I wrote in the Primer that this season’s DePaul team is the worst one Creighton’s faced in their 11 seasons in the Big East, which is no small feat considering they’ve had a winning record in league play only once in 18 seasons, and finished dead last in the Big East standings in 11 of the past 15 seasons. Certainly, this is the worst defensive Blue Demons team they’ve seen.
That sort of proclamation can seem like hyperbole…except when it’s not.
Creighton scored on 11 of their first 12 possessions, led 7-0 after two minutes and 25-9 after seven. Three different Bluejays scored in that initial 7-0 burst, including this absurd play where Ryan Kalkbrenner caught the ball in the post, drew four — yes, four — defenders, with a fifth lurking. That left him with the choice of three wide open shooters on the perimeter to kick it out to. Mason Miller or Trey Alexander would have been good options; Baylor Scheierman was the best option, and sure enough, he drained the three.
Moments later, Scheierman hit another three to make it 13-4. Then he poked the ball loose on defense, dove out of bounds to save it, and started a fastbreak. After DePaul stopped the initial transition opportunity, Kalkbrenner came out and executed a pick-and-roll to the hoop where he threw down an alley-oop in between three confused DePaul defenders.
Scheierman had four 3-pointers in the first seven minutes, scoring nearly half of the 25 points his team had in an opening salvo that left DePaul buried.
“Our efficiency at the start of the game was through the roof,” Greg McDermott said. “We had 25 points on 12 possessions and were getting stops, we were getting defensive rebounds, getting out in transition, making the extra pass, moving our bodies and moving the ball, and that resulted in some pretty good looks at the basket.”
As bad as DePaul proved to be, Georgetown isn’t much better, and the Jays stumbled through half of a game before taking control of their matchup against the Hoyas one week ago. They put this one on ice before the second media timeout, with their veterans setting the tone that they were there to take care of business.
“Like we talked about in the locker room, any road win in the Big East, regardless of who you’re playing, is one that you don’t take for granted,” Scheierman said on the postgame radio show. “We knew we were gonna have to be locked in today and I think we were.”
They eventually built the lead to as much as 23 in the first half, 43-20, with Scheierman hitting a fifth 3-pointer over the top of a fallen defender along the way.
Kalkbrenner put the exclamation point on the first half with an alley-oop on their final offensive possession, with Trey Alexander perfectly feeding a lob pass to him at the rim. Their 47 first half points and 17-point halftime lead were both CU records against DePaul since joining the Big East — pretty remarkable considering the long line of blowouts the Jays have delivered on the Blue Demons over the years.
“We really emphasized at halftime, let’s make sure we don’t give them a breath,” McDermott said. “And our starting group over the first eight minutes held them to six points and was able to take a 17-point game out to a 25- or 35-point game in the first 10 minutes.”
Miller hit the first shot of the half, a three-pointer just 73 seconds in, and it gave CU a 51-30 lead. But the play that slammed the door shut — and threw away the damn key — came a couple of minutes later. Kalkbrenner viciously blocked a shot at one end of the floor, and then sprinted down the court where Scheierman hit him with a trailing pass for a transition dunk.
By the second media timeout, the Jays led by 29. And then the main rotation players were done for the night — giving way to the freshman trio of Isaac Traudt, Jasen Green and Josiah Dotzler, plus sophomore transfer Johnathan Lawson. Combined with Fred King and Francisco Farabello, the final ten minutes of the game were almost entirely played by Bluejay reserves.
“It was good to get those guys out there and have some film to study that they can learn and grow from,” McDermott said. “We had some interesting lineups out there at times and a couple tough matchups, especially when you haven’t played a lot and all of a sudden you’re in a Big East game. And Tony [Stubblefield] left his starters in there for, really, most of the game which was good for our guys to play against his top group. That’s how you learn, that’s how you grow, that’s how you get better is to have that experience and then get back, watch it on film and learn from it.”
All of them had encouraging moments. Traudt had made just one 3-pointer in a month — going 1-for-9 over the last six games since a 5-of-6 game against Central Michigan — but connected on a pair of threes in the second half Tuesday. Dotzler got downhill on a couple of drives and scored two layups at the rim, and intercepted a pass to start a fastbreak. Green didn’t score but defended well, grabbed three rebounds, and dished out an assist to King on a made layup.
“They give us great looks in practice and they do what they do so we can do what we do, and we can’t do anything without them,” Scheierman said. “So having them get some meaningful minutes, especially in Big East play, it’s always great to see.”
The win was Creighton’s 19th straight over DePaul, a new CU record for most consecutive wins over an opponent. They’ve won 11 straight road games against the Blue Demons — going undefeated in Chicago since joining the Big East — also a CU record. Per Elias Sports Bureau, Creighton’s 11 straight road wins over DePaul is also tied for the nation’s second-longest active road win streak over another foe, trailing only Gonzaga’s 20 straight wins over Pepperdine.
Inside the Box:
Creighton’s first half, offensively, was about as good as it gets. They had 10 assists on 17 made baskets, shot 7-of-16 from three-point range, had a 9-0 advantage on second-chance points, and committed just one turnover. They scored 1.47 points per possession. Individually, Scheierman had 15 points on 5-of-6 from outside, with five rebounds and two steals. Kalkbrenner had 15, too, making 5-of-7 from the floor and 5-of-7 from the line with six rebounds and two blocks. He also drew six fouls on DePaul defenders.
“We talked in the locker room before the game about playing with grit, and Baylor certainly embodied that from the start of the game,” McDermott said. “It was good to see some shots go in for him. He’s had some decent looks lately and he hasn’t made them, but obviously we’re extremely confident in his ability to shoot the basketball.”
When Kalkbrenner and Scheierman checked out for good with eight minutes to go, they’d nearly outscored DePaul (41) by themselves (40). They ended with 20 points apiece; Kalkbrenner had nine boards and four blocks, while Scheierman had eight boards, three assists and three steals.
“Our guys did a good job of finding Ryan (Kalkbrenner) which we needed to do,” McDermott said. “I thought he worked well for position, and he didn’t mess with it when he caught the ball. He made aggressive plays with the basketball. And besides the fouls he drew, he blocked four shots, and I thought he was very active on a lot of others.”
Add in 17 points from Trey Alexander, plus four assists and no turnovers, and it was a big night for the Jays’ big three. Steven Ashworth went 0-for-5 from three-point range, but had seven assists and no turnovers, and displayed better defensive positioning and understanding of where to be than he had earlier in the year.
Ultimately, DePaul is 3-12 and 0-4 for a reason, and it’s hard to draw too many big picture conclusions from a game this lopsided. But comparing the Jays’ analytics numbers to other DePaul opponents in their games, you get a sense for how well (or not) CU played. This was the third-worst offensive performance of the season for DePaul, with only Villanova and Northwestern holding them to worse numbers. Meanwhile, only Texas A&M, Iowa State and UConn have fared better offensively against DePaul’s defense.
Creighton now has more road wins than any other Power 6 conference team this season with four, and their +66 point differential in those games is also best among power conference teams.
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