Two of the Big East’s hottest teams will meet Wednesday in Newark, as the 23rd ranked Creighton Bluejays — winners of six straight and nine of their last 11 — take on a Seton Hall team who’s won seven of their last eight. The Jays’ surge has re-inserted them into the conference title race and begun to solidify their NCAA Tournament resume. But even with the Hall’s streak, they still have a lot of work to do if they want to join the dance; they appear on just three of 97 brackets tracked by BracketMatrix.com.
Creighton blasted the Pirates in Omaha, leading by as many as 32 points in a 83-61 win. The Jays played really well, yes, but also proved to be a matchup problem for a Seton Hall team who’s been near-elite defensively in a bunch of areas. Their adjusted defensive efficiency is 93.0, ranking 14th in D1. Their length at the rim (where they block 11.7% of opponent’s shots, ranking 55th) and aggressiveness in the guard corps (they’ve come up with a steal on 12.0% of opponent’s possessions, 29th most) has generally forced opponents to take a lot of contested threes. And on those shots, they’ve held opponents to 29.1% shooting (14th best).
But they’re susceptible to teams who are patient and excel in the pick and roll. Marquette swept them by a combined 35 points, and had 36 assists in the two games. The Golden Eagles carved them up, making 24-of-36 inside the arc in the first game and 20-of-27 in the rematch. Creighton exploited this to great effect in the first meeting, with Ryan Kalkbrenner logging 17 points, eight rebounds and six blocks, and Arthur Kaluma adding 14 points and 11 rebounds. The Jays had 22 assists on 29 made baskets, carving up the aggressive Pirate defense to the tune of 18-for-30 shooting inside the arc. Trey Alexander had six assists, while Baylor Scheierman and Ryan Nembhard had five apiece. Time after time, they baited the Pirates into over-committing in pursuit of a steal and then got the ball into the paint or exploited a mismatch.
Offensively, Seton Hall is heavily reliant on drawing fouls and making free throws to score. A ridiculous 22.7% of their total points have come from the line (14th most in D1), while their ratio of free throw attempts to field goal attempts is 42.7 (8th highest). In their 69-64 win over DePaul this past weekend, 30 of their 69 points came from the line (they were 30-of-45. You read that right: they drew 29 fouls and attempted 45 free throws.) They were subpar offensively everywhere else — they made 15-of-38 inside the arc, and 3-of-14 outside, but those 30 free throws were their life preserver.
That’s a big problem for Seton Hall in this matchup. Creighton defends without fouling better than anyone else in college basketball; they’ve committed six team fouls twice in the last three games, and they’re #1 in the nation in fewest fouls per game (12.7). They were whistled for 16 in the first meeting with Seton Hall — a little more than usual for the Jays, but a far cry from what the Pirates are used to and not enough to get them into the double bonus where they make a living. Can they score enough from the floor to make up the difference? They couldn’t in Omaha, and that’s perhaps the biggest question in the rematch.
Three Pirates average at least 10 points per game: Al-Amir Dawes (12.0 ppg.), Tyrese Samuel (10.4 ppg., 5.7 rpg.) and Kadary Richmond (10.3 ppg., 5.6 rpg., 4.1 apg.). None of them scored in double figures in Omaha — Dawes had five points on 2-of-4 shooting, Samuel had nine on 3-of-7 shooting, and Richmond had four on 4-of-7 shooting. Notably, Samuel was the only one of the three to attempt a free throw (he was 3-of-4 from the line).
Dawes was named to the league’s weekly Honor Roll on Monday after averaging 16.5 points, four rebounds, 3.5 steals and 2.5 assists in two wins last week for the Pirates. They’re 12-3 this season when he scores in double figures, so keeping him in check as the Jays did in the first meeting would go a long way toward another win.
6’6” Femi Odukale did the most damage in that game, scoring 16 points on 7-of-11 from the floor. He averages just 6.4 points for the season and has shot 25.7% on three-pointers; he was a perfect 2-for-2 on threes in Omaha.
