tournament left no room for debate, no questions left to answer.
There’s no ambiguity about the annihilation they laid on Butler. It was the type of blowout Creighton was used to administering on the first day of the MVC Tournament to perennial also-rans like Evansville or Indiana State, but even those blowouts weren’t this complete — the 31-point margin of victory is Creighton’s largest in a conference tournament game ever, MVC or Big East.
In the days leading up the start of this tournament, McDermott told his team that whatever their feelings for him are, they have to enjoy the rest of the season.
“Life’s too short,” he said. “And you’ve got a great opportunity in front of you. We’re at our best when we’re hooting and hollering and smiling and laughing. That’s when this team functions the best. And I think you saw a lot of that tonight, both how the bench reacted when the starters were on the floor. And then you saw how our starters reacted once some of our walk-ons were on the floor at the end of the game, when they were making plays and hustle plays.
“We’ve built this program on culture. And to have good culture you have to have good people. And I have good people. And that’s why we’ve been able to get ourselves through a very difficult situation.”
His star agreed.
“I think everyone in that locker room was really hungry to get going, and play in one of the greatest arenas in the world,” Marcus Zegarowski said afterward. “And I just think we had some juice going. That’s what we’ve got to do going forward. It’s March.”
Zegarowski had a look of determination in his eyes, even more than usual, that gave you the distinct impression he A) Felt disrespected by the league’s coaches for voting three players as co-Players Of the Year not named Marcus Zegarowski and B) Was going to spend the weekend exacting revenge.
It’s March. Legacy time. For Zegarowski, for a veteran team with one last chance for glory, for a program still searching for their first Big East Tournament title after two runner-up finishes, and most importantly, a second-weekend breakthrough in the NCAA Tournament.
“He’s a tremendous player, a tremendous player. At their place he scored 32 points (on us). We couldn’t get him under control or contain him,” Butler coach LaVall Jordan said. “Early on we had a lot of attention on him. So he moved the ball and let his teammates do the work. Jefferson set a tone early, driving us. And so that’s what makes Zegarowski good is he’s willing to let his teammates be aggressive and just kind of took what came to him. That’s what good players do.”
Butler adjusted their defensive plan to stop Zegarowski from repeating that 32-point performance. Creighton countered by relentlessly attacking Butler’s two-big lineup of Bryce Nze and Bryce Golden. They forced either Nze or Golden to guard one of their four guards, and that went about as well as you’d expect.
Nine minutes into the game, Creighton had already built a 16-point lead, 23-7. Marcus Zegarowski set the stage for what was to come when he flipped up a lob to Christian Bishop for a dunk over Golden:
And then repeatedly, Damien Jefferson burned Nze off the dribble and on wide-open looks created by Zegarowski. He scored nine of his team’s first 16 points, making 4-of-5 from the floor including this three:
Jefferson was unstoppable, though not immune from friendly fire: after his fourth bucket, he collided violently with teammate Alex O’Connell. AOC was wobbly and had to be helped to the locker room, while DJ got up with a bloody nose.
Enter the Bluejay bench, who continued the onslaught. Shereef Mitchell intercepted a pass and scored on a fastbreak layup, and moments later ripped away a rebound from the much, much taller Golden, started another fast break, this time ending with a three from Denzel Mahoney.
Antwann Jones, who turned in some of his best minutes as a Bluejay, was next up. He had two points, three rebounds and two assists in the five minutes he subbed for Jefferson — rather than just buying them time, he helped them extend the lead by keeping the pedal to the metal. First, he threw a three-quarters-court pass ahead to Bishop for a dunk against a Butler defense that couldn’t keep up.
Then he broke down his defender off the dribble, collapsed the defense onto him, and kicked it out to Mitchell for an open catch-and-shoot three.
And then he created some offense for himself, dribbling into the paint and using a spin move to make enough space to get off a short jumper.
“Antwann slowed himself down a little. He really made some nice plays with the basketball for his teammates,” Greg McDermott said. “He does have the ability to impact the game. And I thought besides what he did on offense, I thought when D.J. went down, when they hit heads, I thought he came in and provided some defensive spark as well.”
Meanwhile, Mitchell combined with Denzel Mahoney to swarm Chuck Harris on the perimeter, as the star of Wednesday’s OT win — who hung 29 points on the Jays a week ago — managed just four shots in the first half and one lone three-point attempt. He was rendered completely invisible despite playing 18 minutes.
