Before Creighton played DePaul on January 9, I wrote in the Primer that it was the worst Blue Demons team that Creighton’s faced in their 11 seasons in the Big East. Nothing in the Jays’ 84-58 blowout win changed my mind about that. Creighton scored on 11 of their first 12 possessions, led 7-0 after two minutes and 25-9 after seven, and the outcome was never in doubt by the under-12 timeout.
The Blue Demons have 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. The bar is set low and yet this one has managed to find enough air underneath to slither to the other side: they rank dead last in the Big East in both adjusted offensive efficiency (91.2) and adjusted defensive efficiency (125.3). It’s really hard to be the worst in any league on both sides of the ball, and yet here DePaul is, with a nearly 35-point hole to dig out of every night.
Little wonder, then, that their record is 3-16 overall and 0-8 in the Big East. With the exception of a 68-65 loss to the league’s second-worst team (Georgetown), they’ve lost by double-digits to everyone else:
- 84-48 vs Villanova
- 85-56 at Connecticut
- 84-58 vs Creighton
- 94-69 at Villanova
- 100-62 vs Providence
- 74-60 at Butler
- 86-73 vs Marquette
This is a team that hasn’t just lost, they’ve been largely uncompetitive, failing to hold a lead later than the 10 minute mark of the first half in any game. They rank either last or second-to-last in the Big East in nearly every defensive category, whether it’s traditional stats or analytics, an astonishing feat of ineptitude.
- 11th in adjusted defensive efficiency (125.3); note that the D1 average is 107.0 or 18.3 points better than DePaul
- 11th in effective field goal percentage (61.2%); the D1 average is 50.3%
- 10th in turnover percentage (14.5%); the D1 average is 17.5%
- 10th in steal percentage (7.1%); the D1 average is 9.5%
- 11th in three-point shooting percentage defense (42.1%); the D1 average is 33.6%
- 10th in two-point shooting percentage defense (59.6%); the D1 average is 50.3%
- 10th in percent of opponent’s shots that are three-pointers (44.2%); the D1 average is 37.4%
Their offense is in the same boat, ranking either last or second-to-last in most categories, including adjusted efficiency (91.2), effective field goal percentage (46.5%), turnover percentage (18.0%), and offensive rebound percentage (19.6%). Firing a coach midseason when off-court drama or NCAA sanctions aren’t involved is rare, but this DePaul team is so historically bad they had little choice but to move on from Tony Stubblefield.
“I was impressed with the way they played Wednesday night against Marquette,” Greg McDermott said. “I think sometimes when there is a change like that, obviously it has a huge impact on everybody in the program but especially the players. And I thought they really rallied last night and obviously you know Coach Brady’s been a head coach several different places so he understands what he’s doing. They didn’t quit last night. They competed to the very end and, you know, I’m glad we have that on film as we prepare for Saturday.”
Their interim coach is Matt Brady, who won 139 games and two conference titles as head coach at James Madison, including a win in the “First Four” of the 2013 NCAA Tournament. Brady joined DePaul’s program last summer as a Special Assistant to the Head Coach, and having a veteran coach with success running a D1 program already on staff to shepherd them through the final six weeks of the season is a luxury most teams don’t have when making a coaching change mid-season.
To their credit, the Blue Demons competed for Brady in his first game and arguably played better than they have all season. After Marquette used a 17-3 run in the first half to create separation, they responded by holding Marquette scoreless for nearly five minutes and climbed back into the game; early in the second half they briefly cut the lead into single digits before the Golden Eagles finally put them away. It’s one game, and Marquette had no film to scout whatever schematic changes Brady implemented, but it’s interesting that DePaul made a season-high 11 three-pointers, scored a season-best 38 first half points and shot a season-high 47.3% as a team. Their 57.3% effective field goal percentage was far and away their best in eight Big East games, and their fourth-best of the season behind the three games they won in the non-conference. And they held Marquette to only three second-chance points, the lowest total for any DePaul opponent this season.
It’s the only time this season they’ve made 10 or more threes, and while one game is the tiniest of sample sizes, it’s worth noting that they took a much larger percentage of their shots from three-point range (43.6%) than they have for the season as a whole (35.2%). Was that the result of how Marquette defended them, or indicative of a change in philosophy with Brady running the show?
Different players excelled, too. Chico Carter Jr. (11.8 points per game), and Da’Sean Nelson (11.2 points) have largely led the offense this year, but Carter has missed the last two games with an undisclosed injury. The last update DePaul gave on him came before Wednesday’s game, when they noted Carter was expected to miss “extended time” with the injury, whatever it is. He’s almost certainly out for Saturday.
Nelson had started every game this season before Wednesday night when he came off the bench in favor of 6’9″ freshman Churchill Abass, though Nelson wound up playing the lions share of the minutes at the ‘5’ anyway.
With the changes and absences, Jalen Terry led the way. He came in averaging 7.2 points per game and had scored in double figures just twice; he exploded for 22 points and a career-high six made threes, plus a season-best six rebounds. He made five 3-pointers in the previous game against Butler, too, en route to 15 points.
Likewise, 6’9″ forward Jeremiah Oden came in averaging 9.9 points and had not scored in double-figures since non-conference play wrapped. He had 19 points on 7-of-18 shooting, by far his most shot attempts of the year.
