Creighton had next Wednesday circled on the calendar when the schedule came out; that road game at UConn seemed like it was well-timed as a measuring stick for how they were progressing as the conference season neared its halfway point. That’s still true, but now it’s sandwiched between two games against the teams the Huskies are tied for first place with — St. John’s and Seton Hall, both of whom sit at 4-1 in the league after five games. It’s a huge three game stretch over the next seven days that could go a long way toward deciding whether Creighton is going to be a factor for the regular season crown or not.
That St. John’s is in first place is quite the story. Heading into his first year at the helm in Queens, Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino remade (basically) the entire roster. Just two players returned from the one that limped to an 18-15 postseason-less finish after starting 11-1 a year ago. Thanks to the transfer portal, Pitino added 12 new players who fit the mold of what he wants — and so instead of a transition year where a new coach has to adapt his style somewhat to the talent he has, the Red Storm already look like a Rick Pitino-coached team.
That’s most evident on the defensive end. His last Iona team finished as the top defensive team in the MAAC; his last seven teams at Louisville were all ranked in the top 10 nationally on defense. This St. John’s team isn’t there yet — their adjusted defensive efficiency is 99.2, ranking 62nd nationally and fifth in the Big East — but Pitino’s fingerprints are all over it. They switch between man-to-man and zone, sometimes on the same possession. They use a full-court press. And they have excellent rim protection which allows their perimeter defenders to be more aggressive, take gambles to try and force turnovers, and run shooters off the three-point line without being worried about them scoring once they get in the paint.
“You just can’t get paralyzed by whatever they’re doing,” Greg McDermott said. “You have to keep moving. It’s a little more difficult against a team like St John’s to run set plays that go from A-to-B-to-C — instead you have to move yourself and move the basketball and then trust in each other to make plays. That’s why the importance of defensive rebounding is so critical, so that we can get out and operate in space before that defense is set.”
Defensive rebounding is easier said than done against the Red Storm; St. John’s corrals an astonishing 41.2% of their missed shots, ranking third nationally. 6’11” senior Joel Soriano leads the way, averaging 17.3 points, 10.1 rebounds (tops in the Big East) and 1.9 blocks. He averages 4.1 offensive boards per game, and gets a lot of help from 6’6″ wing Chris Ledlum (2.8 offensive boards per game) and 6’7″ R.J. Luis (2.3 per game). With so many players crashing the glass, failing to box out just one of them often results in an offensive rebound.
Creighton has been one of the best in the county on the other end of that spectrum: their opponents have grabbed an offensive rebound on just 23.8% of their misses, 8th fewest in D1. The only game where they let an opponent go nuts on the offensive glass? Marquette, where the Jays’ first-shot defense was good enough to win but they surrendered 18 offensive rebounds, which Marquette turned into 18 points.
“I think they were just more physical and they wanted it more than us,” Isaac Traudt said of that game on Thursday. “That’s kind of what it came down to. So we just have to obviously make sure that doesn’t happen.”
For a team like Creighton who likes to run in transition, giving up offensive boards doesn’t just give an opponent another chance at points — it takes away an opportunity to run and push pace.
“Our makeup isn’t quite what theirs is, so fundamentally we’re going to have to make sure we execute our blockouts,” McDermott said, echoing Traudt’s comments. “We have to try to create some space and then stick our nose in there and go get the ball.”
Soriano is obviously at the top of the scouting report, for good reason; he’s scored in double figures in 25 straight games dating back to last season, has 34 double-doubles in the last two seasons and nine so far this year. He fell short in both meetings with the Jays a year ago, scoring 18 points with nine boards in Omaha, and 15 points with eight boards in NYC. Particularly in Omaha, he was neutralized by Ryan Kalkbrenner — Seven of his 18 points, and four of his nine rebounds (three offensive) came in the final six minutes of garbage time after CU had pulled their main rotational players. The Jays were tied 8-8 on the offensive glass before Soriano’s late barrage.
Four teammates also average in double-figures, though. 6’4″ guard Daniss Jenkins, who followed Pitino from Iona, averages 13.0 points, and ranks 19th in D1 with 6.1 assists per game. He’s had eight or more assists in seven games this year, and his 2.9 assist-to-turnover ratio is third-best in the Big East. In their last four games, all wins, Jenkins has raised his game by averaging 17.0 points with 28 assists and just six turnovers.
6’7″ R.J. Luis is third in scoring at 11.5 points per game, and also grabs 5.8 rebounds per game. He’s averaging 2.3 steals per game in conference games, and has scored in double figures in four-straight games, averaging 12.3 points while shooting 79.2 percent (19-24 FT) at the free-throw line over that span.
