Creighton has one final tune-up before Big East play begins Tuesday night, and the temptation to look past Chicago State is great. I mean, it’s human nature — an old rival that the Jays haven’t played in nearly two decades is coming to town for a 9pm tip on New Years Eve, a game which is their first-ever in their new league.
This is a trap game the size of the Grand Canyon, folks.
The Cougars come into Sunday afternoon’s game at 5-7, going 5-0 at home and 0-7 on the road. Their best win (by leaps and bounds) is a home victory over Southern Illinois, who they defeated 88-84 on November 30; their other wins are over a pair of DII opponents, Urbana (Ohio) and Wisconsin Parkside, and a pair of 300+ RPI squads in Jacksonville State and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
Their 12 games so far are bookended by a pair of blowout losses, 100-72 at Indiana on November 8, and 102-62 at Cincinnati on Monday night. The latter was a particularly ghastly loss, with the Cougars getting outrebounded 69-21. Yes, Sixty-Nine to Twenty-One. Holy crap. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a disparity on the glass so big in a game between D1 opponents.
They have managed to turn some heads by playing tough games, at least for a while, against the rest of their schedule. Against Illinois, they trailed by just nine, 53-44, with ten minutes to play before the Illini ended the game on a 24-9 run to blow them out. On the road against Illinois State, they were down just seven with ten minutes to go, 51-44, but once again ended the game on the wrong side of a big run to lose 75-56. And against DePaul, they ended the game on a 17-6 run of their own to force overtime before getting outscored in the extra period 15-8, losing 77-70.
If there’s a common thread in all of those games, it’s an extremely top-heavy roster that forces them to ride their starters more than you’d prefer. Chicago State generally plays a six or seven-man rotation, with three players averaging over 30 minutes a contest, and that hurts them late in games. Time after time, they’ve been three or four possessions down after 30 minutes, only to get run out of the gym over the last ten minutes as they get tired.
Quinton Pippen, the nephew of former Chicago Bull Scottie Pippen, is their leading scorer at 14.7 points a game. He’s not quite a “black hole” when he gets the ball, but he’s close — he takes a lot of ill-advised shots, and in a lot of games, he simply takes a lot of shots period. The fact that he’s attempted 86 three-pointers in 12 games is a great illustration of that; it’s one more than Ethan Wragge, who literally only shoots threes — Pippen has taken nearly as many inside the arc as he has outside of it, so 86 threes is a TON.
Second on the team in scoring is Clarke Rosenberg, at 14.2 a game. The 6’3″ junior makes nearly 56% of his shots in the paint (49-89) and is also dangerous from behind the arc (12-28 from three-point range). He’s scored in double-digits in ten of their 12 games, and had a game-high 27 against Indiana when he was 4-6 from three-point range, 8-14 overall, and 7-8 from the free-throw line. He’s a steady, consistent player that is their most efficient scorer, and the sort of player that can make teams pay for concentrating too much on Pippen.
Nate Duhon is third on the team with a 11.3 points/game average, despite generally coming off the bench, and had a double-double (17 points and 10 rebounds) in a loss at Bradley earlier this year. Their only other significant contributor is 6’8″ senior Matt Ross, who is also the tallest player in their rotation. Ross averages 10.8 points per game and a team-best 6.8 rebounds per game, but is undersized for a big man and has struggled to defend opposing post players. That’s led to Chicago State playing a lot of zone to compensate, and could spell trouble as they try to stop Doug McDermott. There’s no one of size with any experience backing him up — a 6’11” redshirt freshman, Willie Rosenthal, and a 6’9″ true freshman, Quron Davis, neither of whom have played anything more than mop-up duty this year.
Given their extreme lack of height, it’s no surprise they’ve been outrebounded by an average of 9.2 boards a game, and the -48 rebounding differential against Cincinnati makes a lot of sense. Well, not really — that’s still absurd — but it’s less shocking than it was when I first scouted this team.
