Key Stats:
32 of Creighton’s 59 points came either in the paint, and another dozen came on midrange jumpers or at the line. All totaled, Creighton’s offense came almost entirely inside the arc — just 17 of their 53 shots were threes.
Conversely, Villanova took 34 of their 56 shots from behind the arc, and were just 10-of-34 from deep (after starting 2-of-13). Creighton held Villanova to its worst overall shooting performance (37.5 percent) since December.
Davion Mintz became the first Bluejay to play an entire game since James Milliken played all 40 minutes at No. 5 Xavier on March 5, 2016. He wound up with 19 points to lead the team in scoring, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists, though he also made just 6-of-14 from the floor and turned it over five times.
This was the first time a Big East game has gone OT when the teams had less than 50 in regulation since January 18, 2014 when Butler and Marquette were also tied at 49. Butler won 69-57.
Recap:
Injuries, and how a shorthanded Creighton squad would fare, were one of the key storylines heading into Wednesday night’s game at Villanova, and they remained part of the story heading out of it — just not in the way we expected. Damien Jefferson and Connor Cashaw returned the lineup after missing time due to injury, but leading scorer Ty-Shon Alexander exited the lineup after a previously undisclosed knee injury that occurred in practice on Tuesday. Combined with Marcus Zegarowski sitting out with a broken hand, and Jefferson on a minutes restriction in his return to action, CU played their four remaining healthy guards nearly the entire game. Davion Mintz played all 45 minutes. Mitch Ballock played 44. Connor Cashaw played 40. And Kaleb Joseph played 39.
Faced with the prospect of taking on #14 Villanova with that sort of lineup, Greg McDermott took a page out of his old Northern Iowa playbook. The Bluejays ground the pace to a halt, walking the ball up the floor and routinely taking the shot clock under 10 seconds before looking for a shot, saving their gas for defense. There were 60 possessions in the game, and in regulation, less than 50. Had the game ended in regulation, it would have been the slowest-pace game of the nine-year Greg McDermott Era at Creighton.
“We have never played as slow as we played tonight,” McDermott said on the postgame radio show. “But I really felt it was the only chance we had to win. And it almost worked. It gave us enough gas in the tank defensively to do what we needed to do. To hold this Villanova team to 48 points in regulation should have been good enough. We have to take a lot of positives from this game.”
To find a game played at this kind of pace, you’d have to go all the way back to Mac’s first year on the Hilltop, where he routinely rode a short bench 35+ minutes and they played slow, plodding basketball. They had seven games of less than 60 possessions that year, including a pair of 55-possession car crashes. But even that team never played *this* slow.
The Bluejays accomplished all four of the key objectives outlined in our Pregame Primer. They got easy baskets inside (scoring 32 points in the paint). They remained disciplined defensively, forcing Phil Booth into tough, contested looks all night and holding him to 5-of-17 shooting — and 1-of-7 on threes — for 14 points in 41 minutes. They took care of the basketball, committing just 11 turnovers and just nine live-ball turnovers (they had two offensive fouls). And they were able to keep Villanova from going on big, unanswered runs.
Creighton led for nearly the entire first half, and after 10 minutes held a 12-8 edge. Their grittiness was epitomized by this dunk from Martin Krampelj, whose initial shot was blocked, but he corralled his own rebound and put it back.
And though a three-pointer by Eric Paschall on Villanova’s final possession of the first half gave VU a 25-24 lead, Creighton retook the lead immediately after halftime on a layup by Krampelj. By the under-16 timeout, they’d matched their largest lead of the night, 32-28. Despite Jay Wright insisting Creighton’s deliberate pace wasn’t bothering his team in an interview on CBSSN, his larger point — that Creighton was doing a better job of executing at that pace than his team — was very true.
Even when the Wildcats finally strung together three straight possessions with points, a 7-0 run to grab the lead at 35-32, Creighton stood their ground and tied the game on the very next possession — on a three by Connor Cashaw. Later, when the Wildcats scored 15 points in an eight-possession span, Creighton heated up alongside of them and kept the game close. And then the Jays used a 9-2 run to take the lead.
