Pregame Primer: #23 Creighton Looks to Rebound from Tough Loss at Gonzaga Against UMES Tonight

Tuesday, Creighton lost 90-63 to a Gonzaga team that could be ranked in the top ten next week. Down just six at the half, the Jays were hit by an avalanche in the second and had no clue how to respond. They trailed by as many as 32 points and the 27-point margin of defeat is tied for the fourth-biggest of the McDermott Era.

(The only games that were more lopsided in the opponents’ favor? A 75-41 loss at Villanova in 2021, a 83-52 loss to San Diego State in 2019, and Baylor’s 85-55 win in the 2014 NCAA Tournament. A 67-40 home loss to Georgetown in 2015 where the Jays missed 23 straight shots was equally lopsided.)

Morning After: Disastrous Second Half Dooms Creighton in 90-63 Loss at #19 Gonzaga

After the loss in Spokane, Greg McDermott said that he knew Gonzaga would expose the Jays’ weaknesses. But he also noted that it’s just one game, and they were going to be careful not to overreact. Two buy games await them over the next week, starting with an opponent from the opposite end of the D1 spectrum: Maryland Eastern Shore, currently ranked 351st out of 365 teams by KenPom. It will be the Hawks’ second game of the week in the state of Nebraska, as they lost in Lincoln 69-50 on Tuesday night.

In that game, UMES hung around for most of the first half before the Huskers ended on a 18-3 run to take a 32-19 lead into halftime. The break did little to stem their momentum, and it eventually became a 37-9 Nebraska run spanning nearly 12 minutes of game clock across both halves. UMES was 2-of-20 from the field over that stretch, falling behind by as many as 31 points before Nebraska emptied the bench. Most of Nebraska’s damage came in the paint — they were 6-of-32 from three-point range but 18-of-29 on two-pointers.

Interestingly, UMES has played three games against high-major opponents, and all of them have done two things — taken a huge number of threes, and missed a huge percentage of them. Georgia Tech was 5-of-26. Georgia was 8-of-40. And Nebraska was 6-of-32. It’s too small of a sample size to know if UMES is really that disruptive or if it’s some combination of luck and randomness. But it’s notable.

Also notable: the opposite has been true in the paint. UMES has shown zero resistance around the basket, and their bigs have racked up a ton of fouls trying to slow opponents down. Georgia and Nebraska both shot well over 60% inside (Georgia was 23-of-36, 63.9% and 24-of-29 at the line; Nebraska was 18-of-29, 62.1% and 15-of-18 at the line). Georgia Tech shot *only* 47% on two-pointers (16-of-34), and also struggled at the line (9-of-18), a likely reason why that game was close throughout.

While preparing for UMES is 1A on the practice to-do list, working on themselves is 1B.

“There’s some mistakes that are happening on the floor that are also happening in practice, and they’re happening too often,” McDermott said. “We have to start to grow in some areas where we’re not correcting the same mistakes day after day after day. Our guys have got to take some ownership of that, and as a coaching staff we’ve got to do a better job of getting that point across. I think — at least I hope — this game will open their eyes. Sometimes, coaches preach things that we see on film and that we see in practice but as players, until you get your teeth kicked in, you don’t take them to heart. I’m hopeful that we’ll take it to heart now.”

Creighton’s loss to Gonzaga was a train wreck, for sure, but Maryland Eastern Shore is here to say “hold my beverage.” They fell to Georgia 94-29 (that’s a real score) last week, scoring 17 points in the first half and 12 in the second, including just two points over the final ten minutes. They scored 0.39 points per possession, which has to be among the lowest totals for any team in recent history, though there’s no way to easily look up a hyper-specific stat across all of D1’s 365 teams like that (at least, not that I’m aware of — please correct me if I’m wrong!)

Regardless, 0.39 points per possession is such an absurd number that it can skew a team’s overall stats, especially this early in the season. So it’s unclear from looking at UMES’ KenPom overview where their true level really is — and it’s hard to believe a team could be this inept offensively.

They own the third-worst adjusted offensive efficiency in D1 (91.7, 363rd out of 365), the fourth-worst effective field goal percentage (33.1%, 361st) and fourth-worst turnover percentage (31.3%, 361st). Only 15 teams have attempted fewer free throws. Their three-point shooting (22.2%), two-point shooting (33.0%), and free throw percentage (57.6%) all rank among the 15 worst marks in D1.

Then again, historically-low scoring games aren’t a new thing for UMES. The last time they played in Omaha a decade ago, they set the CHI Health Center record for fewest points in a game with 36, and their shooting percentage that night remains the worst for any opponent in the 372 game history of the building.

Through four games, they have one player averaging in double figures: 6’9” senior Joseph Locandro, who’s averaging 10.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game off the bench. Locandro is shooting 8-for-12 from three-point range (66.7 percent) and also tops the team in field goals made (15) and shares the lead in free throws made (4). He had 17 points in their overtime loss at Georgia Tech to open the season.

6’8” senior Chris Flippin was a preseason first team All-MEAC selection after averaging 9.9 points and 5.5 rebounds a year ago; he’s averaging 4.0 points and 3.5 boards so far. And Michael Teal, a transfer from fellow HBCU South Carolina State, was a preseason third-team all-MEAC selection who’s struggled through four games, averaging just 2.3 points while missing all four 3-point attempts and shooting just 4-of-12 overall.

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