[Miss our Photo Gallery from Creighton’s win against Wisconsin? Check it here.]
Seventy degrees. A game against a major conference opponent. Neutral court. A boisterous flock of fans that traveled from far and wide to offer throaty support for the Bluejays.
November? Hardly. Creighton’s hard fought win over the Wisconsin Badgers Friday night at the Las Vegas Invitational had all the trappings of an NCAA Tournament game. It took 18 lead changes and 10 ties, but the Jays found a way to pull away from Bucky and take advantage of the opportunity to post what will surely become a signature win come March.
In the process, Creighton became the first Wisconsin opponent in two years to score more than 80 points against Bo Ryan’s Badgers. Trailing by a point at halftime, 39-38, Creighton still had pushed the scoring pace to where Greg McDermott and his players likely wanted it to be. The Twitterverse was blowing up with tweets to the tune of “Creighton’s down 1 but hasn’t shot well; not a good sign for the Badgers.”
Those web prognosticators were right. CU shot a mere 38% in the first half and hit only 3 of 14 three-point attempts (21%). But Gregory Echenique (6) and Doug McDermott (5) hit the glass hard and led Creighton to a 25-17 rebounding edge during the first 20 minutes. Thirteen of those boards were on the offensive end, and the extra opportunities led to a 15-5 advantage for CU in second-chance points.
Doug McDermott scored a game-high 30 points against Wisconsin (Spomer/WBR)
The second half saw the Jays shoot far better from all areas of the court. Creighton outscored Wisconsin 46-35 behind 62% shooting from the field. Ethan Wragge hit all 3 of this three-point attempts in the second half, pacing the Jays to 83% shooting from behind the arc during the final 20 minutes. And CU hit 15 of 17 free throw attempts, including 15 in a row until Jahenns Manigat missed his two attempts with 45 seconds to play and the Jays up 11.
When the full 40 minutes were up, Doug McDermott once again showed the nation why he’s an All American. Knowing full well that Wisconsin would need to at least contain his output and make the rest of the Bluejays beat them, McDermott instead scored a game-high 30 points while calmly converting 9 of his 10 free throw chances — he shot a perfect 9 of 9 from the line in the second half.
Creighton and Wisconsin engaged in a physically punishing game in the Las Vegas Invitational (Spomer/WBR)
The game was a grind, and McDermott’s team-high 36 minutes (along with Austin Chatman, who also played 36 grueling minutes) featured plenty of physical defense by the Badgers. But McDermott fought back, battling among strong frontcourt players like Ryan Evans and Jared Berggren. He wasn’t a victim of the type of foul trouble that plagued teammate Echenique and Wisconsin’s Ben Brust and Mike Bruesewitz. But you can bet the game took a toll on the junior standout, and it will be interesting to see how McDermott bounces back against a talented Arizona State team Saturday night.
Ethan Wragge hit 4 three-pointers en route to 17 points against Wisconsin (Spomer/WBR)
McDermott carried the Jays at times, but Creighton received plenty of contributions from others. Ethan Wragge dropped four more #WRAGGEBOMBs, once again making more than half of his three-point shots (he’s at 62% for the season, folks) en route to 17 points. Wragge’s second on the team in scoring (12.8 ppg) and last night showed exactly what the Bluejays get when they go smaller in the frontcourt with Wragge and McDermott on the floor while Echenique’s on the bench.
And then there was Austin Chatman, sophomore point guard. He played like anything but, scoring a career-high 14 points while playing a career-high 36 minutes. Chatman was steady and sure, confident in his shooting while only committing one turnover and playing well on defense. With Grant Gibbs battling a little foul trouble and Andre Yates not yet ready for extended minutes against the strong Badgers backcourt, Chatman turned in an eye-opening performance.
One of Chatman’s plays sticks out vividly in my mind (which is saying something, considering the amount of haze and fog that Vegas will induce in a man’s mind when he arrives at 8:30 a.m. local time and sticks around the sports book all morning/afternoon).
Austin Chatman drops a dime for Doug McDermott (Mike Spomer/WBR)
A few minutes into the second half, Chatman found himself penetrating the lane but sandwiched between Evans and Bruesewitz. This occurred opposite where I was sitting, and I cringed when Chatman left his feet in the paint surrounded by these two taller, stronger Badgers. I wondered how he was going to get his shot off without being blocked by two guys.
Instead, almost assured disaster became a highlight reel assist, as the sophomore point guard deftly bounced a pass under the hoop for McDermott, who was cutting down the baseline. A snag and a shot later, Chatman-to-McDermott left the Creighton crowd in frenzied and eliminated any remaining worries among them that Chatman lacks anything his predecessor Antoine Young had. Former Creighton SID Rob Simms posted to Twitter a message that summed it up: “Yep, that was a jump bounce pass from Austin Chatman.”
Coach Mac shortened his bench to nine, with Will Artino offering 7 quality minutes (4 rebounds) while eight other Jays played 14 minutes or more. Bluejay Bench Mob members Wragge and Josh Jones (6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist, no turnovers) showed well, while Avery Dingman struggled a bit to find his shot.
We’ll see what the quick turnaround means for the Bluejays’ legs. I still like Creighton’s depth, though, especially considering Saturday’s opponent Arizona State only played seven guys for any substantial minutes against Arkansas Friday night. But this weekend will serve the Bluejays well in a few months, when in March they’ll potentially face similar one-day preps and quick recoveries while (hopefully) playing (a long time) in the NCAA Tournament.