Wednesday’s loss at Georgetown was called “embarrassing” by both players and coaches. The Bluejays’ response says a lot about the makeup of the team. Jamiya Neal said that the flight back to Omaha wasn’t as bad as he feared it might be, noting that the program’s process-oriented system keeps them on an even keel.
“Win, lose, or draw, we do the same things,” Neal said. “But we definitely had a sense of urgency like, ‘yeah, that can’t happen ever again,’ and honestly, I think it was a wake up call for us to just lock in a little more. Like, everybody can give a little more. I think it was hard for us to kind of hold each other accountable, like how can I hold a guy like Jackson, a freshman, accountable when I’m not doing my job? So I think everybody took a look in the mirror, and we took a look at mirror as a team, and we had to get better in certain areas.”
Creighton made its first six three-point attempts and had a 24-18 lead eight minutes into the game. They made 9-of-13 from three-point range (69.2%) in the first half, and 53.6% overall, yet led by just two at 40-38 because Villanova was just as hot from the field.
Ryan Kalkbrenner got the three-point barrage started a minute in, but everyone participated — Jackson McAndrew hit one at the 17:42 mark, Steven Ashworth made one with 16:57 left, Jamiya Neal joined the party at the 14:47 mark followed by another two minutes later, and then Ashworth drained their sixth straight without a miss with 12:01 to go.
“They came out and they set the tone,” Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune said. “They made some early ones, some tough ones, but some that we wanted to take away that we didn’t. I give them a lot of credit. They came in and made a lot of shots, especially early. I thought we had it going offensively as well, but we were just trading baskets and they outlasted us with making shots.”
Villanova’s Eric Dixon is the one puzzle Ryan Kalkbrenner has never been able to solve, the best version of the exact type of player who gives them the most trouble: a mobile big man who’s comfortable shooting midrange jumpers and threes. So coming into Kalkbrenner’s ninth game against Dixon, Creighton decided to try something new — they stuck the 6’8” Jasen Green on him instead, hoping Green’s quickness and athleticism would be better suited for chasing Dixon off the line. And if it worked, it would free up Kalkbrenner to stay home near the rim and keep other Wildcats from getting easy shots.
“I thought Jasen made Eric Dixon’s life really hard and we shortened the bench a little bit tonight for that reason. We wanted Jason on him as much as possible,” Greg McDermott said. “But you have to stay connected to Dixon. He’s gotten so good at reading. Like, if you switch and you’re on top, he’ll roll to the basket. If you’re under, he’s going to post you, and now you’ve got a smaller guy on him, and he backs him in. We were staying attached to him, but as a result, they hit some mid-range stuff.”
Villanova’s Jhamir Brickus scored 10 points in the game’s first eight minutes, including a pair of threes, while Ashworth was his primary defender.
At the under-12 timeout the Jays shifted Neal onto him, and shut his water off — Brickus scored just six more points the rest of the day. But then the Wildcats began finding ways to get Dixon involved, and after scoring just two points in the first 11 minutes he scored 10 the rest of the half.
With those two keeping Villanova in the game, the Jays couldn’t manage to pull away in the first half. But after Dixon’s three-pointer brought the Wildcats to within a single point just 40 seconds into the second half, CU put together the decisive stretch of the game — a 14-5 run over the next 4-1/2 minutes to build a ten point lead. Kalkbrenner had two dunks in that run, including this one where he took the ball 25 feet from the hoop, blew past Dixon on the perimeter and drove straight to the rim as the Wildcats’ shocked defense looked on.
Neal and Ashworth added three-pointers, and the Jays led by eight or more the rest of the afternoon except for a single possession in the final minute.
“I think Villanova was playing about as good as anybody in the league the last six or seven games,” McDermott said. “For us to get this win and go into the break feeling a little bit better about ourselves is really good for us.”
Inside the Box:
Creighton tied a season-high with 22 assists, and with an assist on 70.9% of their made baskets it was their best mark of the year so far. That ball movement paid off — their 14 made three-pointers were a season high, as was their 56.0% shooting percentage from three.
