Big East play tips off next week when the Jays host Villanova (and retire Doug McDermott’s #3 beforehand). But before then, two more non-conference games await, both intriguing in their own way. On Saturday night, the Jays square off with Alabama in a primetime battle on Network FOX, which will be their stiffest test so far and a perfect barometer of where they’re at heading into the conference gauntlet. First up, though, is a neutral floor game in Las Vegas against UNLV, a veteran team that features five fifth-year seniors.
The Runnin’ Rebels are a bit undersized, with 6’9″ senior Kalib Boone getting most of the minutes in the middle and their longest and best perimeter defender, 6’6″ senior Jalen Hill, out due to injury. So they’ve compensated defensively by trying to cause chaos. They collapse on the interior to keep from being exposed at the rim, and aim to be disruptive on the perimeter by trying to force turnovers. And it works to an extent; they’ve stolen the ball on 10.6% of opponent’s possessions (106th best), and forced turnovers on 18.8% of possessions (118th). That havoc is the reason their defense ranks as decent overall.
The problem is that when their disruptive style doesn’t work, opponents are gifted with wide-open looks from three-point range and on mid-range jumpers inside the arc. UNLV’s opponents have made 40.9% of their threes this year — ranking 357th in D1, or to put it another way, just five teams in the country are worse at defending the three. For comparison, Creighton has made 40.2% of their threes this season, so UNLV’s porous perimeter defense has turned every opponent into the Bluejays.
And now they’re playing the actual Bluejays. Good luck with that.
Boone leads them in scoring at 14.0 points per game, and is coming off a game where he scored 15 points with five blocks in their 78-75 loss to Loyola Marymount. A fifth-year senior who played four years at Oklahoma State, Boone averaged 10.6 points and 4.9 boards a year ago for the Cowboys. He doesn’t stray far from the rim — 78% of his shots have been classified as at or near the rim, according to Hoop-Math.com — but he’s just about automatic from that range. Boone has made 79.1% of his shots at the rim, and 67.3% of his two-pointers overall.
Mountain West Preseason Freshman of the Year Dedan Thomas Jr. was a five-star recruit ranked #22 in the class of 2024, and is the son of former UNLV All-American Dedan Thomas Sr. The Las Vegas native can score from all three levels and is averaging 11.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 6.1 assists (with a stellar 3:1 assist to turnover ratio) through the first seven games of his collegiate career.
6’6″ wing Luis Rodriguez is a slasher who is excellent at creating his own shot off the dribble, and a pesky defender who has 12 steals in seven games (and 46 a year ago). Another fifth-year senior, Rodriguez began his career at Ole Miss before transferring to UNLV last season. If there’s a weakness to his game, it’s that he settles for threes way too often — despite making 69.2% on shots at the rim, he’s attempted 32 threes (and made just seven, 21.9%). It’s a career-long thing for him, as he attempted 120 threes a year ago and made only 35 (29.2%), and was 31-of-102 at Ole Miss the year before. If you can stop his dribble, he will pull up and shoot jumpers, and generally teams are completely OK with that.
5’11” Jackie Johnson is the prototypical tiny guard who uses his size and quickness to his advantage, and as their sixth-man he gives UNLV a change of pace. Johnson is averaging 9.3 points per game in an instant-offense/defensive-pest role off the bench. He will put the ball on the floor and dribble into traffic; 38% of his total shots have come at the rim, where he’s used an array of crafty moves to scores over and around opponents. And you have to respect his outside shot, as he’s made 12-of-23 threes so far this year (52.2%).
Other players to look out for include 6’3″ senior Justin Webster, who’s averaging 8.3 points per game, and is their highest-volume three point shooter (attempting 42 of them). He’s not terribly efficient, having made just 12 (28.6%) and doesn’t typically shoot from anywhere else. And 6’11” Isaiah Cottrell splits time with Kalib Boone in the middle, and averages 7.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. He’ll stretch the floor a bit more than Boone and is 8-of-21 from three-point range on the year.
- Tip: 8:00pm
- Venue: Dollar Loan Center, Henderson, Nev.
