A month ago in Omaha, Creighton beat Providence 69-60 because two of the Jays’ stars (Trey Alexander and Ryan Kalkbrenner) were better than their Friar counterparts, both overall and in key moments. That script was flipped on Wednesday night, as Josh Oduro dominated Kalkbrenner to the tune of 32 points and 12 rebounds, with 29 of those points coming inside the arc and all 32 coming while Kalkbrenner was his primary defender. Meanwhile, Devin Carter had 28 points and 11 rebounds, with 21 of his points after halftime.
Both of them made huge plays to win the game, too: Carter’s (foolish, but admittedly impressive and undeniably gutsy) 40-foot three from the logo to tie the game in the final minute, and a contested three in overtime to give them the lead for good. Oduro scored 13 of their first 15 points to set an early tone, and then had six points in the final three minutes of regulation, including back-to-back buckets to answer back-to-back threes by Alexander and Steven Ashworth.
Leading 33-31 at the half, Creighton squandered a red-hot start to the second half by Baylor Scheierman where he made five straight shots and scored the Jays’ first 13 points. This drive to the rim during that run made him the first D1 men’s player in college hoops history to have 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 500 assists, and 300 made 3’s in a career — a remarkable feat.
Providence one-upped him by making their first seven shots, with two of them (plus a pair of free throws) courtesy of steals leading to transition opportunities, and opened a 47-43 lead. The last of those shots was this heat check from Carter, raising the decibel level inside the AMP to one of its loudest moments of the night.
An 8-2 Providence run featured two more steals that led to transition buckets, including this ridiculous one where Carter stole the ball, saved it with a behind-the-back pass, and Corey Floyd, Jr finished with a layup at the rim. Perhaps no coincidentally, that mini run came with Steven Ashworth on the bench with three fouls, and without him their offense struggled. Surprising as that statement might have sounded two months ago, it’s absolutely true now. His return moments later made it obvious.
“Really, that’s what changed the game was the start of that second half,” Greg McDermott said. “We had some live ball turnovers that led to pick-six baskets. I think we made six of our first seven shots, but instead of having a ten-point lead we’re trailing. And you know, we’ve been doing a much better job of not turning it over, and actually, after that point, we did a great job of it. That’s how we got back in the game. But in this league, man, it’s…it’s like I told the guys. It’s a game of inches.”
Down 57-50 with 12:06 to go, Creighton called timeout to get Ashworth back in, and immediately clawed their way back in with a pair of threes by Ashworth bookending a three by Francisco Farabello. By the 8:12 mark, they’d tied the game at 62; a jumper by Scheierman with 5:15 left briefly gave them the lead at 67-66.
But a step-back three by Carter gave Providence back the lead, and Oduro followed it with a pair of free throws to give the Friars a 71-67 edge. Ashworth would tie the game on a three, and then he gave them the lead on another — this one off of a beautiful set play to spring him open. He buried it and with 45 seconds to go, CU led 78-75.
Enter Carter. Dribbling near center court, Ashworth and Alexander had some brief confusion about whether to switch on a screen or not. The half-second hesitation was all Carter needed to hoist one of his patented 40-foot heave shots. If it misses, it’s likely game over and a CU win. But it barely scraped the rim as it ripped through the net, an all-time ballsy shot given the time and score. You could almost be forgiven for not guarding a player that far away from the basket, and could make the argument that doing so spreads you out and compromises your defense elsewhere.
Except foolishly long shots are kind of Carter’s thing, as anyone who’s watched the Friars knows — he takes these types of shots almost every game. He did it in Omaha a month ago. This one was a backbreaker, tying the score at 78, and after Ashworth’s would-be game-winning shot misfired (some might say he was body-checked and fouled; those people would have a point), the teams headed to OT.
Ashworth started the scoring in overtime with a three, and after another from Scheierman (that was dubiously overturned into a two, despite what FS1’s crew would have you believe), the Jays led 83-81. But Carter answered, again, with a fadeaway three to give Providence the lead 84-83. CU never led again. Carter’s huge second half and overtime, featuring both the game-tying three and eventual game-winner, proved fatal.
“I think there’s obviously gonna be some missed assignments on any possession, in any game, and there was some of that tonight,” Ashworth said. “But at the same time, a lot of their plays were just running through (Carter) more in the second half, especially down the stretch. Just about every action was designed to end up with him in the dribble handoff for a side ball screen, and if you give you great players enough opportunities they’re gonna make plays. He did tonight.”
The end result is a second straight loss for the Jays, and while it’s not surprising in a vacuum — they’ve rarely come out of the AMP with a win — a bigger picture look is less favorable. With the losses CU has dropped from second to a tie for fourth place in the Big East with their next opponent, Xavier. A glut of teams are nipping at their heels, as St. John’s, Butler and Providence are tied for fifth at 6-6. As those five teams begin to separate this weekend, a loss at Xavier could see Creighton return home in ninth place.
