Polyfro Primer: St. Joseph’s

Last December, St. Joseph’s came to Omaha in the midst of a snowstorm, and were blown out by a blizzard of three-pointers by Ethan Wragge. Trailing 42-40 at the first media timeout of the second half, Wragge hit three-pointers on five of six possessions, and had an assist to Kaleb Korver for a three on the only offensive set during that run where he didn’t make one of his own. It was one of the most amazing shooting displays I’ve ever seen, and when it finally ended, Creighton had a 60-50 lead.

Kenny Lawson had perhaps his greatest statistical night of his career that night as well, posting career highs in both points (30) and rebounds (18) as he completely dominated the Hawks’ post players.

Yet despite those two players having career nights, the Hawks just wouldn’t go away. Despite Lawson’s 18 rebounds, the Jays out-rebounded them only 35-33. Despite Wragge’s performance, they made the same number of three-pointers as Creighton (9), and shot similar percentages (Creighton 9-24, St. Joseph’s 9-21). The teams shot almost dead-even from the floor, too: Creighton made 27-55, St. Joseph’s made 26-62. Even the free-throw line was close: the Jays made 19-23, the Hawks made 14-19. Want more? Creighton had 10 turnovers, St. Joseph’s had 9. The Jays had 17 assists, the Hawks had 15.

Usually when a team has two players get career nights in the same game, it’s a blowout win. Yet the Hawks overcame both Wragge’s ridiculous shooting display and Lawson’s dominance in the paint to take the game right down to the wire, answering every Jays’ run with a run of their own. Whether that was because of lax defense by the Jays or not is debatable, but their determination on the road was impressive. Carl Jones led them with 17 points on 6-14 shooting, Langston Galloway added 13 points and six rebounds on 3-11 shooting, and Justin Crosgile had 15 points off the bench in just 23 minutes, making 3-5 from behind the arc. Jones and Galloway are the Hawks’ two leading scorers this year, while Crosgile transferred out. Here’s our highlight package from the game a year ago if you want to refresh your memory:

One player you don’t see in that highlight package: Doug McDermott, who was held scoreless by the Hawks. It was the only game all season where he didn’t score, going 0-5 from the field and 0-2 from the free-throw line. Their suffocating man-to-man defense completely threw the young McDermott off his game, a tactic that coach Phil Martelli is famous for. As Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer told us, it’s a tactic he expects them to employ again Saturday — rather than the double-teams McDermott has faced recently, the Hawks will likely play straight-up and rely on their weak side defense to help out.

The Hawks were a young team last December, but both feisty and tough. A year older and on their home court — Hagan Arena is one of the most intimidating venues in America — they’ll be a tough test for the Jays.

Carl Jones, the 5’11” guard who had 17 points a year ago in Omaha, is leading the team in scoring as a junior at 18.3 points a game. Playing an average of 38 minutes, he’s the poster child for their style of play — the Hawks’ rotation is just eight-deep, and their top three players all average more than 34 minutes a game. He scores points in bunches, but you’d expect nothing less from a player who shoots 25% of his team’s shots (true stat — he has attempted 111 of the Hawks’ 480 shots, good for 24.9%). He also turns it over more than you’d like; he has 27 assists and 30 turnovers for a hideous 0.9 A/T Ratio.

Langston Galloway impressed Jays’ fans last year with his 13 point/6 rebound performance. The 6’2″ guard is a sophomore now, and has added some bulk to his frame. He’s also increased his scoring, averaging 16.0 through nine games. His rebounding average is down almost one board a game, though, to 4.6 after averaging 5.5 a year ago. He’s been a consistent scorer, with 15 or more points in six of nine games and a career-high 30 in their last game, a 75-68 win over Boston University.

Fellow sophomore C.J. Aiken struggled mightily against Kenny Lawson in Omaha last December (as Lawson’s 30/18 line attests) but has shown marked improvement for the Hawks so far this year. He’s averaging 11.3 points and 5.7 rebounds, both big jumps from his freshman campaign. His most impressive stat is undoubtably his shot-blocking ability, though, as he leads all of college basketball with 5.0 blocks a game — and lest you think that’s skewed by one big game, he has at least 4 blocks in eight of their nine games, so he’s incredibly consistent patrolling the paint.

Those are the big three for the Hawks’, and all play 34+ minutes a game. Their supporting cast includes freshman Chris Wilson, a 6’3″ guard averaging 4 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds a game in 24 minutes; Hofstra transfer Halil Kanacevic, a 6’8″ forward averaging 7.1 points and 5.4 rebounds; and 6’8″ sophomore Ronald Roberts Jr., who averages 10.2 points and 5.6 rebounds a game.