While the on-court action is the main event, Saturday’s game is also the 14th Annual Creighton Versus Cancer Pink-Out. The first 13 games have raised over a half-million dollars for the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge in Omaha. Win or lose, it’s one of the highlights of the home schedule every year, and this one will be no different.
“Omaha is an incredible community that rallies around whatever event there is, but this one has been special,” McDermott said. “It’s still a game that a lot of our former players’ moms will try to come back for. I think there’s people that make sure if they only get to one game a year, this is it. I think everybody in that building has been impacted by cancer in some way, you know? Whether they’ve had a brother or sister or mom or dad or, you know, God forbid a child, that’s had to deal with cancer. It’s relatable to everybody. I’m very appreciative of what this community has done to make this event what it is. You can’t help but feel the emotion when you walk out on the court.”
McDermott said even in the event’s 14th year, he still gets goosebumps when he comes through the tunnel and sees the sea of pink.
“My message to the team before we run out there is always the same,” he said. “There’s a lot of people that are watching us today, either in the stands or at home, that are embarking on their cancer treatment journey right now or they’ve lost a loved one to this awful disease. I think it gives our guys a little bit of extra motivation on game day.”
- Tip: 6:00pm
- Venue: CHI Health Center Omaha
- TV: FS1
- Announcers: Lane Grindle and Jess Settles
- In Omaha: Cox channel 78 (SD), 1078 (HD); CenturyLink Prism channel 620 (SD), 1620 (HD)
- Outside Omaha: FS1 Channel Finder
- Satellite: DirecTV channel 219, Dish Network channel 150
- Cable Cutters: Available on all major streaming platforms
- Streaming on the Fox Sports app and website
- Radio: 1620AM, 101.9FM
- Announcers: John Bishop and Ross Ferrarini
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- Simulcast on SiriusXM channel 160 or 201, as well as on the SiriusXM App
- The Blue Demons led the Big East in three-point shooting through non-conference play with a 37.1 percentage, but have shot just 31.7 percent in conference play
- Twenty-one of the last 23 meetings in the Creighton/DePaul series have been decided by 10 or more points. Of the 45 match-ups between schools within the Big East (before UConn rejoined), Creighton vs. DePaul is the only match-up to have had two games or less decided by eight points or less since the start of the 2013-14 season.
- In Creighton’s last three wins, it has overcome second half deficits of nine (St. John’s), nine (Seton Hall) and seven (Xavier) points before rallying to win.
- Trey Alexander owns 10 games this season with 20 points or more, while Baylor Scheierman has done it nine times. In 14 seasons under Greg McDermott, only Doug McDermott (3x), Marcus Foster (2x), Ryan Kalkbrenner and Marcus Zegarowski have also done that nine or more times in an entire season.
- Creighton has had 24 individual scoring performances of 20 or more points this season, including five such outings in the past two games alone. On all but two occasions, Creighton has won the game, losing only when Baylor Scheierman scored 23 points in a loss at No. 10 Marquette and Ryan Kalkbrenner put up 22 at UNLV. They’re 16-2 all-time when Kalkbrenner scores 20 points or more, 10-2 when Scheierman scores 20 points or more, and 15-0 all-time when Trey Alexander scores 20 points or more.
Creighton has won 24 of the last 25 (including 19 straight) meetings with DePaul to take a 29-16 lead in the all-time series. Per research from Elias Sports Bureau, Creighton’s 19 straight wins over DePaul are tied for the nation’s sixth-longest active win streak by one team over another current league foe.
Creighton is 22-1 in the series since joining the Big East, including an 84-58 win in Chicago on January 9th. Twenty-one of the last 23 meetings in the series have been decided by double-figures, including the past 12 meetings in Omaha.
On January 27, 2021 Creighton staged one of the most improbable comebacks in program history. Trailing Seton Hall by 16 points with 11:30 to go in Newark, and still behind by double-digits with six minutes left, Mitch Ballock made 5-of-6 shots down the stretch including the game-winner with 37 seconds to go.
With 38 seconds left and Marcus Zegarowski handling the ball, Ballock faked a ball screen — then ran to an open space, caught the ball, and sank his seventh 3-pointer of the game. Watch Ballock after the shot, too; like Zegarowski had on his three moments earlier, instead of celebrating, he ran back on defense and helped get his teammates in position. With the Pirates out of timeouts, that proved critical. They had three tries at three-pointers to tie it. All were heavily contested. All missed badly. And the Jays somehow, someway, stole a win.
“I told the guys after we lost a couple of games that we probably shouldn’t have, that now we have to go win one we’re not supposed to,” McDermott said after the game. “Their response to me was, ‘Coach, we expect to win them all.’ And you want that response, but tonight was one where we didn’t play our best for a long period of time, we snuck back into it, and we stole it.”
The Bottom Line:
ESPN’s BPI gives Creighton 99.0% odds of victory, and is favored by 23 according to Vegas oddsmakers and 24 by KenPom. After a hard-fought last two weeks — and especially last Saturday’s three-OT win — a game where their key players don’t have to be on the floor for 35+ minutes would be massive, especially with a bye week to follow.
Creighton 88, DePaul 63