Negative thoughts about a team with Final Four aspirations sitting at 16-7 and 7-5 in the league are understandable, and you don’t have to look hard online to find them. It’s a circle-the-wagons moment for the Jays as they head into Cintas Center on Saturday.
“I told the guys how much I enjoy coaching them and that I’d go to war with this group any time,” McDermott said. “We’ve had some tough moments and some tough games where we all just need to be a little bit better. I need to be better. My staff needs to be a little better. Each guy on that roster just needs to be just a fraction better to get us over the top. We’re going to continue to believe in one another. We’re going to continue to fight for one another. There’s a lot of important basketball left. We’ve played in 12 Big East games and five of them have really been like this. We’ve won two and we’ve lost three. We’ve got to figure out a way to finish.”
Inside the Box:
Creighton’s offense has come alive over the last five games, scoring 87, 97, 85, 85 and 98 points. In three of those games (Xavier, Butler and Providence) the Jays’ adjusted offensive efficiency was either the best or second-best offensive performance against that opponent all season. Their KenPom ranking for adjusted offensive efficiency has risen from 42 on the morning of January 20 (before the Seton Hall game) to 22 currently.
Problem is, their defense has tanked at the exact same time. They’ve given up 91, 99, 62, 78 and 94 points in those five games (with hapless DePaul the outlier at 62). Their KenPom ranking for adjusted defensive efficiency ahead of that Seton Hall game? 7. Today it sits at 38. And so despite an offense that finally resembles the well-oiled machine we expected to see from Day One back in November, they went just 3-2 during these five games.
For the second straight game, Creighton did more than enough offensively to win, and for the second straight game they lost because their defense let them down, albeit in different ways. In losing 99-98 to Butler, they were beaten with ruthless efficiency as DJ Davis (8-of-12, 22 points) and Jahmyl Telfort (12-of-17, 26 points) could barely miss despite mostly being forced into tough shots, while the unheralded Finley Bizjack went a perfect 3-of-3 from outside. On Wednesday, they were beaten because Providence’s two best players had much better games than their CU counterparts. 60 of Providence’s 91 points came from Josh Oduro and Devin Carter.
Carter’s gutsy shotmaking was flashy, for sure, but Creighton’s set defense on him was better on second view that it appeared. Of his five 3-pointers, one came on a second-chance opportunity after an offensive rebound (where Kalkbrenner was wrestled to the ground during the fight for the ball, leaving CU to scramble 4-on-5). One came in transition where he pulled up for a three. And one was the ridiculous 40-footer at the end of regulation. He took 19 shots to get his 28 points, a level of efficiency you can live with if you take care of other areas.
As for Oduro, the only thing positive you can say from a CU perspective is that he, too, was an inefficient scorer (12-of-24 from the floor). Providence had 46 points in the paint, with Oduro repeatedly driving straight into the chest of Kalkbrenner and scoring over the top of him, and occasionally dribbling around him.
Those two combined to take 43 shots and miss 21 of them. But 13 offensive rebounds gave the Friars second chances, which they turned into 13 points. And 12 Bluejay turnovers were converted into 15 points for the Friars. As poorly as they defended, if the Jays had taken better care of the basketball and rebounded the way they’re capable of, this is a different game with a different result. Alas.
Individually, there’s some performances that shouldn’t be ignored because of the loss. Baylor Scheierman became Creighton’s first player with at least 26 points and 10 rebounds in consecutive games since Bob Harstad (!) in February 1990 (!!). And he’s the first Big East player regardless of team to do it since the league reformed in 2013; West Virginia’s Kevin Jones is the last to accomplish it in 2012.
Steven Ashworth was 6-of-7 from three-point range, including some tough-as-nails shots late in the game. After his struggles earlier in the season, he’s all of a sudden up to 37.9% from three-point range (50-of-132) for the season — and is a red-hot 15-of-24 (62.5%) over the last three games.
And the bench, maligned for much of the season, contributed in some surprising ways. After a string of games where he was less and less effective, Fred King temporarily lost his backup role at the ‘5’ with Isaac Traudt working in practice at that position in the days leading up to the game. Traudt played just three minutes and had no stats, but the Jays grew their lead by two in the time he was on the floor and he played good fundamental defense. It wasn’t earth-shattering, but it didn’t need to be; treading water when your All-Big East star is on the bench is all you need. Traudt’s minutes gave Kalkbrenner a real, actual rest, and when he checked back in the payoff was noticeable: in the first 2-1/2 minutes, he made three buckets, assisted on a three by Francisco Farabello, and blocked a shot.
Traudt’s shift to the ‘5’ also opened a spot for Jasen Green at the ‘4’, where he scored his first points in Big East action — two putbacks on offensive rebounds. If there’s a positive moving forward, it’s that Ashworth’s shot is progressing to the mean, Traudt may give them a legitimate backup to ease Kalkbrenner’s minute load, and Green seeing the floor means he may be earning the trust of the coaches to begin carving out a role.