Jordan Dingle is fourth in scoring at 10.6 points per game, and has made the most three-pointers (24) on the team. A senior transfer from Penn, he’s scored 1,706 career points in 95 games (17.9 per game) and provided them with a veteran scorer early in the season. His production has taken a nosedive in Big East play, however; over the last six games (including a December 30 battle with Hofstra) he’s made just 7-of-26, or 26%, from three-point range.
Their fifth player scoring in double figures is 6’3″ senior Chris Ledlum, who’s averaging 10.4 points and 7.9 rebounds. He’d started every game before an ankle sprain against UConn, and has played in just two games since, struggling in both. It’s created an opening for freshman Brady Dunlap, who’s made the most of it: he was named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll last week after averaging 14.0 points while shooting 66.7% (10-15 FG) from the field with six 3-pointers in wins over Butler and Villanova.
- Tip: 12:00pm
- Venue: CHI Health Center Omaha
- TV: FOX
- Announcers: Brandon Gaudin and Nick Bahe
- In Omaha: Cox channel 10 (SD), 1010 (HD); CenturyLink Prism channel 42 (SD), 1042 (HD); DirecTV 42; Dish Network 42 or 5203
- Outside Omaha: Your local FOX affiliate
- Streaming on FoxSportsGO
- Creighton Radio: 1620AM, 101.9FM
- Announcers: John Bishop and Taylor Stormberg
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- Simulcast on SiriusXM channel 389 as well as on the SiriusXM App
- St. John’s Radio: St. John’s Sports Network from Learfield
- Announcers: John Minko and Vin Parise
- Streaming on the Red Storm app, TuneIn radio and SiriusXM
- 6’4″ guard Nahiem Alleyne averaged 7.2 points for UConn a year ago on their national title team, and transferred in-conference to St. John’s where he’s put up similar numbers: 7.1 points and 2.3 rebounds per game.
- The Red Storm has won four of its five Big East games, matching its best start in conference play since the 2000-01 season when the Johnnies got off to a 5-1 league start. In its four victories so far, St. John’s has trailed for a combined 57 seconds.
- Rick Pitino owns a 846-297 career record in 36 seasons as a Division I head coach. Pitino has led his teams to 28 postseason appearances with 23 trips to the NCAA Tournament, including seven trips to the Final Four. He is the first coach to lead three different programs to the Final Four and the first coach to lead two different schools to a National Championship (Kentucky – 1996, Louisville – 2013).
- St. John’s center Joel Soriano owns 34 double-doubles in the last two seasons, while Creighton guard Baylor Scheierman is next with 17. The only other active player in the league with more than eight in that span is Providence’s Bryce Hopkins (15), who recently suffered a season-ending knee injury. In his career, Soriano has had a double-double against every Big East team except Creighton.
- Greg McDermott ranks 11th in league history with 112 regular-season league wins, just behind Pitino’s 116, which he compiled at two different Big East schools (Providence and Louisville). McDermott, along with Ed Cooley and Rick Pitino, are the only three active coaches with 100 regular-season Big East wins.
- Creighton is 12-0 this season when scoring 69 points or more, but 0-4 when being held to 68 points or fewer.
Creighton is 17-10 all-time against St. John’s, and 15-5 in the rivalry since joining the Big East. Creighton is 11-1 at home all-time against the Johnnies, with nine of those games decided by double-figures. The Red Storm’s only road win over the Bluejays was on January 30, 2019, when the Johnnies earned an 83-67 victory. Shamorie Ponds led the way with 26 points to go with a game-high eight rebounds, eight assists and six steals.
Creighton has scored 77+ points in each of its last seven victories vs. St. John’s and are 14-0 all-time against the Red Storm when scoring 76 points or more. Greg McDermott is 15-5 against St. John’s. He has never coached against Rick Pitino.
On Friday the 13th, 2012, Creighton and Illinois State played a game befitting of that date. It featured double technical fouls, debris tossed from a sold-out crowd to the arena court, the Bluejays blowing most of an 18-point lead, a near triple-double for a Jay, and another standout performance from Doug McDermott. He made 9 of his 14 shots from the field against a front line peppered with size and athleticism, scoring 20 points or more for the thirteenth time in seventeen games, and he did so on just 14 attempts.
But what about those double technicals?
Gibbs had his performance of the season, scoring 12 points and adding 10 assists and 7 rebounds in 37 minutes against Illinois State. Two points came on technical foul free throws late in the game after he was thrown to the ground by Illinois State’s Johnny Hill. But the calm and collected Gibbs, who actually picked up his own technical foul after questioning Hill’s motives rather loudly and closely to Hill’s face, finished the game just as he had played it all night; under control and deadly in its precision.
The Bottom Line:
Creighton is favored by 7.5 by Vegas oddsmakers, and by eight on KenPom. ESPN’s BPI gives them overwhelming 87.1% odds of victory. If they can avoid a repeat of the Marquette game on the offensive glass, the Jays should have the firepower to win this one.
Creighton 77, St. John’s 70
