After dispatching of Longwood on Tuesday night, the “cupcake” portion of Creighton’s schedule is officially over, as the rest of the non-conference slate consists of solid competition. It begins with a game against the biggest name, if not the best team, in Wisconsin on Friday night. St. Joseph’s will wind up being the tougher game, in my opinion, but like it or not a win against Wisconsin carries more cachet with casual observers.
The Badgers may not wind up being as good as the Hawks, but because of their style of play, they might be the tougher matchup for Creighton. Bo Ryan’s teams have finished in the top ten nationally in defensive scoring eight of the last ten years, and they’ve not allowed more than 60 points a game on average any of the last six years. It’s perhaps an oversimplification to say whoever is able to play closer to their preferred style will win the game, but the higher scoring the game is, the more it favors Creighton.
The nearest comp to Wisconsin that Creighton plays regularly is probably Northern Iowa, another team that plays a deliberate pace and places a bigger emphasis on defense than offense. In recent meetings, despite a high-octane offense, the Jays have struggled to play that pace against the Panthers; last year they averaged 79.2 points a game but scored just 62 and 63 in two games vs UNI. The good news: they split those two games, and also won a similar style game against Alabama in the NCAA Tournament, so they can certainly succeed playing a low-possession, slow pace contest.
Much like the Panthers, Wisconsin succeeds at slowing down the game and making teams play their pace. This game will likely be played in the 60s, putting a huge importance on limiting turnovers and taking advantage of open looks when they come.
But what if it isn’t? Can Wisconsin win a shootout? They scored more than 70 points just eight times all year last season, and more than 80 just once. Their game against #7 Florida earlier this season showed what happens when an explosive offensive team gets rolling against the Badgers — the Gators won by 18 when Wisconsin couldn’t score enough to keep up. Creighton seems better equipped to win a game played at their opponent’s preferred style, and that bodes well for the Jays.
Though it’s just four games into the season, the Badgers are already banged up. They lost two key contributors before the season even began — guard Josh Gasser (out for the year) and forward Mike Bruesewitz (just returning). Gasser was an All-Big Ten defensive player a year ago, and by far their best perimeter defender. His loss showed up big in the loss to Florida, when sharpshooter Erik Murphy went off for 24 points. He was also their point guard, although freshman George Marshall (7.0 points, 2.0 assists) has done an admirable job running the team offensively so far.
Bruesewitz returned to the starting lineup on Sunday after easing back into the lineup the first three games, and seems to be close to 100%. He’s the classic Bo Ryan player: he’s not much of a scorer, but he hustles, rebounds and defends.
Junior guard Ben Brust leads them offensively at 14.5 points a game, and is incredibly efficient — he’s made 11-17 from three-point range. Brust also averages 9.3 rebounds a game to go along with 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals, and has two double-doubles already this season. Forward Jared Burggren averages 13.5 points a game, and his teammates do an excellent job of feeding the post to get him open looks. Burggren pulls down 6.8 boards a game and has blocked 2.5 shots a contest so far, and as Jim Polzin of the Wisconsin State-Journal told us, he’s playing with added motivation this year. It shows: coming off an All-Big Ten honorable mention campaign, he’s improved to lead UW in scoring in 3 of the first 4 games and leads the Big Ten with 10 blocks.
Highly-rated freshman Sam Dekker has played very well in his first four collegiate games, as the 6’7″ forward has averaged 10.5 points and 2.8 rebounds while playing the most minutes of any non-starter. Senior Ryan Evans has started in front of him, and seems to have lost a few of his minutes to Dekker early on; Evans’ averages are down across the board as he’s scoring 9.0 points with 6.8 rebounds a game.
Wisconsin is going to try and slow the game down as much as possible, and not allow the Jays to play in transition. That will be a massive early test for Austin Chatman; whether he can control the ball and push the tempo when possible against a defense like the Badgers has yet to be tested. As such, he’s the key to the game for Creighton tonight. If he panics and turns the ball over, all the offensive weapons the Jays have will be for naught. If he plays like I think he will — in control and with poise — Creighton will be fine.
