Bluejay Beat:
Key Stats:
Loyola had 20 assists on 26 made baskets, and 40 of their 61 points came in the paint. Big men Aher Uguak and Cameron Krutwig did most of the damage — they scored a combined 35 points (18 for Uguak and 17 for Krutwig). But that was by design for the Bluejays, or rather, a side effect of their gameplan to keep 2019 MVC Player of the Year Marques Townes and 2018 MVC Player of the Year Clayton Custer from scoring.
Townes was 1-for-8 from the floor. Custer was 3-for-8. They combined for just 13 points, never really got an open look, and certainly were never comfortable.
“Well, I didn’t want Custer and Townes to be comfortable. You’re asking for trouble if you allow that to happen,” Greg McDermott explained on his postgame show. “Our coverage on the short roll wasn’t great, though. That pass is a very difficult pass to make, first of all, and Townes and Custer did a great job of getting the ball inside. Second, Krutwig was really good — a lot of times you can get a big man in that situation to rush and make mistakes. When we ran at him, he made the right decision and the right pass. When we didn’t get to him quick enough, he’d make a play for himself. We adjusted in the second half and Mitch did a better job of bluffing at him, to give Martin time to get back. But ultimately we just felt like we had to keep pressure on the perimeter.”
Likewise, Creighton did most of their scoring inside the arc as well. They were 18-of-30 on two-pointers, and hit just enough threes to get the floor spaced and the defense honest. They got a career-high seven assists from Ty-Shon Alexander. Martin Krampelj tied a Creighton NIT record with four made 3-pointers. And they won, meaning they survive to play another day.
Recap:
In Tuesday’s NIT First Round matchup, you never really got the feeling that Creighton was locked in or had a rhythm. Even when they had success, it felt disjointed and kind of messy. Loyola has a knack of doing that to you; they’re a well-coached team who is also one of the hardest teams in the country to score against. They forced high-tempo teams to play their game last March in the NCAA Tournament — even making Michigan get down in the dirt with them and have a rock fight — and they did it to Creighton in this game too.
And so it was a weird game where the Bluejays were in control most of the night, yet never felt comfortable. Martin Krampelj hit three 3-pointers in the first eight minutes, helping the Jays build a 15-11 lead. If it was one of his final games in Omaha — it might be — he was going out with a bang:
“I love Omaha,” Krampelj said on the postgame radio show when John Bishop asked him point-blank about next year. “I don’t want to go anywhere. That’s a promise — I’ll be back here next year.”
Then he tacked on a quick little qualifier, laughing as he added “…We’ll see.”
Either way, Krampelj had a huge game, and his main backup on the night did as well. Christian Bishop checked in and make an instant impact with a blocked shot and a transition layup that pushed the lead to 22-11.
“Christian came in with a lot of energy. We pretty much told him, the flip-ups may not be there a lot which is tough because we use him on pick-and-rolls so much,” Ty-Shon Alexander said on the postgame. “But he got involved other ways.”
“Every time I see Christian coming in to sub for me, it puts a smile on my face,” Krampelj added. “I’m so happy for him and to see him play this well is amazing. He learns a lot every time he gets into the game, and everything’s (trending) up for him.”
One of the benefits to playing in the NIT is giving young players an opportunity to end their season with confidence, and if Tuesday’s game is any indication, Christian Bishop will be the biggest beneficiary of these extra games. He had eight points, four rebounds and a block, and gave the team a spark.
“Christian was really good. And good things happened when he was in. He got behind Krutwig twice, made a layup and then missed one in transition. Those are the kind of plays we need him to make. He’s a good rim protector, and he was really good tonight.”
Christian Bishop goes up for a dunk in Tuesday’s NIT win over Loyola. (Photo by Mike Spomer / WBR — CLICK TO BUY A PRINT)
Unfortunately, they couldn’t put the Ramblers away — five straight stops and four straight buckets tied the game at 22. The last two baskets were threes by Bruno Skokna, a reserve from Croatia who had only made 17 threes all season long. And after trading buckets to tie the game at 24, back-to-back shots from Krampelj and Alexander gave Creighton the lead for good at 28-24. They’d take a 31-31 advantage into halftime, and then seemingly took control of the game at the start of the second half.
They used a 9-4 run over the first four minutes to take a double-digit lead, 45-35, with Mitch Ballock leading the way. He had a pair of dribble-drive layups during the run, and scored 10 of the team’s first 17 points in the half. That early surge gave Creighton the separation it needed to stay in control, answering every time Loyola made a push with a clutch basket of their own.
โI just felt we couldnโt get over the hump,โ Loyola coach Porter Moser said in his postgame press conference. โEvery time we kind of cut into their lead and showed some life, they extended it back up to seven, eight, nine, 10…Youโve got to give them credit. They just kept on answering.โ
The lead wasn’t big enough to avoid some late-game drama, unfortunately. An inability to inbound the ball, one of the most frustrating things and perhaps the defining characteristic of the 2018-19 Creighton Bluejays, nearly undid them again. After Davion Mintz’ lackadaisical dribbling led to a steal in the backcourt and an easy layup, the lead was 63-57 with 1:09 to play. They couldn’t get the ball in and had to burn a timeout; though they managed to get the ball in and score on a transition layup, the next time they inbounded it they again had trouble — and were whistled for a five-second call when they couldn’t get the ball in. The madness continued on the next possession, with four seconds elapsing before the pass entered and Krampelj — the biggest player on the floor — the only Bluejay able to get open.
Thankfully, they stopped the bleeding before it became an open wound, unlike so many other late-game moments throughout the year. Krampelj made a free throw. Mintz blocked a shot attempt at the other end. And then Krampelj came up with a steal to ice the victory.
Ty-Shon Alexander splits a double-team in Tuesday’s NIT win. (Photo by Mike Spomer / WBR — CLICK TO BUY A PRINT)
It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win, and now the Jays advance to play the Memphis Tigers out of the American Athletic Conference in the 2nd Round. Disappointment may have been the overriding emotion before this first game, but now that they’ve moved on, the dominant emotion appears to be a motivation to make a deep run in the tourney.
“We were kind of disappointed in not making March Madness at first,” Alexander admitted on the postgame show. “But we got our heads together, texting back and forth, and told each other to get ready so we can make it back to the Garden. That’s where we want to be. That’s our goal now.”
“We all love to play basketball,” Krampelj added, “so we look at the NIT as an opportunity to be together for a little longer as a team, and to use it to keep growing as players.”
“The team felt awful on Sunday. They felt a little better on Monday. By shoot around today they were pretty locked in,” McDermott said. “We played Alabama the last time we were in the NIT, and I think our guys got up for that a little bit more because it was Alabama. And we weren’t expected to get into the NCAA Tournament that year, so we were excited to play in the NIT.”
“This year was different. The whole mental part of it was different than 2016. I really felt like we needed to find a way to get through the first game, to beat a good Loyola team, and then they can get excited because they know they’re two wins away from the Garden. I think we’ll have their attention now.”
The Tigers have won 22 games so far in Penny Hardaway’s first season on the Memphis bench, finishing fifth in the AAC. They’re the polar opposite of Loyola, preferring to play as fast as possible and shooting as early in the shot clock as they can. They beat San Diego 74-60 in their first round NIT game, and will come into Omaha either Friday or Monday night having won seven of their last nine games.