[dropcap]Creighton[/dropcap] and Georgetown are tied for second place in the Big East at 5-2, but they’ve taken vastly different routes to get there. Georgetown was picked by many prognosticators to be exactly where they are, in second place. Through the non-conference, the Hoyas were widely regarded as a Top-25 team (or somewhere very close to one), led by one of the nation’s best guards and a strong, experienced supporting cast. They nearly beat Maryland in College Park, played Duke close at MSG, and though those were frustrating losses, they felt more like missed opportunities than bad losses.
Of course, then they lost at home to Monmouth and UNC-Asheville, blew up whatever goodwill they’d garnered, and became a punchline for national media. A 4-1 start in Big East play, with the only loss coming to the Bluejays, flew under the radar as a result. The fifth win ended that — their 81-72 win against #5 Xavier, AT Xavier, was one of college basketball’s best true road wins of the season. Suddenly the questions surrounding Georgetown were different. Was that performance a one-night stand? Or was it an indication that they were an improved team playing itself back into NCAA Tournament consideration? A 68-62 out-of-conference loss to UConn on Saturday didn’t answer those questions, so there remain doubters entering tonight’s game.
Conversely, the Bluejays were picked ninth and were generally an afterthought in the Big East by most people outside Omaha. They did nothing to dispel those notions in November and December, losing four times including two damaging losses (blowing a double-digit lead to Arizona State, nearly getting boat-raced by a terrible Loyola-Chicago squad). Then Big East play started and they won five of their first seven — including three road wins — and were one fluky bounce away from being 6-1 in the league. In the matter of three weeks Creighton had made people around the country sit up and take notice. Still, their best wins are against a Butler team trending down in a big way, and the aforementioned Georgetown Hoyas, both at home, so there remain doubters who want to see them beat a team from the top-half of the league before believing they’ve really turned a corner.
Both teams are 5-2 in the league and in a four-way tie for second place. The other two — Xavier and Providence — also play tonight, meaning by Wednesday morning, the loser of this game will be in a tie for fourth place. Both have something substantial to prove tonight, and for a late-January clash, it’s a game with high stakes.
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When these two teams met in Omaha three weeks ago, the teams went back-and-forth, trading haymakers before Creighton pulled away late thanks to one of their better defensive efforts of recent years. They led by as many as nine points in the first half before a 9-0 Georgetown run late tied the score; Geoff Groselle gave them the lead in the final minute on a bank shot, and they took a 38-36 advantage into the locker room. They shot 48.3% from the floor in the half and turned it over only three times, but allowed Georgetown to make 8-13 from three-point range, and went ice cold over the final minutes — making just one basket on their final eight possessions.
Georgetown continued the trend after the break, rolling off a 9-4 run to take the lead. The Hoyas maintained that lead until Maurice Watson hit a three-pointer with 10:13 to play to start a 10-0 run that turned the tide of the game. Watson literally took over offensively, scoring 11 of his team’s final 16 points, while the defense forced Georgetown into seven straight misses.
It was the start of Creighton’s defensive resurgence, as they held Georgetown to 66 points, nine below their season average, forced 15 turnovers, and did it without fouling — the Hoyas attempted just seven free throws all night. Most impressively, they didn’t allow one backdoor cut all night, taking away one of the main weapons of Georgetown’s offense.
D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, the preseason All-Big East guard who leads the Hoyas in scoring at 16.2 points per game, scored 17 in the meeting in Omaha to go along with seven assists in 38 minutes of action. He was guarded most of the night by Isaiah Zierden, who forced him into tough shots most of the night and five turnovers — including four in the second half — highlighted by back-to-back steals from Zierden late in the game.
Sophomore forward Isaac Copeland is second on the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 10.2 points and 4.8 boards per game, but was ineffective in the first meeting. In 32 minutes, he had one point on 0-3 shooting, and grabbed just three rebounds. Also struggling in that game was L.J. Peak, who’s third on the team with 9.8 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. Peak had only five points on 2-4 shooting, with two rebounds, and was in foul trouble most of the game. Bradley Hayes, one of the Big East’s breakout players this year, is fourth on the team with 8.6 points and leads the team with 6.8 rebounds. The Jays held him to his average in both categories, as he scored 8 points with 6 boards in the game.
The player they had no answer for was Jessie Govan, the 6’10”, 270-pound freshman forward. His ability to stretch the floor was problematic for whoever the Jays had defending him, and he scored 17 points on 7-9 shooting from the floor and 3-3 from three-point range. It’s the highest-scoring game of his career, and the only game where he’s made more than one three-pointer. His six boards also tied a career-high.
Outside of Govan, the Bluejays defended the Hoyas well — they held the trio of Copeland, Peak, and Marcus Derrickson to nine combined points (well below their average of 30 points), they held DSR and Bradley Hayes to right at their averages, out-rebounded them on both the offensive and defensive boards, and kept them off the line.