And once Jefferson checked back in, gauze hanging out of his bloody nose, he resumed abusing the Butler big men. As the Jays opened up a 42-26 lead at the break, Jefferson had 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting, capped off with this three in the corner.
Remembering how Butler had come back from a 19-point deficit the night before against Xavier to win, the Jays came out of the locker room ready to deliver the knockout. Over the first nine minutes of the second half, they outscored Butler 21-9 and took a 63-35 lead. There was Bishop putting the ball on the deck and dishing it to an open Zegarowski in the corner for a three…
…Zegarowski returning the favor by flipping up a lob to Bishop for a dunk…
…and then Zegarowski hitting another three after Butler’s entire defense inexplicably forgot about him…
…and finally, the pièce de résistance — a behind-the-back bounce pass in the lane from Zegarowski to Bishop for a layup. Goodness. It’s a shame FS1’s terrible camera angle is the one that was being used for the live shot, and therefore shown in this tweet.
A much better angle shot by Creighton’s in-house video team can be enjoyed at the 35-second mark here:
Here’s how it sounded on Bluejay Radio:
From there, the Jays emptied the bench and got buckets from walk-on Devin Davis:
and Andrew Merfeld:
and Sami Osmani:
All three elicited the loudest, most enthusiastic cheering of the night from the Bluejay bench. McDermott joked after the game that “Well, finally Merfeld made a critical basket at a big time. Good to see.”
Then he got serious.
“No, that was a really proud moment for a really special family. Merf has been with me from day one at Creighton for 11 years. I’ve watched Andrew grow up, and obviously their family is really close to ours, so to have that happen is pretty cool. That group of guys has meant a ton to our program and they get us ready every night. It was really fun to see several of those guys go out and make an impact tonight on this floor. It’s something they’ll never forget.”
So now their attention shifts to UConn, who similarly blew out DePaul in the nightcap Thursday 94-60. The Huskies had four players score in double figures, including James Bouknight who had 10 in 19 minutes before leaving early due to cramping. It has the makings of an instant classic between the Big East’s two hottest teams, and a one-on-one showdown between Bouknight and Zegarowski that will be must-see-television.
Bouknight missed the second meeting between these squads, but in the first one he scored a career-high 40 points. The Jays struggled not only to stop his dribble, but to defend him at the rim with their second line after he’d beaten their guards. He drew 11 fouls all by himself. Bouknight is first in the Big East in fouls drawn per 40 minutes at 5.9, so it’s not only the Jays who’ve had problems. But he is a tough guy to stop.
R.J. Cole had 14 points and eight assists last night against DePaul, but his impact — at least against Creighton — has been in his one-on-one matchup with Zegarowski. He’s defended him better than any opponent this year, and he’s the linchpin in their defensive strategy of pressing on ball handlers, getting into passing lanes, and generally doing anything they can to make an opponent uncomfortable. They force teams into mistakes.
The keys to the game? Rebounding and tempo.
UConn is eighth in D1 and first in the Big East in offensive rebound percentage — they grab 36.6% of their missed shots. Creighton can win with them being at or near that number, but if the Huskies start securing half or more of their misses and turning them into second-chance points, CU’s odds of victory go down substantially.
But UConn’s transition defense is fairly poor, which is a big reason Creighton has beaten them twice already this year. The Huskies are the sixth-worst team in America in transition defense, to be exact — they allow opponents to shoot an effective field goal percentage of 63.3% in transition. And Creighton loves to run and score that way, obviously. If they can stop their opponent’s initial action and get their defense set, they become almost impenetrable, however. In a 180-degree difference, their opponents have an effective field goal percentage of 42.5% out of the half court, ranking fifth-best in America.
UConn’s Tyrese Martin said that while the Jays have beaten them twice this year, “We’re a different team. We’re at full strength. We’re probably one of the hottest teams in the country right now. So to beat us, you’re going to have to do a lot of things. And I don’t think that there’s a team right now that’s going to do that.”
Meanwhile, Cole deflected a question on Zegarowski, saying “He’s a good player. But we’re going to have a good scout tomorrow. We can’t wait to get out there and play tomorrow. That’s all I’ve got to say about that.”
Game on.
