A 17-point loss in the semifinals of the Crown isn’t the postscript to Greg McDermott’s career that he deserved, but the end of legendary coaching tenures rarely are.
The good thing about legendary coaching tenures, though? They’re full of great moments and historic wins that define their tenure, and the end fades from memory.
His final Bluejay squad was marred by inconsistency, not just game to game but often possession to possession. They had not won consecutive games since the calendar flipped to 2026, and stringing together two in a row in this tournament proved just as elusive as it had in Big East action. The culprits this time were familiar: their defense was not good enough, and they didn’t have enough high-level scorers to make up the difference.
“We really had some challenges, especially when they went to that smaller lineup,” McDermott said on his postgame radio show. “Honor Huff was 4-of-12 for 13 points, you can live with that. But (Brenen) Lorient throwing in two 3’s, DJ Thomas throwing in two 3’s, it’s not really their deal, and then, you know, (Treysen) Eaglestad had a couple of big ones against our zone late. We were going to have to win the three-point battle to win this game, and they made six more than we did. That’s the spread of the game.“
They fell behind 8-0 just two minutes in after a dunk by Harlan Obioha and two three-pointers from Huff, and chased that deficit the rest of the day. Meanwhile, while Creighton created good looks for themselves, they didn’t knock down shots. In other words, the 18th loss of the season was a lot of the hallmarks of the other 17.
CU knew that West Virginia’s defense, especially in the paint, would make scoring much more difficult than it was against Rutgers. The Mountaineers came into the game ranked 17th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, and their two-point defense ranked 25th. Winning the three-point battle was going to be imperative.
“We knew how solid they were defensively. Ross (Hodge, head coach for West Virginia), I’ve known him since he was an assistant junior college coach and he’s always had a defensive mindset,” McDermott said. “His teams have played with great discipline all the way back to junior college in North Texas and now West Virginia. So we knew what we were getting into. But they were very disciplined on staying on the floor. We had the free throw differential kind of in our favor at halftime and while we were able to continue that, we just couldn’t make enough shots.”
With 8:31 to go in the first half, West Virginia took a 29-17 lead with 12 of the points coming from Thomas off the bench. Creighton ripped off a 9-0 run to make it a game, getting points from everyone on the floor: Blake Harper (mid-range jumper), Fedor Zugic (two free throws), Nik Graves (floater in the paint) and Josh Dix (a layup and a free throw). But as it’s been all season, they couldn’t sustain it long enough to take the lead.
Within three minutes they trailed by eight again, and with one exception never seriously threatened the Mountaineers the rest of the game. Dix made a layup to start the second half and draw the Jays within four, but WVU got a three-pointer from Lorient, a three-point play by Obioha and a putback from Thomas to rebuild a 16-point lead with nine minutes left.
“The big thing we were going to do is change some ball screen coverages on everybody but Huff, and, you know, we scored early and cut it to four,” McDermott said of their halftime adjustments. “But it felt like they won every 50-50 ball in the paint the entire afternoon, and obviously that’s disappointing.”
As McDermott walked off the court for the final time as the head Bluejay, the realization of the moment was too much for his daughter Sydney, and her tearful reaction was no doubt shared by many Jays fans.
Creighton HC Greg McDermott is heading into retirement 💙 @BluejayMBB pic.twitter.com/GvZEE3tp3J
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) April 4, 2026
Among them was Voice of the Bluejays John Bishop, who tried in vain to make it through the final Coach Mac Postgame without breaking down. But by the end, it was no use. Bishop thanked McDermott and told him it had been a privilege to call his games.
“To think of the relationships, you know, over 16 years, the number of incredible people that I’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with and people that support our program, they’ve made Omaha feel home to our family from the jump,” McDermott told Bishop. “We really appreciate it, and it’s, you know, Creighton is, to me, it’s always been about the people. Bruce sold that to me in our interview and it was not window dressing. That’s the way it’s been from day one on the job and that’s the way he ran the program, and it’s continued under Marcus (Blossom’s) leadership. Just a lot of wonderful people and certainly you’re one of them, so the privilege has been mine my friend.”
Bishop could barely get his sign-off out, telling the coach “Love you my friend. Take care. God bless,” through tears. If you missed it, listen for yourself.
The final Coach Mac postgame show.
Thanks for everything you have done for @BluejayMBB, for the great game of basketball and especially what you have meant to me.
One. Of. One.https://t.co/z5pPGxiorU
— John M. Bishop (@JohnBishop71) April 4, 2026
Later on 1620AM’s Bluejay Overtime show, incoming coach Al Huss talked about the bittersweet end of the season and McDermott Era. “There’s obviously a reason why he’s had the success he has. He’s got an incredible command with the team,” Huss said. “I think it’s just disappointing that we weren’t a little bit better for him today. The guys, staff, everybody, we would have really liked to have tried to send him out on a positive note, and we just didn’t have enough today.”
Inside the Box:
In his final college game, Josh Dix scored 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting, though he was just 1-of-7 from three-point range. And after scoring 28 on Thursday, Nik Graves had seven in this one, shooting 2-of-9 from the field and 0-of-3 from three. He drew just three fouls, as West Virginia’s defenders were much more disciplined against biting on shot fakes.
“Especially early in the game, I thought our looks were great,” McDermott said. “I loved Isaac’s looks early. Josh had some really good looks for him especially with the way he’s been playing, but we also ask him to do an awful lot, so I understand why some of those didn’t go in. We knew Nik wasn’t going to be able to get the same opportunities that he did Thursday, and it certainly showed today.”
Jasen Green finally got his first career double-double, a milestone that had proven to be elusive. Green fell one rebound shy of a double-double three times in the previous five games, including on Thursday against Rutgers. In this one, he left no doubt, scoring 14 points with 12 rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
But looking toward next year, the most encouraging performance had to be the one from Hudson Greer. He scored 15 points with baskets from all three levels, including 3-of-4 from three-point range. It was the second-highest scoring output of his freshman season, behind only the 16 he scored against Baylor in November. And his 28 minutes played were the most in any game this season.
Greer’s importance to next season’s team was underscored by the fact that McDermott brought him to the press conference afterward, and not Green or one of the seniors. Greer will be one of the cornerstone pieces of Al Huss’ first Bluejay team.
“I think it just keeps me humble, because you just never know what’s guaranteed or not,” Greer said. “I’m just super grateful for this year to have the opportunity to have a coach that really trusted me during parts of the year, with me coming off a redshirt and then being able to prove myself, and then slowly making my way back into the rotation after being hurt. It means a lot, just going through those times, just staying true to God and figuring that out.”