[dropcap]Tuesday[/dropcap] night is Creighton’s 12th Big East game of the year, but the first time they’ll see Xavier, which is a little strange. If you haven’t seen much of the Musketeers so far, it might come as a surprise to see them ranked fourth in the country, considering they were picked fourth in their own league. Yet here they are on February 9 with a 21-2 record, and in legit discussions for a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. It’s no fluke. They’re 4-1 against the AP Top 25, 8-1 against the KenPom Top 100, and 9-1 away from home. Their average margin of victory is 12 points, all 21 of their wins are by seven or more points, they’re +8.9 on the glass for the season, and they have 81 more assists than turnovers.
And they’re a deep team — six players average at least nine points, eight guys play at least 11 minutes per game, their regular rotation is 10 players, and all 10 have scored in double figures at least once. But they’re also a team with tremendous talent at the top end of their roster. Trevon Bluiett, Myles Davis, James Farr and Edmond Sumner are all among the best players in the league, and have all carried the Musketeers at one point or another.
Bluiett, a 6’6″ sophomore, leads the team in scoring (15.7 points) and is second in rebounding (6.8), while also dishing out 2.4 assists per game. He’s also their best three-point shooter — making 2.4 per game and connecting at a 40.7% clip. And he’s consistent, scoring in double figures in 22 of their 23 games. In their most recent win, a 90-82 triumph over Marquette, Bluiett scored 23 points on 5-6 from three-point range and had a career-high eight assists. He had two rather pedestrian games against the Jays a year ago, however, scoring two points on 0-6 from the floor in 32 minutes of action in Cincinnati, and nine points on 3-9 shooting in Omaha.
Davis was the top free-throw shooter in the Big East a year ago at 87.2%, making a remarkable 102-117, and though he’s on pace to attempt fewer of them this year (58-67), he’s just as accurate, connecting 86.6% of the time. He was 9-10 from the line in two games vs the Jays a year ago. His game is more than just free throws, though; Davis is second on the team in scoring at 11.2 points per game and leads them in assists at 3.2 a game. He’s second in the league with a 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio, and ranks tenth in the league by making 38.1% of his three-point attempts. Like Bluiett, he had two average games against the Jays last year, scoring 11 points on 2-7 shooting in Cincy, and nine points in Omaha.
Edmond Sumner, a 6’6″ freshman guard out of Detroit, started the first 13 games this year before taking a frightening fall three minutes into the conference opener vs Villanova. He’s started 19 of the 20 games he’s played in, is fourth on the team in scoring (10.9 points per game) and second in assists (3.4 per game). His return has given them back the fast-paced spark they lacked without him, and makes the Musketeers that much more explosive.
And then there’s James Farr. The senior averages 10.3 points and 8.3 rebounds a game, has four double-doubles this year, is one of the nation’s best rebounders, is a monstrous defender, excels at getting to the line (and thus in getting opposing players in foul trouble), and then makes 79% of his free throws once he gets there. He also shoots 55.6% from the floor, so there’s really nowhere on the floor he’s not a beast from. In other categories, he ranks sixth in the nation in offensive rebound percentage, 24th in defensive rebound percentage, and has a 6.2% block rate to go with a 2.4% steal rate. He’s having an unbelievable year, and will probably be the player Creighton will have the most trouble contending with on both ends.
The Musketeers are a good defensive unit, employing a 1-3-1 zone most of the year with former Bluejay recruit J.P. Macura at the top of it. They rank fifth in the league by holding opponents to a 41.2% shooting percentage, and second in the league in three-point field goal percentage, holding opponents to 31.2%. They also like to run, averaging 80.8 points per game, and own a whole bunch of giant runs in games — a 17-1 run at the end of the first half at DePaul on Jan. 30 (these are going to come fast so take a deep breath), a 21-0 run in the first half of the Jan. 16 win at Marquette, a 25-0 run (first half vs. Wright State on Dec. 8), a 21-0 run (second half vs. Dayton on Nov. 29), 17-0 (first half vs. USC on Nov. 27), and a 21-4 second-half run, including 10-0 to start the second half, in a 78-70 win at Wake Forest on Dec. 22. Exhale. Holy crap.
They’re ranked fourth for a reason, and should beat the Jays. But you never know, and it’s games like this that everyone looked forward to when Creighton moved to the Big East — a chance for a headline-grabbing win over a legit top-five team. If CU can get the win, those borderline NCAA Tournament chances they had before the collapse at Georgetown could resurface as they head into games at Marquette and Butler.
Quick Notes on the Musketeers:
- Xavier has made more free throws (449) than its opponents have attempted (436)
- Xavier is 9-1 away from Cintas Center this season and 6-1 in true road games, including four straight road wins. Their road wins have come at DePaul (86-65), at Providence (75-68), at Marquette (74-66) and at St. John’s (74-66) in conference play, plus wins at Michigan (86-70) and at Wake Forest (78-70) in the non-conference. They also own neutral-site wins over Alabama (64-45), USC (87-77) and Dayton (90-61).
