Creighton got quite a bit better over it’s first four games. As he looks back, coach Greg McDermott thinks it his team’s growth was accelerated by a second-half test against St. Thomas two weeks ago.
“They came back and took the lead, and we faced a little adversity. We had to react to it,” McDermott said on his postgame radio show Thursday night. “Riverside was able to come back in the first half and take the lead (too), and we had to respond to that. They gained momentum in the game. How do you respond?”
The Jays don’t play another non-Power 5 team the rest of the regular season. It’s a fact that isn’t lost on McDermott. “Every game the rest of the way will be a series of situations where you gain momentum, and then your opponent takes it, and then you try to get it back. The fact that we’ve had to do that a couple of times in buy games is good for us in the long run.”
The other two games against North Dakota and Holy Cross weren’t ever really in doubt, but they got to play the bench a bunch and get a ton of game film for their new players to watch and learn from. McDermott’s message to his team from the start of practice has been that they have to improve every single day. He believes they have.
“We’re a better team today than we were when we played St. Thomas,” he said. “Hopefully a month from now when we’re talking, we feel like we’re better then than we are today.”
We’ll find out in a big hurry how much they’ve improved in two weeks, because Creighton’s first-ever trip to the Maui Invitational — one of, if not the, crown jewel of holiday tournaments — features a helluva field. Arizona, Cincinnati, San Diego State, Ohio State, Arkansas, Louisville and the Jays’ first round opponent, Texas Tech.
The Red Raiders have had the #1 ranked defense in D1 two of the last four years under coaches Chris Beard and Mark Adams, and despite an overhauled roster this year, are right back at it. Through three games, all wins, they’ve allowed 52.7 points and allowed opponents to shoot just 33.3% from the floor (and 25.6% from outside). Their pressure is immense — they’ve forced a turnover on 23.2% of opponent’s possessions so far, coming up with steals on 10.1% of them.
How the Jays deal with that pressure might very well tell the story of the game. A year ago, it did not go well the first time they faced a team who pressured them defensively. Iowa State bullied and bruised them in a 64-58 Cyclone win in Omaha, forcing 21 turnovers (or 31.8% of their possessions). Ironically, an October scrimmage in Ames against the Cyclones might pay dividends now — their defensive scheme is similar to Texas Tech, as McDermott noted on his postgame show after Thursday’s game, and all reports are the Jays handled it pretty well. Certainly better than last December in Omaha.
One reason why that might be? They have more ball handlers now than they did at this time a year ago. Ryan Nembhard talked about it on the postgame show after Tuesday’s game, saying that “I commanded the rock a lot more, because I needed to. This year it’s so nice to have a bunch of guys who can all handle it. They can make plays. I don’t have to be on the ball all the time.”
In Mark Adams’ time in Lubbock, either as the de facto defensive coordinator under Chris Beard or as the head coach, his defenses have finished fourth, first, ninth, 18th, and first in defensive efficiency. They’ve traditionally played a “no middle” defense, with a roster made up of players between 6’4” and 6’8” who are long, athletic, and strong — and most importantly, switchable. All of them can guard any player on an opponent’s roster. While nine of Texas Tech’s top 10 scorers from last year’s Sweet 16 team are gone, the remade roster follows the same formula.
On the offensive end, Adams’ teams have often struggled to shoot well or keep from turning it over themselves — long, athletic players who are defensive menaces AND can shoot the ball are mostly in the NBA, not college. Last year’s team, great as they were, turned it over on 20% of their own possessions (273rd in D1) and shot just 32.1% from three-point range (254th). This year’s team is even worse — through three games, they’ve turned it over on 25.1 of possessions, placing them among the bottom 15 teams in D1. If there’s an opening for Creighton it’s here, because if they can take advantage of Tech’s tendency to be careless with the ball, they’ll have opportunities to score in transition before the Red Raiders’ defense can get set.
They’re led in scoring by 6’8” senior Kevin Obanor, their lone returning starter. Obanor is averaging 12.3 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, and appears to be a more well-rounded scorer than he was a year ago (or in three years at Oral Roberts before that), and his three made 3-pointers this year are second on the team.
De’Vion Harmon averages 11.3 points a game, and the transfer from Oregon seems to be picking up where he left off for the Ducks a year ago. He made 36.3% of his threes for them last year (49-of-135) and the Red Raiders hope he can infuse their offense with some firepower. He leads the team with 13 assists (against just three turnovers), and has six steals.
Sophomore Daniel Batcho is averaging 9.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, and has seven blocks through three games. The 6’11”, 235-pound Batcho gives them more height at the rim than they’ve had in recent years, and was expected to platoon with the centerpiece of their incoming class — 6’10” transfer Fardaws Aimaq, who starred for Utah Valley. But Aimaq broke a bone in his foot in September and has yet to play a minute for the Red Raiders; he will not play this week in Maui.
