Key Stats:
Creighton grabbed 81.3% of available defensive rebounds, keeping Georgetown from turning missed shots into second-chance opportunities — and giving themselves a ton of opportunities in transition. They scored 18 fast break points, which is their most in a Big East game this season and the most since their win at Providence, when they had 15. Coincidentally, that is their only other league win.
They made 13-of-29 three pointers, or 44%, including 6-of-12 in the second half. But they weren’t settling for threes — they attempted more shots inside the arc than outside for the first time this season in Big East play.
They committed just seven turnovers, a season-low and just the third time in 19 games they’ve been in single-digits. They were nearly even on the glass. And they attempted eight more free throws than the Hoyas, making 18-of-24.
Standout Performance:
Ty-Shon Alexander was huge, scoring 26 points, making six 3-pointers (on 6-of-11 shooting), grabbing seven rebounds, dishing our four assists, and committing zero turnovers in 36 minutes. His three-pointer with 55 seconds to play put the Jays back ahead, and was the eventual game-winner. The Jays do not win this game without him.
But the same can be said of Davion Mintz. He scored 17 points in the same 36 minutes (10 of them in the second half), played great defense on Georgetown’s best guard, James Akinjo (holding him to 2-of-11 shooting), and gave the Jays something they haven’t had much this year — someone to put his head down and barrel to the rim for a layup when they needed a high-percentage shot. He was 5-of-7 on shots at the rim, and provided a needed counter-balance to their jump shooting that kept the Hoyas defenders honest. And he made a series of huge plays in the closing minutes that helped seal the win.
Recap:
Last week in Queens, Creighton blew a second-half lead at St. John’s and had their toughness questioned. No less an authority than Nick Bahe proclaimed on the postgame radio show that they’d not only lost the game, they’d lost the fight. To say Creighton took that to heart would be an understatement.
Monday night in D.C., Creighton was the tougher team, the more physical team, and more often than not first to the floor to scrap for loose balls. They most definitely won the fight. And as a result, it’s not surprising they also won the game.
“We saw an article recently that listed us as one of the softest teams in the league,” Ty-Shon Alexander said on the postgame radio show. “Our coaches pretty much just told us we had to come in and be the tougher team. We had to be first to the floor on loose balls. The staff pushed us to the limit in practice to prepare us to fight for rebounds, and be tougher defensively.”
Greg McDermott concurred with his star’s assessment. “We were really tough tonight,” he noted in a postgame radio interview. “In the first half, we got called for a couple of fouls on block-outs which I don’t totally know if they were fouls or not, but I thought at least our guys were making an effort to go crack somebody.”
Despite their best efforts, at least early on, things looked to be going sideways on them. They were struggling to defend Georgetown’s bigs, and fell behind 21-13 after eight minutes of action. Still, the terrific ball movement they’d showcase all night long was apparent from the tip, like on their first three of the game where all five players touched the ball:
It would show up again as part of an 8-0 run that erased Georgetown’s 21-13 lead. They swung the ball around the floor and created space for Ty-Shon Alexander to knock down a three:
And then tied the game moments later when Davion Mintz pulled down an offensive rebound amongst three Hoya players and kicked it out to Marcus Zegarowski for a three:
The teams then went back-and-forth over a breathless two minute stretch, with Georgetown’s Mac McClung scoring to give them a 26-23 lead, Alexander answering with a three, McClung answering that with a three of his own, and then Alexander answering THAT with ANOTHER three to tie the game 29-29:
Alexander later scored on this nifty dribble drive, where he got a friendly roll, to tie the game at 33:
Creighton couldn’t manage to take the lead, though, as Georgetown made one big shot after another to keep the game in their favor. But their use of a two-big lineup — either with Martin Krampelj and Christian Bishop playing together, or one of them playing alongside Samson Froling — was paying dividends. They mixed in some 2-3 zone for one of the rare times in recent seasons, and combined, those two adjustments were key moves by the coaching staff that played a big role in the win.
“Defensively, I think the two-big lineup helps us against a team like Georgetown,” McDermott said. “Certainly it helps us on the backboards, and with our spacing.”
Late in the first half, the two-big lineup nearly helped put them ahead. Martin Krampelj came up with a steal in traffic, and fed the ball ahead to Christian Bishop who was all alone in transition. But the freshman’s breakaway dunk was long, and bounced off the rim, and when the Hoyas converted two free throws on the next possession it was a four-point swing — instead of Creighton taking their first lead, 41-40, Georgetown extended their lead to 43-39. It seemed like a big moment.
Bishop committed another turnover on the final play of the half when he fumbled a pass in the corner, and the Jays went into the break down by a point. There will be better days ahead for the talented freshman, and when they arrive, the final minute of the first half at Georgetown will be one of those moments you look back at and laugh about.
That’s largely because his team opened the second half by making a big-time statement. They scored five of the first eight points to grab the lead, as part of a 12-5 run over the first three minutes. Mitch Ballock began the run with a three to put CU ahead 44-42:
Mintz drove the ball hard to the rack for a three-point play:
And then Krampelj ripped away a steal, raced down court, and slammed home a fastbreak dunk that forced Patrick Ewing to call for timeout.
“Davion was huge tonight,” Alexander said on the postgame show. “He told me at halftime, ‘we can’t lose this game tonight. We’ve got family and friends here from North Carolina, we have to put the team on our backs and make sure we get the win.”
The Jays’ Carolina Duo had big second halves, combining for 20 of their 50 points. But Mintz’s leadership was as big as anything he did between the lines.
“Davion’s playing the best basketball of his career,” McDermott said. “Through this stretch, he’s really been a bright spot in some games where we’ve lost. He’s bought into what we’re asking him to do. He’s all about the team. We wear him out on the defensive end because he’s generally guarding their best guard. I’m really, really proud of him. Obviously he made some big-time plays that were winning plays tonight.”
Creighton eventually built a lead of as many as eight points before Georgetown fought back to re-take the lead. And with his team trailing 82-79 with 2:37 to play, Mintz made a collection of those “winning plays” his coach was talking about that were the difference in the game.
First, he drove to the basket for a contested layup to slice the lead to a single point. Then he stole the inbounds pass and nearly made another layup to take the lead; though he missed it, he sank two free throws to put CU ahead 83-82. After a three-pointer by James Akinjo, Mintz drove to the basket to initiate contact and drew a foul, sinking one of two free throws to make the score 85-84 Georgetown. And then this wild possession resulted in CU taking the lead for good — Ballock rebounded his own miss, kicked the ball outside, and Alexander nailed a three:
Then Mintz helped seal the win defensively, as both he and Ballock cut off driving lanes for Hoya ball handlers and forced Jessie Govan to take a contested shot in the final minute. After Ballock went a perfect 4-of-4 from the line to close it out, Creighton had snapped a four-game losing skid.
“We finally got rid of that four-game losing streak, we finally got confidence behind our back,” Alexander said on the postgame radio show. “It felt really good.”
Now Creighton returns to Omaha for a three-game homestand against Butler, St. John’s, and Xavier, three games that KenPom favors them to win. Picking up the road ‘W’ at Georgetown could well be a turning point in their season if they can take care of business at the CHI Health Center the next week and a half.
“The guys have come hungry and ready to practice,” McDermott said. “They’re not pointing fingers at me, I’m not pointing fingers at them, they’re not pointing fingers at each other. They’re committed to getting better every day. When you do that, you have nights like this where good things happen.”