Bluejay Beat Podcast:
Recap & Analysis:
When Creighton and DePaul played earlier this month, the Jays got off to a sluggish (and sloppy) start, struggled to contain Marin Maric in the post, and were beaten soundly on the offensive glass. They cleaned up all three areas in the rematch, and as a result, beat the Blue Demons by 25 points.
CU committed ten first-half turnovers in Chicago, and it was a big reason they trailed at the half in that game. Tuesday night, they flipped the script — it was DePaul who turned it over (eight times in the first half), and CU who took the lead (43-33 at the break). Creighton also had no answer for DePaul’s veteran big man Maric until late in the first meeting, and rather than use the same double-team tactics that ultimately worked to slow him down, they built a scheme they’ve not used before — and completely flummoxed him. Combined with Jacob Epperson continuing to show rapid growth as he gains D1 experience, Creighton was able to hold Maric to six points (3-7 shooting), six rebounds, and forced him into four turnovers, after torching them for 23 points in Chicago on 10-16 shooting.
“Jacob (Epperson) was better than he was the first time we played them, first of all,” Greg McDermott said. “And we employed a help defense that we hadn’t used before, where we just kind of ran off the passer and tried to freak him out a little bit when he caught the ball. I thought that kept him out of rhythm.”
Five minutes in, the Bluejays led 13-12 and then used a 9-0 run to push the lead into double-digits, where it would remain the rest of the night. The run began with a three-pointer from Mitch Ballock, and included not one but two steals from Marcus Foster that he converted into buckets. The second resulted in him throwing down the hammer:
A pair of three-pointers by Ty-Shon Alexander, coming on back-to-back possessions, stretched the lead out to 28-17, and then Foster hit this ridiculous three:
Another three from Ballock, this time from well beyond even the NBA stripe, forced DePaul into a timeout as the Bluejays were threatening to blow the game open.
Late in the half, Foster threw a lob up to Epperson, who slammed home a dunk to end a mini-run from DePaul that had cut the lead to 10.
As March approaches, Creighton’s three freshmen have begun taking on bigger roles. Combined with two bonafide stars in Foster and Thomas and a solid corps of veteran role players, that makes the Bluejays awfully tough.
Ballock and Alexander, who’ve played all year long and had appeared to hit the “freshman wall” in January, have busted through to the other side. Alexander scored 13 points on Tuesday, hitting three 3-pointers and 5-8 overall, while splitting time at both the point and two-guard spots. Ballock stepped into the starting lineup for Ronnie Harrell the last two games, and has been a different player — and a difference maker. He had eight assists against Villanova Saturday, showing a playmaking ability that gave their offense a new wrinkle. It continued on Tuesday, with Ballock dishing out five more assists, and hitting three 3-pointers of his own. When Harrell returns, likely this weekend against Marquette, it will leave CU with an interesting problem. They’ve looked fantastic with Ballock on the floor; it’s tempting to continue to start him and go back to bringing Harrell off the bench as a sixth man, where he thrived earlier in the season.
“Mitch has really grown a lot in two games,” McDermott said. “13 assists in these last two games in something I thought he could do for us all year. Evidently he just needed a little bit more of an opportunity to do that. He’s playing with a lot of confidence right now.”
Meanwhile, Epperson has now played nine games since burning his redshirt, and shown steady progress. He had six points and four rebounds in 14 minutes against DePaul, following up on a 12 point, five rebound game against Villanova. He looks more confident and comfortable defensively, is more assertive offensively around the rim, and is doing a better job of rebounding the basketball, too. His stamina remains a concern, but as March approaches, his improvement is undeniable and he’s hitting his stride at precisely the right time. The uncharacteristically aggressive decision by McDermott to burn Epperson’s redshirt after Martin Krampelj’s season-ending injury is looking like a genius move, and depending on how the next couple of weeks go, a season-changing move.
While the freshmen led the charge before halftime, the seniors and veterans made sure the lead held up. Creighton made their first five baskets in the second half, part of a 15-5 blitz to open the half that put the game out of reach. Thomas began the scoring with a layup and made one of two free throws on the next trip. He assisted on a layup to Toby Hegner on the next possession, and again on a three-pointer by Hegner moments later. Foster and Davion Mintz scored on jumpers, and then Foster connected on a three — his 300th career made three pointer — to give CU an insurmountable 59-38 lead.
They’d put the game in cruise control from there, winning by 25. It’s a big win both in the micro view — they avoided the last potential “bad” loss on their schedule, wrapped up the home schedule with a 16-2 record, and enter the final weekend of the regular season on a two-game winning streak — and in the macro. With the win they’re assured of no worse than the #6 seed in the Big East Tournament, meaning they avoid the Wednesday opening round.