- Xavier was the first team in NCAA Division I to record its 20th win this year when XU defeated St. John’s on February 3, also making this Xavier’s fastest team to 20 wins. The previous record was held by the 2008-09 NCAA Sweet 16 team, which secured win number 20 on February 5, 2009 with a 20-2 record. For comparison, last season’s NCAA Sweet 16 team won its 20th game on March 12 with an overtime Big East Tournament win over Butler.
- The Musketeers are ranked a school-record No. 5 (AP) and No. 4 (USA Today Coaches) in the polls and No. 7 in the NCAA Official RPI this week.
Bluejay Bytes:
- Creighton’s 88-66 win over DePaul on Saturday was the program’s fifth win by 20+ points against a league school since joining the Big East three seasons ago. They’re 3-1 in the game after a 20+ point win over a Big East opponent in that span.
- Isaiah Zierden is leading the Big East Conference with 59 three-pointers made, two more than D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera (Georgetown) and Kellen Dunham (Butler). For comparison, in Creighton’s first year in the Big East in 2013-14, Ethan Wragge led the league with 110 trifectas, while Doug McDermott was second with 96.
- Maurice Watson Jr. has 338 points in his first 24 games as a Creighton Bluejay. Since 1995-96, Watson’s figure is third among all Creighton newcomers through 24 games: 18 behind Rodney Buford’s 339 and eight less than Doug McDermott’s 327 points.
The Series:
Xavier owns an 11-9 lead in the series with Creighton, but the teams have split six games in Omaha, with all six decided by seven points or less. The teams also split a pair of meetings last season, with the road team winning each contest.
Greg McDermott is 3-2 against Xavier and Chris Mack, while Mack is 3-3 against Creighton.
The Last Time They Played:
In the final home game of the year, it came down to the final possession, just like it had so many times last year. Down one with the ball, Austin Chatman took a pass from Toby Hegner, launched a good, open shot to win the game, and it bounced harmlessly off the rim as the buzzer sounded. Xavier held on to win, 74-73.
Chatman played 38 minutes, scoring 18 points on 5-9 shooting while going 2-4 from the three-point line and 6-7 from the free-throw line. He also had five assists and two rebounds, and managed to stay out of foul trouble on a day when pretty much everyone else, for both teams, was in foul trouble. That was the story of the day, other than another late-game failure — fouls. The teams were whistled for 52 fouls, which worked out to one foul for every 46 seconds of game play; Creighton took 32 free throws and Xavier 28, meaning if you combined free throw attempts with field goal attempts, nearly 40% of the shots each team took were from the free throw line. No wonder it took over 2-1/2 hours to complete.
Here’s hoping tonight’s contest is a bit brisker. And that the outcome is reversed.
Gratuitous Linkage:
Xavier’s much-vaunted defense has struggled over the past week, and the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Shannon Russell talked to the Musketeers about it in this column.
What the Other Side is Saying:
The guys over at Banners On The Parkway put together this handy “Creighton Fans Guide to Xavier,” which goes into a bit more detail on them than we’ve covered here. It’s highly recommended.
Meanwhile in their game preview, they list X’s three keys to the game as making Maurice Watson a shooter, keeping their post fresh, and keeping the ball moving.
This Date in Creighton Hoops History:
On February 9, 2005, Nate Funk, Johnny Mathies and Tyler McKinney scored 29 of the Bluejays final 33 points in a 83-82 win over Northern Iowa that was nationally-televised by ESPN2. The Jays scored on 12 of their final 14 possessions to overcome a then-arena-record 31-point performance by Panther guard Ben Jacobson, and it still almost wasn’t enough.
Creighton held a 10-point lead with 54.3 seconds remaining, and then Jacobson did his best Reggie Miller at MSG impression by scoring 10 points in the final 41 seconds, including two 3-point baskets in the final seven seconds.
“That was the longest minute I’ve ever played,” Funk told the media afterward. “They just kept hitting shot after shot. Thank God there was only point-seven seconds left when Ben hit that last one.”
CU ran out the clock after that second three, and took a deep breath as they’d pulled into a third-place tie in the league.
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day:
Any time the unofficial house band of the Polyfro Primer Van Halen is featured in a Super Bowl ad, and the Bluejays play a game two days later, said song has to appear in this spot. That’s just one of the rules of the Primer.
The Bottom Line:
Creighton needs to keep Xavier off of the offensive glass to prevent easy second-chance points, keep the battle of the boards relatively even, and make around 40% of their threes to pull the upset. It wouldn’t totally shock me to see them do it, but for now, let’s go with…
#4 Xavier 84, Creighton 79