It started with Krampelj clearing the glass and creating an opportunity for Kaleb Joseph, who sunk a midrange jumper to cut the deficit to 43-41. Another defensive rebound by Krampelj on the next possession led to another short jumper, this time by Mitch Ballock, to tie it at 43. Ballock answered a pair of free throws by Paschall on the next trip to once again tie the score, this time at 45. And then Mintz hit a huge three to give CU the lead, 48-45, with 4:38 to play. When Joseph ferociously blocked Phil Booth’s driving layup (!!) — his scream was so loud you could clearly hear it on TV back in Omaha — to send the game into the under-four timeout, all the ingredients for an upset were cooking.
Unfortunately, Mintz’ three would be their final made basket in regulation. Villanova used their length and unchecked physicality to front Krampelj to deny him post touches. Without his ability to take high-percentage shots at the rim, CU settled for jump shots — first a missed three by Ballock, then a missed jumper by Mintz, both heavily contested. Trailing 49-48 with 36 seconds left, Joseph drew a foul call while attempting a three-pointer and went to the line.
One free throw to tie. Two for the lead. Three for a lead with a cushion.
He missed the first badly, and in one of the smarter uses of a timeout you’ll see, McDermott called for a break to give Joseph a chance to take a deep breath before attempting the other two shots. When Joseph made the second, it looked genius. Sadly, he missed the third, and the game remained tied.
But Booth’s potential game-winner on the other end was swatted away by Krampelj, setting up the Bluejays for a walk-off win at the buzzer. Calling a timeout to draw up a play, they wanted to get the ball to Krampelj in the paint and let him go to work — either with a high-percentage shot near the rim, or by drawing a foul. But just as they’d done over the final minutes of the game, Villanova used their length to front him and deny CU the ability to get him the ball.
“The secondary option was one of the guards up top,” McDermott explained. “Kaleb did exactly what he’s supposed to do. He got to about 12 feet and the defense backed off because they didn’t want to foul, he got a pretty good look and got off that floater. But unfortunately it just didn’t go in.”
It did not, and as I wrote on Twitter afterward, when you have the ball last against the champs in a tie game, you better make the shot. You won’t get a second chance.
After Mintz tied the game at 52 on a three-pointer early in OT, Creighton missed five straight shots, gave up five offensive rebounds leading to six second-chance points, and fell behind by as many as 10 points.
Missed opportunities abounded, and whether it was a case of running out of gas, or a veteran opponent seizing the opportunity at a second chance, the result was the same — a loss. It’s a shame because it overshadows a lot of really positive things, chief among them another really solid defensive performance. After the game, Greg McDermott chalked up their drastic improvement defensively the last couple of weeks to a young team growing up.
“We’re gradually doing things better. We’re blocking out better, we’re not turning it over as much, our ball screen coverage and understanding who has the roll and who has the pop is better, what’s the responsibility of the guy guarding the ball and what’s the responsibility of the guy guarding the screener — all those things have gotten better with practice time. As it’s gotten better, it’s shown itself in games.”
With the disappointment of Wednesday’s loss still fresh, the focus now turns to health — specifically Ty-Shon Alexander’s knee, which is hopefully a minor injury, and Marcus Zegarowski’s hand, which hopefully he can return from next week. Two more road games remain before they return home, and with anywhere close to the effort they displayed on Wednesday, both are winnable.
McDermott said on his postgame show that Alexander will have an x-ray and an MRI today. “He tweaked it in practice yesterday and we thought it might settle down enough to where he could play today. But (after shootaround) he didn’t feel like he could, so we’ll look and see if there’s anything structurally wrong that we should be concerned about. It’s unfortunate, obviously. It’s one thing to lose Marcus, but to lose Marcus and Ty-Shon at the same time is a pretty big blow.”