They also had just seven turnovers, a season low and the first time they’ve been in single digits. Coming into the game, they ranked 306th out of 355 teams for the most turnovers, with only three power conference teams behind them.
“When we don’t turn the ball over and move offensively, we have a lot of things open up for us,” said Kalkbrenner. “We’ve got really good shooters and really good passers all around. That’s most of what it was, just taking care of the ball and moving it.”
Kalkbrenner scored 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting, his highest output since the season’s second game when he scored 24 on FDU. His 15 shot attempts were his second most of the season, behind only the 20-of-22 shooting night en route to 49 points in the season opener.
Neal added 20 points with four rebounds, six assists, zero turnovers, and made 6-of-7 from three-point range. His six made 3’s were a career high, and played a big role in Kalkbrenner’s big day — with him lighting it up from the perimeter, it became harder for Villanova to justify collapsing on Kalkbrenner in the paint.
“I just think the more we get used to playing with each other and the more we grow as a team, the easier it’s been getting for us to either get it in when I’m open or find the shooters when they’re sending two, three guys at me,” Kalkbrenner said.
As for Neal, his three-point explosion had to be a shock to Villanova — in 13 games, he’d only made more than one 3-pointer in one game (4-of-6 against Notre Dame).
“I’m back fam. I’m back,” Neal joked on the postgame radio show. “This felt good for sure. You know, obviously I’ve been having some struggles shooting the ball, but I never, never tried to doubt myself. My teammates never doubted me. My coaches never doubted me. I work a lot, and you hope one day it’ll pay off. Tonight it paid off.”
Neal’s stat line made his coach smile, but no number more than the “zero” in the turnover column. Neal had three or more turnovers in seven of the 12 games coming in, and 12 in the last three games alone.
“That’s gonna make me sleep good tonight. You know, he made really good decisions with the basketball and he shot the right shots,” McDermott said. “I mean, the last one he hit was crazy, with the guy hanging on him as the shot clock expired. But the the other six shots were in rhythm, open shots. Coach Ziegler’s been working with him every day after practice — whether Jamiya wants to or not — on improving on the shots he’s gonna get in our offense. More than that, it’s having the confidence to rise up because as his percentage has been down, teams are going under him, they’re helping more on Kalk, and he’s got to make them pay. Repetition will do that for you.”
Steven Ashworth also scored 20, shooting 3-of-5 from three-point range, but the big number was 11 — his eleven assists were a career-high.
“Steven’s fighting and doing everything he can,” McDermott said. “We’re asking Steven to do so much. You know, he handles it and made some great decisions with the ball tonight, both on flip-ups to Kalk and on passes to his teammates for threes. And then, he somehow makes plays for himself too.”
But the big news of the day was the NCAA clearing Fedor Žugić to play immediately. He’d been ineligible for the first 12 games of the year, and found out just before the program sent out the press release with the good news at 10:30am Omaha time. But while he’s able to play, he’s not totally in game shape.
After his initial bid for eligibility was denied around Thanksgiving, he couldn’t practice at all. Before that — and after his appeal allowed him to return to the practice floor — he ran strictly with the scout team. And in early December he had the flu, which set him back further. While they hoped for good news, the Jays were operating under the assumption that he would not be cleared this season.
Before the game, McDermott said he would try to get Zugic out on the floor for short stints.
“Right now it’s a limited package as to what he knows. It’s very similar to Alex O’Connell several years ago,” McDermott noted, “where all of a sudden overnight you find out he’s eligible when you didn’t think he was going to be, and then you have to figure out a way to integrate him into the lineup without totally upsetting the apple cart. But he’s excited, his teammates are excited for him, and I’m obviously thrilled for him…it’s been a long process for him to get to this day.”
Zugic played 2:41, grabbing two rebounds and committing a foul. He looked lost on offense. But now he’ll have ten days before their next game to run with the starting unit in practice — and the hope is by the time St. John’s gets here for a New Years Eve battle, he’ll be able to play a bigger role.
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