Saturday’s tilt against the St. Joe’s Hawks had all the trappings of Creighton’s most important non-conference home game of the season. The two teams were favored to win their respective conferences. The Bluejays took a national ranking into the game, while the Hawks were knocking on the door of the nation’s top 25 polls. A sold out CenturyLink Center braced for a close, nip-and-tuck affair, especially concerned following Wednesday’s debacle against Boise State.
Instead, Bluejay fans received an early gift during the holiday season. Creighton decimated Phil Martelli’s Hawks, thanks to a 24-7 run during the first 10 minutes of the game. The outcome was never in doubt, as the Jays led from start to finish and found their mojo after a setback against the Broncos earlier in the week.
Three thoughts while hoping Ethan Wragge, 2-10 from three-point range in his last two games, gets back on track before the Nebraska game Thursday:
When Creighton’s offense operates like it did Saturday, the Bluejays are nearly unbeatable.
From the first Grant-Gibbs-to-Doug-McDermott hoop 12 seconds into the game, the Bluejays were locked in offensively. McDermott scored 15 of his game-high 23 points in the first 9 minutes, mixing a combination of post moves and three-pointers to keep St. Joe’s off balance defensively. When McDermott wasn’t putting up points, Gregory Echenique was scoring at will. Echenique made 5 of his 6 attempts in the first half and finished a traditional three-point play, scoring 11 of his 16 points in the first 20 minutes.
McDermott and Echenique combined to outscore St. Joe’s by themselves in the first half, 29-20.
How much worse could the halftime score been had Wragge connected on a few of the three-pointers he missed in the first half?
After 40 minutes, the Jays shot an identical 57% from the field in both halves. They hit 48% of their three-pointers, with McDermott knocking down 5 of his 7 attempts.
(An aside: After starting the season 6-20 from long distance, McDermott has made 9 of his last 12 attempts from three-point range in the past two games. After scoring 17 points (on 21 attempts) from the free throw line in Vegas and knocking down only 2 of his 8 three-point shots against Wisconsin and Arizona State, McDermott matriculated back to the arc against Boise State and St. Joe’s in lieu of trying to draw contact in the paint — he attempted 8 free throws against the Broncos and Hawks. As if you needed more proof that he could do a little bit of everything offensively.)
The shooting touch was contagious. A student won the Big Lots shootout by drilling a half-court shot. And first year senior walk-on Joe Kelling recorded his first points as a Bluejay with a basket with less than 30 second to play.
Grant Gibbs is Creighton’s most valuable player, and Austin Chatman is far ahead of schedule.
The aforementioned offensive explosion doesn’t happen without Gibbs and Chatman. Playing against a team that has all sorts of size and length advantages against the Bluejays, Gibbs and Chatman were nearly flawless in their distribution and facilitation of Creighton’s offense.
Gibbs recorded 9 assists without committing a turnover, pushing his assist-to-turnover ratio to 48-8 for the season (6:1). That’s absolutely ridiculous, but also undeniably necessary for the Big Blue Machine to function.
Chatman shook off a terrible pass about 5 minutes into the game and finished with 6 assists and only 1 turnover. He spent the afternoon hounding St. Joe’s Carl Jones on defense, playing a team-high 30 minutes and picking up a team-high 2 steals from the lead guard spot.
Both Gibbs and Chatman had highlight reel dimes. Gibbs dished a behind-the-back bounce pass to the corner, and Wragge connected on his only three-point make of the afternoon. Chatman’s was a dribble drive punctuated with a wrap-around pass to Echenique, who finished with a hoop in the paint.
Numbers don’t always tell the whole story, but Saturday’s stats paint a perfect picture of how well Gibbs and Chatman played on both ends of the floor. The two combined for 15 assists and 1 turnover while swiping 3 steals. They limited the Hawks’ two standout guards Jones and Langston Hughes to 7-21 shooting from the field and 3-13 shooting from three-point range. Jones committed 3 of St. Joe’s season-high 17 turnovers (the Hawks had committed just 15 turnovers in their previous two games) while not assisting on a make. Neither Gibbs nor Chatman needed to score much, as McDermott and Echenique paced the Jays. But had Chatman found a way to not blow a few easy layups he would have neared double figured (ended with 4 points). Gibbs scored 4 points, too, while taking just 3 shots and grabbing 4 rebounds.
McDermott is the team’s star, its best player. But so much of what Doug does wouldn’t happen without the savvy and skill that Gibbs brings night in and night out. He’s Creighton’s most valuable player, and if left to a vote it probably wouldn’t even be close.
It is difficult to come out on the right end of a road game.
St. Joe’s came to Omaha with a neutral court win against nationally ranked Notre Dame. But the CenturyLink Center was the first true road atmosphere the Hawks faced this season. They certainly looked as though they missed the home confines of Hagan Arena. Martelli and his team probably couldn’t wait to get home.
It is difficult to win on the road in college hoops (Boise State not withstanding). Last season, one of Creighton’s best in school history, the Bluejays won 10 road games. They did so by an average of 8.5 points per game. A few blowouts against bad teams skewed that number, sure. But Coach McDermott’s team found a way to win close road games against San Diego State (85-83), Wichita State (68-61), Missouri State (66-65), and Indiana State (61-60).
This week marks the first time the Bluejays will play in hostile environment. Creighton’s first road game comes Thursday against Nebraska in Lincoln, against a Huskers team eager to make a splash. First-year coach Tim Miles looks to replicate Doc Sadler’s win against a ranked CU squad in his first year in Lincoln.
You can bet the Bluejays will get Nebraska’s best effort and the worst treatment its Red Zone (are they still called that?) student section can muster. That’s life on the road for a nationally ranked team. Things don’t get much easier later next week, when the Jays travel to the west coast for a true roadie at California. Both are important games for the Bluejays: regardless of how well NU and Cal fare this season, they play in leagues that traditionally conjure solid RPI and computer-generated rankings. With the weighting applied to true road wins, Creighton needs wins in both games to further establish a solid resume for March.