Creighton beat St. John’s 57-56 on New Years Eve, and both teams entered 2025 with a 2-1 record in the Big East. Since then the Jays have gone 9-2 with nine straight wins, and St. John’s has gone 10-1 with ten straight wins. Both winning streaks ended this week as the Jays lost 70-66 to UConn and the Red Storm lost 73-71 at Villanova.
In spite of those losses, Creighton and St. John’s are still the top two teams in the league standings with 75% of the conference slate complete. With a CU win on Sunday, they’ll be tied for first and own the tiebreaker by virtue of a season sweep. If St. John’s wins, they’ll have a two-game lead over Creighton and at least that big of a lead over Marquette and UConn. This one won’t decide who wins the league, but it’s a pivotal game heading into the final stretch.
“I always talk about wanting to play meaningful games in February,” Greg McDermott said on Friday. “They don’t get any more meaningful than this one.”
Other than their records, there’s not a lot these two teams have in common. Creighton has taken 48.8% of their shots from three in Big East play (1st) and made 35.4%. St. John’s has taken 29.9% of their shots from outside in league play (11th) and made just 24.3% (also last). St. John’s grabs an offensive rebound on 36.1% of their missed shots (best in the league); Creighton has allowed opponents to do that on just 26.9% of missed shots (fewest in the league).
Creighton forces a turnover on 12.1% of opponent’s possessions, 10th in the Big East; St. John’s forces one on 23.3% of possessions, 1st in the league. The Jays get a steal on 6.0% of possessions, 11th in the league; St. John’s comes up with a steal on 13.8% of possessions, 2nd most.
Not much comes easy offensively for St. John’s, as they also make just 49.5% from two-point range, 8th in the Big East. They have to crash the glass to create second chances, and force turnovers that create transition opportunities, because they don’t shoot well enough in the half court to win. What they lack in efficiency, they make up for in volume — by limiting their own turnovers and forcing opponents into a lot of them, and by creating second and even third chances, their overall shooting percentages become less important.
Plus, with their elite defense, they typically don’t need to shoot well to win. The Red Storm rank 1st or 2nd in the Big East in eight of the 12 categories KenPom tracks; their adjusted defensive efficiency of 89.5 is — and this is not a typo — 9.3 points per 100 possessions better than the 2nd best team (Georgetown, 98.8). It’s also 2nd best nationally, with only Tennessee ranking better.
“They’re gonna be very disruptive,” Greg McDermott said. “On the ball, off the ball. When the shot goes up, that’s when the game starts. We’ve been the best team in our league at defensive rebounding all year long. It has to happen on Sunday for us to be in the game.”
In the first meeting, St. John’s took 15 more shots than the Jays because of turnovers and offensive rebounds; the Red Storm had 16 points off turnovers, 19 second chance points, and just 21 other points (4 at the line). The Red Storm are likely to win the math battle on extra possession points again simply because of how they play versus how Creighton plays, but the Jays can’t afford to lose that battle by a blowout margin. CU is going to have to be ready to fight every possession and make St. John’s earn what they get.
Ryan Kalkbrenner said Creighton has watched several clips this week from the first matchup vs. St. John’s, and that they watched more before Friday’s practice. “There’s a lot of ugly parts of that game,” he said. “Hopefully we can take out the ugly parts to make it a little easier on ourselves.”
Their four leading scorers are RJ Luis Jr. (17.4 ppg., 6.9 rpg.), Zuby Ejiofor (13.7 ppg., 8.0 rpg., 1.6 bpg.), Kadary Richmond (12.3 ppg,. 5.6 rpg., 5.2 apg.) and Deivon Smith (9.5 ppg.,5.2 rpg.).
Smith is likely done for the season due to injury. He scored 10 in the first meeting. “We played against [Smith] the first time,” McDermott said. “Obviously, defensively, he was really disruptive on the ball. He’s hard to screen because his center of gravity is so good. He’s quick, he’s strong, and he’s one of their better 3-point shooters. You take a guy out of your lineup like that, it has an impact. But they’ve also played games without him and played very well.”
He’s a big loss as he’s their best three-point shooter; of their regular rotation guys, he’s the only one shooting better than 30% from three (22-of-59, 37.5%). He’s also a dynamic, interchangeable playmaker who made their offense more versatile. At 1.8 steals per game, fifth in the Big East, he’s a big loss defensively too. And for a team that wasn’t terribly deep before, his loss means their rotation is about seven guys most nights. All five starters played 30+ minutes against Villanova, and three logged 36+.
Among the questions for CU defensively is whether they can cut down on the gameplan mistakes that plagued them against UConn. “I thought we did a lot to give that game away,” McDermott said. “McNeeley had a next-level, incredible game. But those four 3-point shots he hit in the second half, those should not have happened had we done our job. And we missed a couple layups and missed some free throws — things you have to do to beat good teams.”
Specifically against St. John’s, without the 6’0” Smith they’re not as deep but they’re bigger. Aaron Scott at 6’7” and Simeon Witcher at 6’4” are getting a lot of his minutes, and that creates some matchup problems for Steven Ashworth.
