Creighton’s game Sunday against Presbyterian marked the first of two on-campus games the Bluejays play before heading for Nevada for the neutral court games of the Las Vegas Invitational. For all of the media attention the multiple team events (MTEs) garner, including inclusion in ESPN’s college hoops “Feast Week,” the on-campus games are usually mismatched blowouts favoring the teams slated to take up the primetime slots on TV once the games head to the neutral courts.
Hence the Blue Hose coming to Omaha.
Whether they were at the CenturyLink Center or not, Bluejays fans everywhere knew how Sunday’s home game against Presbyterian would play out. That didn’t stop more than 16,000 people from going to the game and watching Creighton crush the Blue Hose. Sunday’s 29-point win had all the makings of the usual MTE home game: a few outstanding individual performances and plenty of time for subs to spend on the court.
A few days after struggling with foul trouble and recording one of his poorest outputs in recent memory, Doug McDermott established early against Presbyterian that the previous game was an aberration. McDermott scored Creighton’s first 7 points, with the last 2 points coming on a thunderous two-hand dunk in transition thanks to a great pass by Grant Gibbs. McDermott scored 20 of his team-high 24 points in the first half then got a chance in the second half to rest up for the long week ahead, playing just 7 minutes in the second stanza.
It was a return to the type of efficient but profound performance Creighton fans are accustom to seeing from McDermott. He missed just 2 of his 9 shot attempts, made 2 of his 3 three-point attempts, hit all of his 8 free throw chances, and grabbed 7 rebounds. All in just 22 minutes.
Fellow forward Ethan Wragge was also deadly efficient. The Bluejays went small early in the game, and Wragge replaced Echenique with about 15 minutes to play in the first half. Wragge hit a three-pointer, then rattled off three more in the next 5 minutes even after he moved out to McDermott’s spot once Echenique re-entered the lineup. Wragge even assisted on a made three by Jahenns Manigat, the result of making the extra pass even though he had the hot hand.
Wragge added to his 4 first-half three-pointers with 2 more in the second half; he went 6-8 from the field (all attempts coming from behind the arc) and left opposing coaches with a worrisome performance for their scouting purposes. Wragge has made 11 of 19 three-point attempts through 3 games. On a team with plenty of capable long-range shooters, Wragge (and McDermott, for that matter) is a frontcourt fixture who causes mismatch problems on offense when the Jays go small: Play zone, and he’ll surely get his shot off. Play man-to-man and he’ll get it off, too.
Austin Chatman drives past a Presbyterian defender (Mike Spomer/WBR)
Credit Wragge’s teammates for feeding him the ball in prime spots. Sophomore guard Austin Chatman showed plenty of the talents that have teammates and coaches praising his ability to take over where Antoine Young left off last season. After an early turnover, Chatman led the offense steadily. His first 5 assists were on three-point makes. In total, 8 of his career-high 11 dimes resulted in three-point his. He assisted on 5 of Wragge’s 6 made three-pointers. Chatman got a few more minutes than the rest of the starters, playing a game-high 24 and scoring 9 points to go along with his 11 assists.
Wragge wasn’t the only Bluejay to contribute substantially off the bench. Josh Jones was a point shy of a second consecutive double-figure scoring effort. With the starters resting for a good portion of the second half, and with guys like Wragge leading the way, the CU bench outscored the Blue Hose subs 43-4.
The Jays shot nearly 62% from the field, 50% from three-point range, and 73% from the free throw stripe on the afternoon. CU outrebounded Presbyterian 35-22. The Jays assisted on 24 of their 32 made baskets. And they forced the Blue Hose to commit more turnovers (10) than they recorded assists (7).
Frankly, Tuesday’s game against Longwood likely will produce the same results. And then the real fun starts. Creighton will almost assuredly head to Sin City 4-0 ahead of a guaranteed game against the Wisconsin Badgers Friday and then a matchup against either Arizona State or Arkansas Saturday. The quality of opponent will change later this week, but as long as the Bluejays make teams pay for their heightened attention to Doug McDermott the results likely won’t be that different.