Make no mistake, this is a really, really tough game for the Jays, and they will need to play much better than they did a week ago against Nebraska to get a win.

Meet the Hawks: Phil Martelli is in his 17th year at Saint Joseph’s and needs four wins to become the Hawks’all‐time leader in career victories. He now has 306 wins while current record‐holder Bill Ferguson registered 309 in 25 seasons (1928‐53) … Saint Joseph’s is again sporting one of the youngest teams in the nation, with no seniors, two juniors, five sophomores and three freshmen … In a 62-49 win over Drexel on November 30, the Hawks blocked 16 shots, with C.J. Aiken swatting nine by himself, including seven in the second half. Remarkably, that’s not the school record. In a 1987 game against Cleveland State, Rodney Blake had 12 blocks … Last year, the Hawks had a -4.5 rebounding margin for the season, but have closed the gap considerably through nine games, owning a -0.5 margin this year … The Hawks average 72.0 points per game and shoot 47.5 percent from the floor … SJU allows 66.8 points per contest and has limited teams to 37.7 percent shooting from the field … They have a 6-3 record, but own a double-digit home wins vs. Penn State and CAA favorite Drexel, and have also beaten future Creighton opponent Tulsa (79-75) on a neutral floor.

One Big Paragraph with Lots O’Dots™: Through games of Dec. 9th, only three squads nationally own two wins over the Big Ten: Duke, North Carolina and Creighton … Creighton ranks fourth nationally with a 1.71 assist/turnover ratio, with their starting guard trio of Antoine Young (33 A, 11 TO), Jahenns Manigat (14/4) and Grant Gibbs (36/11) combining for 83 assists and 26 turnovers, good for a 3.19 assist/turnover ratio … When the Jays moved into the AP poll at #19 this week, it was the first time the Jays have been ranked by the Associated Press since being 20th in the Nov. 13, 2006 poll. The last time the Jays were ranked 19th or better was the preseason poll in 2006-07, when they were 19th in that poll released Nov. 6, 2006 … For the record, this is the fourth different week Greg McDermott has led a team to a top-25 ranking in the AP poll, as his final Northern Iowa team was ranked 25th on Jan. 31, Feb. 7 and Feb. 21 of the 2005-06 season … Antoine Young is just seven points from becoming Creighton’s 35th member of the 1,000 point club, and his 382 assists rank tied for seventh-most in Bluejay annals … Creighton is off to a 7-0 start for the fifth time since 1999-00, but first time since the 2004-05 group opened 7-0. The 1999-00 club opened 9-0, the 2002-03 team began 10-0 and the 2003-04 squad opened 12-0.

The Last Time They Played: Since we discussed last December’s win already, let’s look back at the last matchup in Philadelphia. On December 6, 2008, Booker Woodfox made 7-9 three pointers en route to 29 points in a 69-58 Creighton win. Played at the historic Palestra, Kenny Lawson also had a great night with nine points and 10 rebounds.

The Series: Creighton and St. Joseph’s have split eight games all-time, with St. Joe’s winning the first four and Creighton winning the last four. All eight previous meetings have been decided by 11 points or less.

Gratuitous Stattage: Yes, that’s a completely made-up word. In place of linkage today, I thought it might be fun to compare the 2002-03 team to this team though seven games. Just for fun. Also, because it’s a shocking comparison.

Surprising, no? Now I’m about to commit heresy, and compare Kyle Korver’s stats through seven games to McDermott. Don’t shoot the messenger.

Out of Context Seinfeld Quote: “I ran out of butter, so I had to use yours. Any other questions, Mr. Nosy?” – Cosmo Kramer

This Date in Creighton Hoops History: On December 10, 2003, Creighton beat Nebraska for the fifth consecutive time, winning 61-54 in the teams’ first meeting at Qwest Center Omaha. The 15,561 fans in attendance made it Creighton’s largest home crowd at the time, as they witnessed Creighton extend their home winning streak to 22 games — a streak which would eventually reach 28 before Southern Illinois beat them in February. In the winning effort over the Huskers, Nate Funk and Brody Deren each had 13 points to pace the Jays, while Mike Grimes had 12.

Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day: The Jays are in Philadelphia, so it’s time for my favorite Philly artists, Hall & Oates. You bet.

The Bottom Line: I think this will be an extraordinarily tough game, but I just cannot bring myself to predict the Jays to drop from the ranks of the unbeaten. Seems … untoward, unlucky, unconscionable really.

Jays 80, Joes 71