Rounding out the starting five, 6’7” KC Ndefo is the anchor of Seton Hall’s defense and is the NCAA’s active leader in career blocks with 358. Ndefo leads the Big East and ranks 21st nationally with 48 total blocks this season, but in Omaha he had just one block — and was held scoreless on four shot attempts. It’s worth noting though that over his last six games, Ndefo is averaging 11.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks.
- Tip: 5:30pm
- Venue: Prudential Center, Newark, NJ
- TV: FS1
- Announcers: Jason Benetti and Donny Marshall
- 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
- Creighton Radio: 1620AM, 101.9FM
- Announcer: John Bishop
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- Simulcast on SiriusXM channel 380 and on SXM app channel 970
- Seton Hall Radio: Pirate Sports Network
- Announcers: Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin
- Streaming on SHUPirates.com and the SHU Pirates mobile app
- Simulcast on SiriusXM channel 381 and on SXM app channel 971
- Seton Hall has allowed opponents to score just 34.0 points in the second half of games, second-fewest in the league. It’s a big reason they’ve held five opponents to under 50 points this season, its most since 1951-52.
- The Pirates are 8-3 at Prudential Center this season and their average margin of victory in Newark is 21.4 points.
- Ten Pirates average at least ten minutes per game, and the Hall’s bench production leads the Big East with 23.3 points per game. Their bench players have outscored the bench of their opponents in 16 of 24 games this season. Seven different Pirates have led Seton Hall in scoring this season.
- Creighton is 9-3 in league play and with a victory vs. Seton Hall would clinch a .500 mark or better in league play once again. It would be the 27th time in the last 28 seasons that Creighton has gone .500 or better in league play. The only Big East teams to finish .500 or better in league play each of the previous five seasons are Creighton, Villanova and Seton Hall.
- Creighton scored the final six points of Saturday’s game, all at the free throw line, as Trey Alexander scored four points before Baylor Scheierman iced the game with 1.4 seconds left in a 66-61 win over Villanova. It was the first Creighton win when trailing in the final 30 seconds of a game since March 20, 2021 when the Bluejays used two Christian Bishop free throws with 16.0 seconds left to defeat UC Santa Barbara, 63-62, in the First Round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
- Creighton has outscored the opposition by an average of 14.5 points (77.2 – 62.7) during its six-game winning streak, which includes victories over No. 19 Providence and No. 13 Xavier. The Jays have shot 47.8 percent from the field and 80.2 percent at the line during this stretch while dishing 91 assists against just 55 turnovers. Defensively, Creighton is holding foes to 40.4 percent shooting from the field in those six games and CU has outscored the opposition 241-172 before halftime. CU has led by eight points or more at the break in each contest.
Seton Hall leads the all-time series with Creighton 16-11, and is 10-5 in home games. Creighton has won five of the last seven games in the series at all sites, including a 83-61 win last month.
On February 8, 2009, the Jays beat Northern Iowa 77-71, snapping UNI’s 11-game winning streak.
Creighton’s top three scorers, Booker Woodfox, P’Allen Stinnett, and Cavel Witter, were all held scoreless in the first half by the Panthers’ defense. They were mostly held in check in the second, too. So other players stepped up — Justin Carter led the Jays with 17 points, Kenny Lawson had 12, Kaleb Korver had seven, Kenton Walker had five. It was Carter who carried them, though.
He scored six points in an 8-2 run that gave CU the lead, including a reverse layup with 10 minutes to play.
“He hit a big 3 when we were really struggling, and he finished some plays,” Dana Altman told the media after the game. “The two drives he had were big. They were pushed out so far on Book and P’Allen, and those two baskets were really important for us.”
The Bottom Line:
Creighton has a 56.4% chance of victory according to ESPN’s BPI, and is a four-point favorite in Vegas. KenPom predicts a 68-66 Bluejay win. I think while Seton Hall will certainly be ready — the smack they took in Omaha will be all the motivation they need — the matchups favor Creighton.
Bluejays 67, Pirates 63
