The next two games on Creighton’s schedule, courtesy of the Las Vegas Invite, are Presbyterian and Longwood, a pair of teams with RPIs of 253 and 335 a year ago, respectively. When assistant coach Steve Merfeld was asked on the Bluejay Banter postgame Wednesday night about the upcoming stretch of “cupcakes” leading into the Wisconsin game in Las Vegas, the coach tried to explain that Presbyterian is better than people think.
Presbyterian was a mediocre team a year ago, going 14-15 (8-10 in the Big South), yet inexplicably defeated Cincinnati 56-54 in Cincinnati — the same Bearcats team that wound up in the Sweet 16 a few months later. In 2010, they went on the road and beat both Auburn and Wake Forest. And this past Wednesday, they led Georgia Tech 12-2 seven minutes into the game and had a halftime lead of 25-24 before ultimately losing the game. Suffice it to say, they’re feistier than your usual “cupcake.”
With that said, after digging into how they’ve performed in their first two games against Clemson and Georgia Tech, it’s tough to envision a scenario where that feistiness results in an upset on Sunday. This is a team that has scored 82 total points in two games, while shooting 33% (31-93) and attempting only 16 free throws. They play a rotation of just six players, with three starters averaging 36 minutes a game or more and three other players getting between 25 and 29 minutes each. Needless to say, if Creighton is able to dictate tempo in this game, there’s little chance Presbyterian can keep up given that extreme lack of depth. On the plus side, they have held their first two opponents to 26% shooting from behind the arc, so there’s that.
Khalid Mutakabbir is their leading returning scorer, after averaging 13.7 points a game last year. A preseason All-Big South selection, Mutakabbir is scoring 8.0 points with 6.0 assists a game so far this year. Joshua Clyburn has emerged to lead them in scoring through two games, averaging 11.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in two games after scoring just 3.3 points a game a year ago. He’s the only player on their team with double-digit baskets made, going 10-18 from the field.
They’re a feistier than the usual “cupcake”, but still not much of a legitimate threat to win. This game, as well as the one against Longwood, are mostly tune-ups for Wisconsin on Friday night. As such, it’s encouraging to hear Nevin Johnson was back at practice on Friday, and that he’s likely to dress for Sunday’s game. Johnson has a combination of athleticism and defensive prowess that not many of his frontcourt mates share, so it would be nice if a couple of blowouts this week allowed him to ease his way into the lineup.
About the Blue Hose: Presbyterian’s mascot is the Blue Hose, represented by a Scotsman clad in a kilt with blue stockings. Their campus is home to Cyrus, the largest bronze statue of a Scotsman in the world … Josh Clyburn, who averaged just 3.3 points and 3.2 rebounds per game last season, recorded a career-high 19 points and pulled down a nine rebounds in the season-opener … Presbyterian has only been D1 since 2006, but will make their second trip to Las Vegas this week when they face Cornell and either Longwood or Florida A&M in the non-marquee half of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational … They’ll play at Wisconsin at Tuesday night before heading to the desert.
One Big Paragraph with Lots O’Dots™: Creighton has averaged 16,447 through two home games thus far, the best two-game start in program history. Meanwhile, Presbyterian has played before 10,233 fans total in road games at Clemson (4,500) and Georgia Tech (5,733) this year … Creighton has started off 3-0 (or better) in 11 of the previous 13 seasons … The Bluejays have won 25 straight home games against teams that are winless entering the night, winning those games by an average of 26.44 points. Twelve of those wins came by 30 points or more, and only two were decided by single-digits … Creighton has shot 50 percent or better in each of its first two games for the first time since 2002-03. In that campaign, CU did it the first four games of the year and finished the season 29-5 overall … On the defensive end, Creighton has held its first two opponents below 40 percent from the field for the first time since 2005-06. Creighton last started the season with three straight opponents at 40 percent or worse in 2000-01.
The RUN-DMD Show: Doug McDermott was held to single-digit scoring (5 points) on Wednesday for the first time since his freshman season, but the Jays still managed 77 points in a 17-point win over one of the best teams from Conference USA. Through two games, seven different Bluejays have scored in double-figures at least once, but none of those men have done it in both games. By comparison, Presbyterian has had just six men score all season.
The Last Time They Played, and the Series: Creighton and Presbyterian have never played. Greg McDermott is 2-0 against the current members of the Big South Conference, having beaten Campbell 104-81 last year and topping Longwood 84-63 while at Northern Iowa during the 2004-05 season.
Gratuitous Linkage: It got buried a bit in the deluge of content we’ve published this week, but WBR’s Patrick Marshall talked to beat writer Nick Herman of the Laurens County Advertiser about the Blue Hose. It’s a pretty good look at their strategy for Sunday’s game. Check it out.
This Date in Creighton Hoops History: On November 18, 1998, Creighton beat UMKC at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City 79-58. The Jays nearly had two players with double-doubles, as Rodney Buford had 21 points and 9 rebounds while Doug Swenson had 15 points and 13 rebounds.
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day: Blue Hose, Blue Oyster Cult. Godzilla!
The Bottom Line: Over by halftime. Pizza by the under-12 timeout.
Creighton 86, Presbyterian 57