Key Stats:
Creighton shoots better than 50% in both halves (15-30 for 50.0% in the first half, 16-30 for 53.3% in the second). They had an assist on 20 of their 31 made baskets, turned it over just 10 times, and offset those 10 turnovers with 10 steals of their own.
Standout Performance:
In their final games in Omaha, Creighton’s four seniors all got their moments in the sun. Marcus Foster scored 20 points on 8-15 shooting, and chipped in four assists, four steals, and three rebounds. It was the sort of well-rounded performance that would have been remarkable from Foster a year ago, when he was a scoring machine but couldn’t be counted on for consistent production in other areas. It’s not all that remarkable this year — it’s the type of game the Jays have come to expect from him as a senior.
What is remarkable, though? His continued ability to absolutely destroy would-be defenders above the rim. No Bluejay guard has been this prolific or this ferocious at dunking the basketball since Rodney Buford two decades ago. Buford’s highlights live on in our memories even after 20 years, and so will Foster’s. How fitting, then, that his final dunk in Omaha was among his finest — a thundering dunk over DePaul’s Paul Reed. Goodness.
Here’s Foster’s remarks to the crowd during Senior Night festivities.
Toby Hegner’s one of the toughest guys around, and is gutting out the end of his career on two bad wheels to literally leave everything on the floor while playing through personal anguish (as we all learned in Matt DeMarinis’ outstanding feature yesterday). His limited mobility hampered his ability to guard without fouling last night, but in 19 minutes he hit a pair of shots inside and one final three-pointer:
Afterward, there weren’t many dry eyes in the CLink during his heartfelt speech.
Tyler Clement has excelled far beyond what you’d ever expect from a walk-on, making a huge impact in a limited role. He’s seen action in 19 of 30 games this year, with three times as many assists as turnovers. He’s made 47.5% of his shots and 40% of his threes. And in his home finale, Greg McDermott drew up a play to get him a three-pointer — and Clement nailed it.
And finally, Manny Suarez made the most of his one year at Creighton by providing the scout team with a big body to practice against, a vocal supporter from the bench, and when called upon, a solid post player on both ends of the floor. He blocked a shot on senior night:
Hit a shot late in the game:
And then thanked Omaha and Creighton for his time here.
The player with the biggest night, though, was one who might also have been playing his final game in Omaha. Khyri Thomas damn near had a triple-double — the only player in CU history to record one is Benoit Benjamin — with 16 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists. He had five steals, too, while harassing and generally making life a living hell for Max Strus (who scored 14 points, which isn’t far off his average of 17…but he was 1-9 on three-pointers and 4-15 overall.)
Thomas didn’t get his senior speech moment, but he did get a curtain call as he subbed out of the game with the seniors — and was serenaded with extremely loud chants of “One More Year!” That’s probably wishful thinking, considering he’s slotted as a first round pick somewhere in the late-teens in most NBA mock draft boards. If this was in fact his final home game, what a way to go out.
“Khyri is a special player,” McDermott said. “There’s a reason he’s on the draft boards. He’s more than just a 3-and-D guy at that level; he’ll continue to get better when the time comes for him to go pro. His improvement over the course of three years — and really two years from right now, because in the Big East Tournament against Seton Hall as a freshman, he played two minutes. And it wasn’t like we thought about playing him more. He was a train wreck defensively, took too many chances offensively, and he had no confidence. He didn’t want to shoot a free throw because he was under 50% from the line. Two years ago today, that was the position he was in. Now he’s potentially a first-round NBA Draft pick. That’s a credit to my coaching staff for their work with him, but mostly a credit to Khyri for the amount of time he’s invested in this program and in himself.”
“We recruited him for two years, and most of the recruiting was convincing him that he was good enough to play here. You know, he asked me on more than one occasion, and asked Coach DeVries ‘Are you sure I can play at Creighton?’ We always answered, ‘Yes, we’re sure you can play here.’ That’s just who he is, that’s part of his upbringing. He’s such a humble young man and a very good teammate.”
As for the ‘One More Year’ chants that rained down when Thomas exited the game? McDermott jokingly said he was leading the chant, then got serious. “That’s neat for Khyri and his family, but the time will come when he’s got to make that decision. That time is not now. There’s plenty of time to gather that information after the season and for him to make an educated decision. It’s my job to support him and help him through it, but right now my job is to keep his mind off of it.”
They Said It:
You Said It:
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