Creighton started Feast Week with a fancy new national ranking.
A week ago, following a 3-0 start and a crazy comeback against nationally ranked Oklahoma, the Creighton Bluejays found themselves ranked No. 23 in the Nov. 24 Associated Press poll. Greg McDermott’s Jays were a very visible representation of national hoops media’s collective conclusion that “The Big East is back!”
For good reason, of course. CU’s win over the Sooners was one of the more high profile pillages of a non-conference opponent by a Big East squad. And hours after the Jays beat Eastern Illinois by 20 points and Villanova had pulled out a neutral court win against Michigan in Brooklyn, the following stat was almost laughable:
Big East teams were 36-2 in the league’s first 38 games.
Teams throughout the league were poised for big Thanksgiving weekends, too. Or, at least, presented with ample opportunity to keep a good thing going.
At Battle 4 Atlantis, Butler knocked of nationally ranked North Carolina. Later that night in the Bahamas, Georgetown beat nationally ranked Florida. St. John’s handled Minnesota at the Preseason NIT event at Madison Square Garden, too. And even though DePaul lost (at home!) to Lehigh, the Big East was a remarkable 39-3 in its first 42 games.
But things took a turn on Turkey Day. The Hoyas lost a one-possession game to Final Four favorite Wisconsin (no shame). Butler dropped their Battle 4 Atlantis semifinal, too, to Oklahoma (great win, Jays!). But Xavier beat San Diego in California and (gasp!) Marquette beat Georgia Tech in Orlando. 41-5. Awesome.
Black Friday was the Bluejays’ next turn to participate in the Big East renaissance. College hoops fans full of leftovers saw Butler and Georgetown battle in Atlantis, tooth and nail, a preview of evenly matched conference mates who will meet no fewer than twice more in the coming months. Conference cannibalism notwithstanding, the league still had solid opportunities to push the fast start to the non-conference out even further.
But Xavier couldn’t overcome UTEP late. St. John’s fought back against nationally ranked Gonzaga at MSG but couldn’t post a dub. Marquette gave Michigan State all Sparty could handle, but lost too. Hey, at least Providence didn’t blow their lead late against Yale!
And then there’s Creighton’s trip to the Sunshine State portion of the Emerald Coast Classic, expertly summarized by Polyfro here [spoiler alert: the trip wasn’t great].
By the end of the holiday weekend, Bluejays fans had to just be happy that CU didn’t go winless in Florida.
Even during their 4-0 start, Coach Mac’s team looked less than a sharp, finely tuned machine. And about 7 minutes into their semifinal game against Ole Miss, the Jays were down 6 and struggling. But a 17-2 run midway through the first half helped Creighton flip the script; instead of down 6, the Jays were up 9 powered by an Austin Chatman bucket, two three-pointers each by Devin Brooks and Isaiah Zierden, and three free throws by Zierden after being fouled attempting a triple.
But the Rebels stayed in the hunt, largely by forcing nine first-half turnovers by Creighton (including seven steals). It was enough to almost offset a solid shooting half by the Jays and a 16-12 CU advantage on the glass in the first 20 minutes.
In the second stanza, Creighton cleaned up the offensive miscues to the tune of only committing three turnovers. And the Jays made 43% of their three-point attempts, with Zierden collecting two more makes to give him five triples (and three made free throws, off that fouled three-point attempt) and 18 points on the night to lead all Bluejays.
Still, Ole Miss played arguably its best half of basketball to that point in the season, overcoming a good but not great effort by Mac’s team. Zierden’s final triple of the night gave the Jays a 7-point lead midway through the second half. From there Creighton went cold and the Rebels mounted a 27-13 run to turn a 7-point deficit into a 7-point win.
The Jays connected on just four field goals during the stretch, one of them a circus three-pointer by Chatman with 21 seconds left that had absolutely no business finding the net. CU went 4 for 14 (28.5%) from the field during the last 10+ minutes, while Ole Miss went 9 for 13 from the floor (69%). Tack on 9 of 10 shooting from the charity stripe during that span, and the Rebels coasted into the Emerald Coast Classic title game against Cincinnati.
The Creighton Bluejays, meanwhile, had a night and morning to stew about their first loss of 2014-15. Oh, and prep for Middle Tennessee State. The Blue Raiders surely had an upset in mind; the Bluejays were hoping to bounce back but also allowing the loss to Ole Miss to fester.
So, with that in mind, Coach Mac talked to the team specifically about not letting the Rebels beat them twice. Go out, take care of business, and leave for home on a positive note.
The Bluejays answered the bell against Middle Tennessee State, but their fast start came to a historically screeching halt.
Fitting of a team with plenty of experienced contributors, if not superstars, Creighton answered Mac’s challenge with a wonderfully efficient first half. The Jays raced out to a 36-15 halftime lead, thanks to 61% shooting from the field and a defensive effort that stifled the Blue Raiders into just 26% performance from the floor. CU assisted on 10 of 14 first-half makes, hit 4 of 7 threes, and saw 9 of 10 guys who played score points in the game’s first 20 minutes.
Initially, halftime seemed to do little to cool off the Jays, with Will Artino extending Creighton’s lead to 23 after the team’s first possession of the second half. But what would follow can only be described as one of the most frustratingly curious and surreal offensive outputs in recent CU history.
The Jays would go the next 16 minutes without a made field goal. For the entire second half, the Jays would shoot just 21% from the floor. Creighton committed almost three times as many turnovers (8) as they had made field goals (3). The Jays would connect on just one three-pointer in the second half, the drought-ending triple by Zierden that also resulted in a four-point play with just under 4 minutes left in the game.
Thankfully, in the pitiful final 20 minutes the Jays were able to toe the free throw line 18 times and make 14 of their attempts. Thus, while they suffered one of the more anemic offensive efforts in recent memory, Mac’s bunch were able to keep Middle Tennessee State at bay and post a 57-47 victory.
So, how will the Bluejays translate what they learned on a neutral court to games this week at hostile environments?
The next five days will make or break the national perception of Creighton’s non-conference performance. Not even a win against an Oklahoma team that will hover around the Kenpom.com Top 20 all year will help the Jays overcome losses at Tulsa Wednesday and at Nebraska Sunday. Seeing as CU isn’t coming off exactly their sharpest effort of the year, and with winning on the road in college hoops statistically challenging, is it defeatist to think a split this week would be acceptable?
Sure, five days ago this team was ranked nationally. But seeing is believing, and the Creighton team I was able to view intermittently during the crappy webcast from Florida didn’t exactly look like a world-beater. Neither are this week’s opponents, though. The Golden Hurricane are 3-3, losers of their last two to Oklahoma State (by 15) and Wichita State (by 20). Nebraska withstood a late run by host Florida State to beat the Seminoles 70-65 in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge this week. The Huskers are 5-1 and return most key players from last year’s NCAA Tournament team, but they lost to an average Rhode Island squad on the road.
The Bluejays will get plenty of chances in Big East play to claim victories to boost their resume come NCAA Tournament time. But with a lackluster non-conference slate overall and the 1-1 trip to Florida, the Jays need a great five days here to be in the bubble conversation come March.