In addition to their lack of height forcing them to play zone, they take a ton of chances within that zone in an attempt to prevent teams from getting the ball inside. They’ve forced double-digit turnovers in 36 straight games, including 10 games where they turned the opponent over 20 or more times. Of course, the downside to taking so many risks defensively is that they give up a lot of easy baskets, but it’s a gamble they have to take given the makeup of their roster.
Chicago State has some shooters, but when they miss shots (and they’ll miss) Creighton should have ample opportunity to play in transition — the Cougars are simply not a team built to create second chances for themselves. This has all the makings of a 20-25 point win, provided the Jays come ready to play and aren’t looking ahead to Marquette.
About the Cougars: Former Creighton standout James Farr, who played from 1987-89, is an assistant coach for Chicago State. Farr played in 61 games for Tony Barone’s Jays, scoring 754 points scored with 191 rebounds, and was a capable third option behind Bob Harstad and Chad Gallagher on the 1989 NCAA Tournament team, earning First-Team All-MVC honors that year … The Cougars’ +3.5 turnover margin is the best in the WAC, and ranks 32nd in the nation … Chicago State won the Great West Conference last year, and moved to the WAC this year, where they’re picked to finish sixth.
One Big Paragraph with Lots O’Dots™: Creighton hasn’t trailed in any of its last three games, double-digit home wins over Nebraska, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and California. In the 11 year history of CenturyLink Center, Creighton has led wire-to-wire in 44 games, but this is the first time it’s accomplished the feat in three straight contests … Creighton has trailed for just 5:52 of 240:00 minutes this season at home … Doug McDermott was a perfect 13-for-13 at the line on Dec. 17 vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, becoming the first Bluejay to be perfect in 13 or more attempts from the line since Doug Brookins went 16-for-16 on Dec. 16, 1974 … Creighton’s defense has held foes to 40.2 percent marksmanship this year to rank 61st nationally, and only four of Creighton’s first 11 opponents have shot 40 percent or better from the field this season.
The RUN-DMD Show: Since 1997-98, only two college players have averaged at least 24.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and shot 40 percent or better from three-point range over the course of an entire season, Kevin Durant (25.8 ppg., 11.1 rpg., 40.4 3FG%) at Texas in 2006-07 and Wally Szczerbiak (24.4 ppg., 7.6 rpg., 49.2 3FG%) at Miami (Ohio) in 1997-98.
Currently, Doug McDermott is on pace to become the third, averaging 24.8 points and 7.5 rebounds a game while shooting 40.6 percent from long range.
Out of Context Ron Swanson Quote: “Turkey can never beat cow.”
The Last Time They Played: On November 13, 2011, Creighton shot 56.9 percent from the field and sank 13 three-pointers in scoring 95 or more points for the second straight game to open the season, the first time in school history they did that.
The 95-61 win over the Cougars featured a 10-12 shooting performance from Doug McDermott, who scored 21 points with 8 rebounds, and five 3’s from Jahenns Manigat.
The Series: Creighton is 2-0 all-time against Chicago State, defeating the Cougars 74-65 in 1988 and 95-61 in 2011. Greg McDermott is 3-1 in his career against Chicago State (1-0 at Creighton) and 1-0 against Tracy Dildy.
Gratuitous Linkage: Here’s a video interview with Quinton Pippen that aired on Fox Sports Chicago earlier this year, where they discuss his famous nephew who is still revered in the Windy City.
This Date in Creighton Hoops History: The first MVC game of the Greg McDermott Era came on December 29, 2010, when the Jays travelled to Illinois State. The 64-53 win snapped a five-game losing streak at Redbird Arena, and was keyed largely by an 11-0 run the Jays went on when Kenny Lawson and Gregory Echenique were on the floor together; the two big men were impossible for the Redbirds to defend, and combined for 20 points and 9 rebounds in the game.
In his first-ever conference game, Doug McDermott scored six points on 2-7 shooting in 30 minutes of action.
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day: Scorpions, “Big City Nights”. You bet.
The Bottom Line: Creighton gets up big early, and coasts to a 25-point win.
Bluejays 92, Chicago State 67