- TV: CBSSN
- Announcers: Carter Blackburn and Pete Gillen
- In Omaha: Cox channel 234 (SD), 1234 (HD); CenturyLink Prism channel 643 (SD), 1643 (HD)
- Outside Omaha: CBSSN Channel Finder
- Satellite: DirecTV channel 221; Dish Network channel 158
- Streaming info
- Radio: 1620AM, 101.9FM
- Announcer: John Bishop
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- Simulcast on SiriusXM channel 83, as well as on the SiriusXM app
- UNLV was picked to finish sixth in this year’s Mountain West standings as voted on by select media and announced during the conference’s media days in October . San Diego State was predicted to win the conference title this season, while Boise State was second, New Mexico third, UNR fourth and Colorado State fifth.
- The Dollar Loan Center is the fifth Las Vegas-area arena that UNLV has played in since their home arena (the Thomas & Mack Center) opened in 1983. The others: Orleans Arena, MGM Grand Garden Arena, T-Mobile Arena and Michelob Ultra Arena (Mandalay Bay).
- UNLV holds the NCAA record for most consecutive games scoring at least one 3-pointer. Since the 3-point field goal was adopted by the NCAA in 1986-87, UNLV has converted at least one 3-pointer in all 1,200 games played. With Vanderbilt failing to make one in a game during the 2019-20 season, UNLV and Princeton are the only schools left that have made at least one 3-pointer in every game played since the shot was introduced.
- Creighton has made 14 or more three-pointers in five different games this year, tied with BYU for the national lead. It’s already tied for the second-most games of 14 three-pointers in any year under Greg McDermott, trailing only the 2018-19 squad that did it eight times in 35 games. Creighton owns four different games this season in which it has made 10 or more three-pointers than its opponent, which also leads the country.
- In the last two games alone, Creighton has made 29 three-pointers while its opponents have made just four total. That’s a 75-point differential, which is notable since CU won those two games by a combined 74 points. The Bluejays have had three different games this season in which they’ve made 10 or more triples before halftime, including each of the past two contests.
- But it’s not just threes. CU ranks third in the country in two-point percentage (62.7%), too. Creighton shot 26-for-32 (81.3%) from two-point range on Saturday vs. Central Michigan, just the third time in Greg McDermott’s 14 seasons at CU its converted on better than 80 percent of its two-point shots. The only better game was when it shot 22-for-26 (84.6%) in a March 2, 2013 win over Wichita State in CU’s final regular-season game as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.
UNLV owns a 2-1 lead in the series against Creighton, though each meeting has taken place in Las Vegas. The last time the teams met, Creighton lost 90-59 on Dec. 23, 1987 as part of the Rebel Round-Up. Rod Mason led CU with 14 points. UNLV was paced by 20 points from Gerald Paddio, while future NBA star Stacey Augmon had 10 points.
On December 13, 2003, Creighton played a BracketBusters return game on the road at Fresno State. Down 52-44 with five minutes to play, the Jays held the Bulldogs scoreless for over four minutes while they cut into the lead, and trailed 54-51 after two free throws by Fresno’s Mustafa Al-Sayyad. Dana Altman subbed in four guards for the final possession, and drew up a play to get Nate Funk a shot. He used a screen from Kellen Miliner to get open, took a pass from Tyler McKinney near the right corner, and drilled a 21-footer to tie the game at the buzzer.
In overtime, CU outscored the hosts 16-8 and won 70-62. “We played the overtime like I hoped we’d play the entire game,” Altman told the media after the game. “But, oh my gosh, we were a different team. Nate’s shot started a fire. After we hit that first shot in overtime, you could just see the fight and bounce our guys had. The defensive intensity picked up. We were very fortunate to win this one. Hopefully this one shows us you can never give up.”
The Bottom Line:
Creighton is a 13.5 point favorite according to Vegas oddsmakers, and a 16 point favorite according to KenPom. ESPN’s BPI gives them 90.3% odds of victory. I think given UNLV’s poor three-point defense, the Jays will cover that.
Creighton 90, UNLV 71