- Tip: 1:30pm
- Venue: Lahaina Civic Center, Maui, Hawai’i
- TV: ESPN2
- Announcers: Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas
- In Omaha: Cox channel 30 (SD), 1030 (HD)
- Satellite: DirecTV channel 209, Dish Network channel 143
- Cable Cutters: Available on all major streaming platforms
- Streaming on WatchESPN
- Radio: 1620AM, 101.9FM
- Announcer: John Bishop
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- Jaylon Tyson had a career-high 13 points in the win over Texas Southern in the second game of the season. The Texas transfer has started all three games and is averaging 9.3 points, 1.3 steals and 3.7 rebounds per game. Against Northwestern State, Tyson made his first collegiate start and was 3-for-4 from the field, including going 2-for-3 on 3-pointers to finish with eight points.
- Five freshmen made their debuts during the three-game homestand to begin the season with Lamar Washington, Pop Isaacs, Robert Jennings, CJ Williams and Elijah Fisher each making an impact. Isaacs has been in the starting lineup to begin the season, going for a career-high 10 points and four assists in the win over LA Tech. He is currently 5-for-11 from beyond the arc to begin the season.
- Onetime Bluejay-recruit Kerwin Walton, a transfer from North Carolina, is averaging 6.3 points and 1.3 assists per game through three games as a key Red Raider reserve. Walton led the Tech bench with nine points and four rebounds against Northwestern State and had five points against both TSU and LA Tech. He has made 83 3-pointers through 63 games in his career, and is 83-for-212 (39.2 percent) from beyond the arc for his career.
- The season is just four games old, but Creighton already has six different players who have had a game with at least eight points and eight rebounds. Baylor Scheierman did it in each of the first two games, Ryan Kalkbrenner and Arthur Kaluma did it in the first game, Fredrick King did it in the second game, Mason Miller did it in the third contest and Trey Alexander did it in the fourth game. By comparison, in 35 games last season Creighton only had five players with eight points and eight rebounds in the same game (Kalkbrenner, Kaluma, Alexander, Ryan Hawkins and Alex O’Connell).
- Creighton is making its first trip to the Maui Jim Maui Invitational, but has been to Hawaii eight times before. The Bluejays are 13-10 all-time in games played in Hawaii. Creighton went 1-1 in two road games at Hawaii in 1974, 4-0 in a 1984 road trip that saw them beat Hawaii-Hilo, Hawaii, Chaminade and BYU-Hawaii in five-day span, 1-2 in the 1987 Rainbow Classic, 2-1 in the 1989 Rainbow Classic, 1-2 in the 1993 Big Island Invitational in Hilo, 0-2 in 1995’s Hawaii-Nike Festival, 2-1 in the 1999 Nike Classic in Honolulu and 2-1 in the 2006 Rainbow Classic.
- Creighton has had some great success in tournament play in recent seasons, especially under Greg McDermott. In McDermott’s tenure, CU is 34-7 in regular-season tournament action with five titles in 11 completed events. Since 2002-03, Creighton is 47-11 with eight titles in 16 preseason tournaments.
Creighton has won three of the four all-time meetings with Texas Tech, including a thrilling 83-76 overtime win in the 2019 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational. Ty-Shon Alexander had his first career double-double, ending the night with 18 points and 12 rebounds in 41 minutes. Marcus Zegarowski ended with a career-high 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting, with five assists and two steals in 43 minutes. And two clutch shots in OT to win the game.
In the championship game of the Paradise Jam on November 21, 2016, CU rallied from a 10-point second half deficit to win, in large part due to Marcus Foster.
In 37 minutes of play, Foster was 9-15 from the floor, 5-8 from three-point range, 2-2 from the line, grabbed six boards, and dished out three assists. In the first half when the Jays were struggling to make shots, he kept them in the game with three 3-pointers and an ability to make plays for himself. In the second half, he played a big part in finally breaking Ole Miss’ 1-3-1 zone by putting his head down and getting dribble penetration into the teeth of the zone for high-percentage baskets at the rim, which had the side-effect of opening up some shooting lanes on the perimeter for his teammates.
The Bottom Line:
Win or lose, Texas Tech will be a great litmus test for how much CU has improved through four games. But how helpful Creighton’s trip to Maui ends up being from a resume standpoint hinges an awful lot on winning this one — a loss likely sets up a game with the worst team in the field, winless Louisville (0-3). A win gets them a crack at Arkansas (#14 in KenPom).
If the Jays can take advantage of Texas Tech’s tendency to be careless with the ball, and score in transition, I like their chances to get the win. KenPom favors the Red Raiders by one, while Vegas favors the Red Raiders by 3.5; I think the Jays will pull out a close one.
#10 Creighton 70, Texas Tech 66