About the Badgers: Wisconsin is 3-1 on the season, with wins by 33 or more against Southeastern Louisiana, Cornell and Presbyterian surrounding a 74-56 loss at Florida … They’ve turned the ball over just 40 times in four games, and outrebounded foes by 11.4 rebounds per contest … The Badgers traditionally staunch defense has limited foes to 51.0 points per game and 38.3% shooting from the floor … Under Bo Ryan (since 2001-02), Wisconsin owns an overall record of 113-28 (.801) in non-conference games … Wisconsin’s non-conference schedule features five games against teams who qualified for the 2012 NCAA Tournament field (California, Creighton, Florida, Marquette and Virginia) … Wisconsin junior Zach Bohannon and Creighton senior Grant Gibbs were teammates at Linn-Mar High School in Marion, Iowa, where they teamed up to win the 2007 Iowa State Championship. Gibbs also played four minutes, grabbing 2 rebounds, in Gonzaga’s 74-61 win over Wisconsin at the 2009 Maui Invitational … UW senior Mike Bruesewitz (St. Paul, Minn.) and Creighton junior Ethan Wragge (Eden Prairie, Minn.) were U-19 AAU teammates and faced each other in prep games.
One Big Paragraph with Lots O’Dots™: This is Creighton’s fifth-ever trip to Las Vegas, but first since December of 2008 when it won the Las Vegas Classic with wins over Fresno State (84-65) and DePaul (83-75) at the Orleans Arena … In the previous 14 years, Creighton is 9-5 in its first non-home game of the season, which includes a 3-1 mark when that game takes place on a neutral floor … Ethan Wragge is 9-of-11 from deep since Sunday, is Creighton’s second-leading scorer at 11.8 points per game despite playing just 16.3 points per minute, and his 47 points are four more than the total from the reserves of Creighton’s first four opponents this season (43) … The Jays are 34-17 in its last 51 games on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. In these last 51 ESPN-affiliated appearances, Creighton is 31-9 when scoring 62 points or more, but just 3-8 when scoring 61 points or less.
The RUN-DMD Show: Creighton went 3-0 against the Big Ten last winter, including home wins vs. both Northwestern and Nebraska and a neutral site beatdown of Iowa. Doug McDermott averaged 25.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game on 29-44 shooting (65.9 percent) and 7-11 from downtown (63.6 percent) in those games.
The Last Time They Played, and the Series: Creighton and Wisconsin have met just one time, a 75-39 Badger victory at the UW Field House on January 8, 1949. Greg McDermott is 0-1 against Bo Ryan and Wisconsin, falling 57-52 in a 2005 NCAA Tournament game played in Oklahoma City.
Interestingly, the Badgers are 11-10 all-time vs. members of the Missouri Valley Conference. UW is 2-1 vs. Valley opponents under Bo Ryan, including a 66-43 win over Bradley in the 2011 Chicago Invitational.
Gratuitous Linkage: The Des Moines Register ran an excellent article on Thanksgiving about Greg McDermott and Fred Hoiberg called “Change is Good.”
This Date in Creighton Hoops History: On November 23, 2004, Creighton blew out Missouri 78-54 in the semifinals of the Guardians Classic in Kansas City. Creighton made 12-of-26 shots on the night from three-point range (46.2%) in the win. Nate Funk led the Jays with 21 points and seven rebounds on 8-of-11 shooting, while Johnny Mathies had 18 points. The next night, Tyler McKinney would hit a jumper with 4 seconds left in OT to beat Ohio State for the tourney title.
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day: What’s better than an old Elvis song? An old Elvis song covered by ZZ Top. Vegas, baby, yeah!
The Bottom Line: Austin Chatman handles the Badger defense, Gregory Echenique is the best post player on the floor, Doug McDermott scores 25 and Ethan Wragge continues his hot shooting.
Creighton 71, Wisconsin 64