Bluejay Beat Wrap-Up Show:
Key Stats:
Creighton turned it over 18 times, shot poorly from three-point range (7-of-23, 30.4%), and won by double-digits.
Say what?
That’s not typically a sentence you can write about these Bluejays, but they haven’t typically played with the intensity and toughness that they did on Friday night, either. They destroyed Butler on the glass, 40-29, forced the normally-surehanded Bulldogs into 13 turnovers of their own, played solid defensively — holding a Butler team that averaged 74 points per game coming in to just 61 — and scored 40 of their 75 points in the paint.
By advanced metrics it was just as good. Creighton held Butler to 0.836 points per possession, and secured 86.8% of the available defensive rebounds. As WBR’s Matt DeMarinis pointed out on Twitter when he shared those stats, “That’ll win you some games in the Big East.”
It sure will. And on a night when Creighton couldn’t hit a jumper, they won going away. That’s what defense and rebounding can do for you.
“The turnovers tonight were just carelessness. Excitement may have played a role too. I don’t know,” Davion Mintz said on the postgame radio show. “Coaches tell us that defense and hustle plays will win the game, and it’s true. We didn’t shoot the ball well at Butler, we turned it over, and we lost. We did the same thing here, but the difference is we hustled. We dove on the floor. We contested shots. We rebounded the ball. That’s what won the game for us.”
Coach Mac was stylish in a new pink sportcoat on Friday night. (Photo by Brad Williams for WBR — CLICK TO BUY A PRINT)
Standout Performance:
Martin Krampelj scored 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting, with eight rebounds, two blocks, and two steals. He played fundamentally sound defense on the block. He often was the second Bluejay on a double team away from the basket to force Kamar Baldwin into giving up the basketball. He was everywhere, on both ends of the floor. The team seemed to feed off of his physicality and emotion.
Martin Krampelj does some cardio work on the rim after a dunk. (Photo by Brad Williams for WBR — CLICK TO BUY A PRINT!)
But once again, it was Davion Mintz who appeared to be growing more and more into the leadership role this team so desperately needed.
“The urgency of the moment was big after those four losses. I knew we were at a point I owed this team more,” he said on the postgame radio show. “As a junior guard, and a player who’s started for parts of three seasons, there was no reason for me to be playing sub-par. I had to step up. That’s exactly what the team needed. I’m thankful to be in the position to make a difference. We are on our way up now. We are.”
Mintz scored 14 points largely thanks to 5-of-8 shooting on drives to the rim. He had six rebounds, six assists, and two steals while playing 36 minutes. He did have five turnovers, leading to a humorous exchange on the postgame show where he told John Bishop after learning he was named their Player of the Game, “Man, I had five turnovers tonight, I can’t believe I’m your player of the game! That’s terrible.”
And while looking only at the stat line would lead you to believe his defense on Kamar Baldwin was less than stellar, the opposite is true. He played in tandem with Krampelj on high ball screens far away from the basket to keep Baldwin from being able to drive at the rim, and it knocked Butler’s entire offensive flow out of whack.
“We turned Baldwin over some, and the big thing is we kept him from getting seven or eight assists,” Coach Greg McDermott said in his postgame radio interview. “If you let him get downhill with his ability to score, he’s such a good passer as well, it’s going to be a long night. And it’s hard to ask big guys to do what we asked them to do, but Martin was fabulous on ball screens and getting out there — staying out there, staying low. We forced a couple of turnovers at critical moments. It takes communication and team defense to do that.”
Mintz was in total agreement.
“I’m so thankful for my teammates because when people say, ‘Wow, you played really good defense tonight,’ they need to understand that I can’t do any of that without my bigs helping me, and without Tini talking to me and letting me know where guys are at. And especially without Tini helping on ball screens — that’s hard to do without a big man who’s willing to work with you. The credit really goes to those guys.”
Davion Mintz barrels toward the rim for two of his 14 points. (Photos by Brad Williams for WBR — CLICK TO BUY A PRINT)
Recap:
The first time these teams met, the opening minutes doomed Creighton. They scored seven points in the first nine minutes, with more turnovers (4) and fouls (4) than field goals (3), and trailed 27-13. Friday night, they had the look of a team hungry to keep that from repeating.
Mitch Ballock drained a corner three to open the game’s scoring, and then a steal by Davion Mintz led to a breakaway dunk for Martin Krampelj — and a 5-0 Bluejay lead. After a second dunk by Krampelj on their next trip downcourt, the Jays had equaled their seven points in nine Indianapolis minutes just 100 seconds into the Omaha rematch.
That start was huge, but the game had six lead changes over the first 14 minutes before Creighton went ahead for good. That came on a three-point play by Samson Froling, who took advantage of the defense collapsing elsewhere:
They began to pull away late in the half by scoring in transition. A 9-0 Bluejay run included a coast-to-coast drive by Marcus Zegarowski for a layup, a dribble-drive by Mitch Ballock for a layup, and a transition three by Mintz.
And though the end of the half was less than stellar — Mintz turned it over in the final 10 seconds as he tried to make a play in the paint, resulting in Butler getting an unexpected shot at the buzzer, which they made — Creighton led by six at the break. Kamar Baldwin scored the first basket of the second half, briefly cutting the Jays’ lead to 40-36, but a 7-2 run halted any thoughts Butler had of a quick turnaround. This time, it was layups by Krampelj and Mintz, and a three-pointer by Ty-Shon Alexander, doing the damage and forcing Bulldog head coach LaVall Jordan into a timeout to stop the bleeding.
Alexander later intercepted a pass, raced down court, and had the savvy to stop on a dime — and wait for a trio of Butler defenders to all leap and land — before shooting, resulting in an easy layup instead of a blocked or altered shot.
Creighton continued to roll, and their lead grew to 12 at 56-44 after Ballock drained a three with 11:57 to go. And every time Butler tried to mount a comeback, Creighton made a play to ensure it didn’t happen. Many of those plays weren’t making shots, either, although they did that too. Zegarowski flew through the air to chase a ball headed out of bounds, grabbed the ball, and threw it off a Butler player to retain possession instead of living with a turnover. Krampelj knocked a ball loose, dove on the floor, and saved it from going out of bounds. Alexander dove into a pile of players to secure a loose ball late in the game and secure the win. Time after time, the Bluejays were tougher, more physical, and were the aggressor.
On more occasions than you could count, they ripped away a rebound that seemed destined to be an offensive board for Butler. They were consistently in better position for rebounds, too, because they did the little things while the shot was in the air to make sure they were in position — and then either out-fought or out-leaped a Bulldog player to grab the ball.
Two weeks ago, when the season was at its’ lowest point, there was criticism of their fight and their hustle. After two consecutive games where they out-fought and out-toughed an opponent to win a road game and a gritty old-fashioned Big East battle at home, those same former players were there with praise of the team’s turnaround.
It’s been remarkable to see this team turn their fortunes around so quickly. And with two more winnable home games left on this homestand, and the team now in third place in the league, CU has a chance to be one of the teams who separates themselves from the log jam in the non-Villanova/Marquette half of the league.
“We jumped from last place to third tonight. So we appreciate that the rest of the league’s waited for us to get jump-started a little bit,” McDermott joked on the postgame radio show. “In all seriousness, though, that four-game stretch was tough. It would be easy to let a lot of doubt creep into your head and not work on getting better the way you need to. But these guys have stayed humble, they’ve stayed hungry. And they’ve stayed together which is the most important thing when you’re going through tough times.”