If Kalkbrenner has to rotate over and help, who’s going to pick up Zuby Ejiofor and keep him from driving to the rim? He had 16 points in the first matchup, many coming when Kalkbrenner got pulled away from the rim.
Kadary Richmond scored nine points on 4-of-10 shooting in the first game but has elevated his game since then. He’s closer to the player he was at Seton Hall than he was in the first meeting, scoring in double figures in eight straight games and 17+ in four of those. He hung 24 on Providence on 10-of-14 shooting, and followed that up with 18 against Marquette on 8-of-12 shooting inside the arc. It’s likely that Jamiya Neal guards him to start, but with Neal struggling to stay out of foul trouble in recent games, Fedor Zugic is likely to see time here too.
RJ Luis only had eight points in the first meeting, less than half of his average, and was 4-of-13 from the floor. More importantly, the Jays guarded him without fouling — he averages over five drawn fouls per 40 minutes, gets 35% of his points from the line, and did not attempt a single free throw in that game. Jasen Green probably draws the assignment here, at least to start.
Ultimately, Creighton has to limit turnovers, especially live ball turnovers, win the free-throw battle and survive on the glass. Do all of that and shoot relatively well, and the Jays could be flying home with a share of first place.
Tip: 2:00pm
Venue: Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY
TV: FS1
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Through 14 games in conference play, the Red Storm is off to a 12-2 record in Big East play. The 12 conference wins are already the program’s highest total since the 2010-11 campaign and they’re looking to reach 13 for the first time since 1998-99, when it finished conference play with a 14-4 record.
The Red Storm reached Associated Press poll top-10 on Monday for the
first time since the conclusion of the 1999-2000 season.
The Red Storm rank eighth nationally in blocks per game (5.5), ninth in rebounds per game (40.9), 12th in turnover margin (+4.4), 12th in turnovers forced per game (15.8), 19th in steals per game (9.3), 30th in scoring defense (65.3) and 29th in rebound margin (+6.1). During Big East play, the Johnnies have held opponents to just 62.6 points per game and held the opposition to 39.2 percent shooting, both marks rank best in the league. St. John’s has limited 11 of its 14 conference contests to 70 points or below.
St. John’s is a perfect 15-0 this season at home, including a 6-0 mark inside Madison Square Garden. That 15-game home win streak is tied for the nation’s longest home active win streak. Just last month Creighton went into a sold out Gampel Pavilion to snap Connecticut’s 28-game home winning streak that was the second-longest nationally at the time.
Creighton has scored 77+ points in seven of its last nine victories vs. St. John’s and are 14-0 all-time against the Red Storm when scoring 76 points or more.
Creighton is 19-11 all-time against St. John’s, and 17-6 in the match-up since joining the Big East. Creighton is 6-9 all-time in road games against the Johnnies, including a 6-5 mark since joining the Big East, but has never topped SJU at The Garden — all six wins have come at Carnesecca Arena. They’re 0-3 at MSG, with losses in 2014, 2015 and 2024.
February 16th is a date with lots of winning memories for Bluejay fans. There’s the 101-80 win over #6 Villanova in 2014, a 71-68 win at Evansville in 2013, a 75-59 win over Illinois State in 2011…the Jays have won a lot on this date, and any of those would be good ones to look back at. (And if you have the time and the inclination, click those links to read WBR’s postgame coverage of them!)
But let’s go back 27 years instead to February 16, 1989, for a high-octane game Creighton won 102-100 in overtime against Southern Illinois at the Civic. Trailing by six with 45 seconds left, the Jays rallied to force overtime after an impossible three-pointer by Todd Eisner went in at the buzzer — a shot he claimed to have taken without being able to see the basket.
“James (Farr) had the ball on the sideline, and I was the only person open,” Eisner recalled after the game. “I took one dribble and had a defender right in my face. The clock was running down and I had to put it up. I never really saw the basket. The first time I saw the basket, the ball was going through the hole.”
Tony Barone had drawn up the play to be a shot for Farr, with Eisner setting a screen to free him up, but the Salukis wouldn’t allow it to happen, so “Ice” calmly tied it instead. Farr would get his chance at heroics in the overtime, making the game-winner with two seconds remaining. After dribbling out most of the clock, he made a move into the lane and pulled up for a 12-footer that broke the 100-100 tie and gave CU the 102-100 win.
“I wanted to make sure we got the last shot,” Farr said. “Coach told me to make my move at about five seconds. I think I left at about seven, went to the basket and put it up, and it went in. It was a great feeling. I was telling myself, ‘I’m going to put this ball in the basket. I’m the senior and I wanted to be the one to win or lose it. It was going to be on my back. I was going to take the blame or get the glory. Fortunately, it was glory.”
For the game, Farr finished with 15 points and 10 assists, and committed zero turnovers while playing 43 of the game’s 45 minutes. Oh, and he scored 11 of the Jays’ final 17 points.
“James is a king,” Barone gushed after the game, “not a captain.”
The Bottom Line:
St. John’s opened as 4.5 point favorites and the line has moved to 5.5. KenPom favors the Red Storm by six. If the Jays can hold their own on the glass and hit a few threes, they could escape from New York with a win.