Meanwhile, Watson proved to be a player the Hoyas had no answer for. His shiftiness and ability to get into the lane, and then either finish, draw a foul, or pass to an open teammate confounded them all night long, particularly in the second half. And the Jays took advantage of the Hoyas propensity for fouling, making 21-25 from the line. Only 20 teams foul more than the Hoyas; Georgetown puts opponents on the line an average of 25.7 times a game, 331st-worst in the country. UConn attempted 36 (!) on Saturday, making 29, and their success at the line allowed them to overcome shooting 4-21 from the field in the second half to still win. In other words, missing a metric ton of free throws, as the Jays did against Butler Saturday night, would not be advisable tonight.
Quick Notes on the Hoyas:
- Bradley Hayes had a total of 30 points and 42 rebounds in 42 career games during his first three years on the court for the Hoyas. This season Hayes averages 8.6 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, as he’s amassed 171 points and 135 rebounds while starting all 20 contests.
- In the game at UConn, junior forward Reggie Cameron scored 13 points to lead the Hoyas, while senior guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera scored 12 points and had six assists, and sophomore guard L.J. Peak added 12 points and three boards off the bench. Senior center Bradley Hayes added nine points and nine rebounds.
- The Hoyas have received healthy contributions from their bench, with that group averaging 22.1 points, 14.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. Since moving to the bench, Peak is averaging 9.8 points and 3.8 rebounds, while Govan is averaging 7.1 points and 4.4 rebounds.
- Georgetown’s freshman class –- most notably forward Marcus Derrickson and forward Kaleb Johnson — has combined to average 16.6 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
Bluejay Bytes:
- This is mostly because Creighton hasn’t had many seasons as atrocious as last year, but this is the earliest Creighton has ever matched its previous season’s league win total. The previous mark was January 21st, when the 1994-95 squad earned its third MVC win to match the 3-15 total in league play done one year earlier.
- Since the program began tracking assists in 1970-71, Maurice Watson is one of just four players to average at least 12 points and five assists per game. The others? Ralph Bobik (1971-72, 14.1 points and 5.2 assists per game); James Farr (1988-89, 12.0 points and 5.0 assists); and Antoine Young (2010-11, 13.1 points and 5.0 assists). Watson is the only one in that quartet that’s scored 12 or more points per game while also averaging six assists per contest.
- Saturday’s victory over No. 18 Butler was Greg McDermott’s fourth win over a top-25 team as Creighton head coach. Only Dana Altman (7) and Eddie Sutton (5) have more top-25 triumphs. Each of the previous three times that McDermott defeated a top-25 foe, the Bluejays followed it up with a double-digit win in its next game.
The Series:
Creighton is 3-4 all-time against Georgetown, and snapped a four-game losing streak to the Hoyas with their win three weeks ago in Omaha. They’re winless in two tries at the Verizon Center, however, making it one of only two venues in the Big East that they’ve never won at (Providence’s Dunkin Donuts Center is the other).
Greg McDermott is 2-5 all-time (2-4 at Creighton) against Georgetown and coach John Thompson III, losing a 54-49 game to the Hoyas in a 2007 NCAA Tournament game that wound up being his last game as coach at Northern Iowa. Thompson, meanwhile, is 4-2 against Creighton.
The Last Time They Played:
Maurice Watson scored 27 points — 20 in the second half — along with seven boards and four assists in 39 minutes to lead the Jays to a 79-66 win.
Gratuitous Linkage:
“The Hoyas are not pacing themselves to reach the NCAAs if they play out the season of the season winning the games they should and losing the games they should. At this point, it’s impossible to say this group is a top-three team in the conference, and going forward, it can’t afford to lose more than three or four games before we get to the Big East tournament.”
-Matt Norlander, CBSSports.com, “Georgetown’s Loss to UConn Hurts, But the Hoyas are Far From Dead”
What the Other Side is Saying:
Their game preview wasn’t live at press time, but the fellas at Casual Hoya talked to WBR’s Patrick Marshall about the matchup and as always, asked some unconventional questions. Plus! He didn’t get called a “Douche Canoe” in the comments this time!
This Date in Creighton Hoops History:
On January 26, 1991, Bob Harstad broke Creighton’s all-time scoring record in a 83-68 win over Indiana State at the Civic. The record-breaker came courtesy of two pump-fakes in traffic in the lane; after the second, an Indiana State defender knocked the ball loose, but Harstad regained control and tipped it in.
“I got it hit out of my hand, so I just tipped it in. It’s probably the luckiest shot I ever made,” Harstad told the media after the game.
The game was stopped momentarily so the sold-out crowd of 9,504 at the Civic could salute the senior for toppling Bob Portman’s record of 1,876 points, which had been the gold standard since 1969. His teammate Chad Gallagher would also wind up surpassing Portman’s mark later that season, finishing his career with 1,983 points. Harstad’s mark of 2,110 points lasted eight years before Rodney Buford broke it; Doug McDermott shattered it 15 years later.
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day:
The Bottom Line:
If the Jays get a win tonight and move to 6-2 in the league with four road wins and a home game against Seton Hall next, things will get REALLY interesting. They’ve not played well in the previous two trips to D.C., though, and while a win wouldn’t surprise me, a loss wouldn’t either. Optimism is more fun than pessimism, though, so let’s predict a Bluejay win!
Creighton 72, Georgetown 68