Recap:
The first three games on Quarterfinal Thursday of the Big East Tournament featured wild comebacks from teams who once trailed by double-digits. Some were successful (Marquette and Xavier rallied to erase halftime deficits and win). Some weren’t (Providence trailed by 26 before a 21-5 run nearly toppled UConn). The nightcap featured another double-digit lead and another comeback — with Creighton ahead by as many as 20 points in the second half, Villanova staged furious rallies to get the deficit into single digits on two occasions.
Leading 65-45 with 6:37 to play, the Wildcats cut it to nine with an 11-0 run spanning less than two minutes that featured a pair of three-pointers from Eric Dixon and one from Caleb Daniels. After a timeout by Greg McDermott to try and stem the tide, Arthur Kaluma answered with an absolutely huge shot — a three-pointer that pushed the lead back to 12 at 68-56, got the Bluejay crowd at The Garden back on their feet, and stopped Villanova’s surge in its tracks.
Then after a three-point play by Dixon once again cut it to nine at 70-61, Kaluma made another huge play — after Trey Alexander broke a fierce Wildcat press by throwing it ahead to Kaluma, he zipped a lob to the rim where Ryan Kalkbrenner slammed down a dunk and drew a foul. His reaction and some astute lip-reading said it all: the big man was ready to deliver the knockout punch. And did he ever.
After converting his own three-point play with a free throw following that dunk, he repeated it moments later to push the lead out to 78-64 and KO the champ. His roar was audible through FS1’s courtside microphones — he knew he’d ended the Wildcats’ Big East Tournament with that shot, and with it, their NCAA Tourney hopes.
Then Kaluma put the exclamation point on it with a backwards hammer slam off of a pass ahead of the press.
The repeated, emphatic answers to Villanova’s late-game runs were impressive. How the Jays built that 20-point lead in the first place was equally impressive — all totaled, it was one of their most complete games of the season, leading wire-to-wire.
Creighton’s defense was locked in from the start, with a focus, energy and determination that told you they’d watched the film of Villanova’s win in Philadelphia two weeks ago and not liked what they’d seen. Specifically: Eric Dixon’s 31 point outburst and Justin Moore’s eight assists.
“We watched a lot of film with Kalk and Fred, and talked about their activity and making sure not to get caught in between, which I thought we did in Philadelphia,” Greg McDermott said. “We also talked to the rest of the guys about when it goes to (Dixon), let’s run a quick stunt and give the illusion we’re coming to help and hopefully get him to freeze for a second.”
From the first possession, CU’s defense gave Dixon no room to get off a shot, much less make one. Ryan Nembhard locked down Moore, Trey Alexander stifled Caleb Daniels, and the Jays strung together stop after stop. Villanova had 23 points on 30 possessions in the first half. It was an exceptional defensive effort that left Villanova dazed. Dixon had two points on 1-of-4 shooting in the first half when Kalkbrenner was his primary defender, with the one made shot an accidental tip-in by Kalkbrenner after Dixon shoved him while jostling for a rebound.
Meanwhile, their offense was clicking on all cylinders. After Kaluma stayed composed in the post to find an angle for a layup, he stripped the ball loose on defense leading to a transition three for Alexander.
40 seconds later, Alexander drained a second straight three, this one from the corner to make it 15-6 Bluejays and force Villanova to take an early timeout.
Then he drained a third consecutive three off the dribble, giving CU their first double-digit lead of the night at 18-7.
Leading 33-23 at the half, the Bluejays threatened to run Villanova out of the gym at the start of the second. Defensively, they held Villanova to points on just two of their first 10 possessions, while on offense they made 3-of-4 from three-point range in the opening moments — and getting five points in 20 seconds from Nembhard that started with this drive where he simply put his head down and got to the rim.
Then Kaluma stuffed Cam Whitmore’s shot, starting a fastbreak where they found Nembhard wide open in the corner. He promptly buried a three.
Scheierman had a part in two 4-point plays. First he nailed a three to make it 40-28, was fouled in the process, and sank a free throw to give them a 13-point lead less than three minutes into the half. Then after Kaluma sank a free throw, he battled for an offensive rebound off the missed second attempt, kicked it out to Nembhard, and he knocked down a three.
Leading by 20, Villanova tried to mount a comeback, as you knew they would. The Jays were ready and had an answer every time — though obviously, having a 20-point cushion helps.
“I didn’t even have to say it to the guys because of the respect we have for the Villanova program,” McDermott said. “Our team was saying to each other, ‘These guys aren’t going to quit; they’re going to play to the end. They’re going to keep fighting to the end,’ which is exactly what they did. I’m glad we had enough cushion where it didn’t get totally in danger.”
And so now they advance to take on 2-seed Xavier, who beat DePaul 89-84 despite leading for just 2:31. The Blue Demons led by as many as 13 and led by eight with eight minutes to play before a furious rally — capped off by a tip-in by Jack Nunge — gave them the lead. They were pushed to the limit, and with a roster of just seven healthy rotational players now that Zach Freemantle’s season is over (and only six who play significant minutes), they’ll be running on adrenaline Friday night.
The Jays and Musketeers split two games earlier this year, with Xavier winning 90-87 in Cincinnati and CU returning the favor 84-67 in Omaha. But it’s been nearly six weeks since they’ve seen each other, and without Freemantle, Xavier is not the same team they were in those two matchups. The Musketeers play at a slower pace now, necessitated by their short bench.
CU is favored by 3.5 in Vegas and by two on KenPom, making it a virtual tossup.
Inside the Box:
Ryan Kalkbrenner shut up a lot of critics with his performance against Villanova. He had 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting, including six in the critical final minutes when the teams were trading punches. His defense on Dixon when the game was in the balance was huge — before a late flurry of baskets when the deficit was as many as 20 points, Dixon was a non-factor.
“Villanova is tough for us; we’ve got one of the best rim protectors in the game of college basketball,” McDermott said. “And they force you to kind of flip your defense upside down and pull him away from the basket. It takes us away from what we do best. But he was much better guarding Eric tonight.”
Baylor Scheierman did a bit of everything — his line of 12 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists left him just shy of the first point/rebound/assist triple-double in the history of CU basketball. He, too, made big plays when it mattered most, with assists both on Kalkbrenner’s second three-point play and on Kaluma’s game-sealing dunk. And for a player who at times has made head-scratching passes that were perhaps too fancy by half, he had just one turnover. It was a helluva performance.
“This was an unreal experience,” Scheierman said on Big East Shootaround. “Growing up around the game of basketball, everyone knows what this arena is all about. Everyone knows the history of it. To be able to play a game here was unreal. I’m excited to get back out there (Friday).”
Nembhard added 17 points with five assists in 37 minutes while battling Villanova’s pressure defensively all night long. Kaluma had 18 while taking good, controlled shots within the offense — the discipline he played with was a hallmark of the entire team on a night when they beat Villanova at their own game.
“They’re one of the most disciplined teams in the country. To beat a team that plays with that discipline, you yourself have to also be disciplined. And we did that tonight,” McDermott said in an interview with John Fanta on Big East Shootaround. “We had twice as many assists as turnovers, we got to the foul line while keeping them off of it, all of the things in the recipe that you have to have to beat Villanova were there.”
Highlights:
Press Conference:
