Kansas and Creighton were two of the nation’s hottest power conference teams last March as the NCAA Tournament approached. The Jays had won 11 of their last 13 to clinch the Big East title, and the Jayhawks had won 16 straight to end the year to win the Big XII. They might have been on course for a meeting somewhere deep in the tourney, but…alas.
As such, their matchup in the second annual Big XII / Big East Battle has figuratively been the centerpiece of Creighton’s non-conference schedule since it was announced in the spring; after they had to pull out of the Crossover Classic, that was literally the case. Of their five non-conference opponents, KU is now the only one with realistic postseason aspirations (sorry, Nebraska, it’s true).
Kansas is still finding their way without point guard Devon Dotson and big man Udoka Azubuike, both of whom moved on ahead of the 2020-21 season. But Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Garrett is still around. Ditto for super-athletic wing Ochai Agbaji. And a typically-outstanding recruiting class joins them, including five-star freshman shooting guard Bryce Thompson, junior college transfer Tyson Grant-Foster, and redshirt freshman Jalen Wilson — the highest ranked recruit in their 2019 class who suffered an ankle injury that cost him his freshman year.
Agbaji leads KU in scoring at 16.2 points per game, including a team-best 13 made three-pointers (13-of-31, 41.9%). He’s been their highest-usage player through five games, with their most shot attempts, most three-point attempts, and second-most free throw attempts while playing the most minutes of any player on the roster. He can score both off the dribble and from the perimeter, and at 6’5″, he’ll be a load for whoever guards him. On the other end, he’s a really solid defender, with seven steals and four blocked shots through five games.
Wilson was described as “Kansas’ version of Christian Bishop” in Jon Nyatawa’s breakdown of the matchup in the World-Herald, and I love that description. They’re similar size players who play virtually the same role — Bishop is 6’7″, 220, and Wilson is 6’8″, 215. They’re both aggressive around the rim on both ends, are asked to play both as a stretch-4 and an undersized-5, and their versatility and energy are contagious. Wilson is just seven games into his KU career (he played two a year ago before his season-ending ankle injury) and has already emerged as one of their most irreplaceable pieces. He averages 15.0 points with an effective field goal percentage of 51.8%, can shoot from anywhere on the floor, and has grabbed 8.8 rebounds per game.
6’6″ sophomore Christian Braun is third on the team in scoring at 12.8 points per game, second in rebounding at 7.0 per game, and has been their most efficient three-point shooter (11-for-22, 50.0%). Among their top players, Braun has actually been the most efficient across the board — his 60.7% effective field goal percentage leads the team by a rather substantial amount. He’s been disruptive, defensively, as well.
It says something about KU’s depth and talent level that we’re just now getting to Marcus Garrett. On offense, he’s a lightning quick point guard that can break teams down off the dribble — 59% of his shot attempts through five games have come at the rim, with 84% of them unassisted. He leads the way in transition. Mostly, he’s one of those players whose stats don’t tell the whole story. Garrett averages 9.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists a game but affects the game so much more than that.
That’s because of his defense. The reigning national Defensive Player of the Year, Garrett draws the opponent’s top perimeter threat every night and routinely shuts them down. When he guarded the opponent’s point guard a year ago, he not only shut that player down, he frequently kept that team from even getting into their offense — he’s that disruptive, that good at speeding up an opponent and forcing them into mistakes. His reputation as the nation’s best on-ball defender is well deserved. Will the Jayhawks stick him on Marcus Zegarowski to keep the Jays’ dynamic point guard from creating, or on Mitch Ballock to keep the Eudora, Kansas native from lighting up the Jayhawks from deep? That’s one of the more intriguing subplots in this game.
6’10” junior David McCormack is an imposing presence, and averages 9.4 points and 4.4 rebounds a game. He’s also the player most frequently cited by many around the KU program as the reason for the Jayhawks struggles to defend the paint and the rim — one KU blog cites their inability to guard the interior, specifically McCormack struggling as the last line of defense when the rest of the defense breaks down, as a reason to favor Creighton in the game.
After three blowouts and an average margin of victory of 24.3 points, Creighton’s schedule now gets exponentially tougher overnight. Can they flip the switch right away? A year ago, they went from beating Kennesaw State 81-55 to losing at Michigan 79-69; two years ago they followed up a pair of home wins in buy games with a 69-60 loss to Ohio State. The first test of the season didn’t go well either year, in other words.
Finding out who will step into Ty-Shon Alexander’s shoes as their defensive stopper on the perimeter is the biggest key defensively for CU. Shereef Mitchell has the quickness, tenacity and skill to be a pest, but is limited by his size against bigger wings like KU has (and like the rest of the Big East has, for that matter). Denzel Mahoney and Damien Jefferson will have to shoulder the load against those guys — Mitchell can’t be expected to guard Ochai Agbaji, who’s five inches taller, for any stretch of time.
One plus? Kansas hasn’t been all that great at converting even when they’ve broken down defenders off the dribble. Through five games, they’ve only made 45.9% of their shots from two-point range (188th in D1), and are only marginally better at the rim (55.3%, 205th in D1).
Also playing into CU’s hands? The condensed COVID schedule had Kansas play five games in 10 days to open the season, and they’ll have had just two days off before Tuesday’s game. They looked fatigued at times on Saturday against North Dakota State, a game they only won because of a desperate 7-0 run to end the game. Agbaji has averaged 32.4 minutes through those five games, Garrett 31.9, Braun 29.9 and Wilson 26.0. Creighton’s relentless pace and depth, plus fresher legs, are something to keep an eye on.
- Tip: 4:00pm
- Venue: Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, KS
- TV: ESPN
- Announcers: Mark Neely and Robbie Hummel
- In Omaha: Cox channel 1031, CenturyLink Prism channel 1602
- Satellite: DirecTV channel 206, Dish Network channel 140
- Streaming on WatchESPN
- Radio: 1620AM
- Announcer: John Bishop
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- Satellite Radio: SiriusXM channel 202 (Creighton broadcast) or channel 199 (Kansas broadcast)
- Ranked fifth nationally, Kansas is off to a 4-1 start this season. The Jayhawks lost 102-90 to No. 1 Gonzaga in the season-opener, but have since responded with wins over Saint Joseph’s (94-72), No. 20 Kentucky (65-62), Washburn (89-54) and North Dakota State (65-61).
- Typically one of the greatest atmospheres in college basketball, a limited number of fans (2,500) will be admitted into Tuesday’s game at Allen Fieldhouse.
- Last year the Big East won 8-of-10 match-ups. Creighton beat Oklahoma 83-73 in Omaha, while Kansas lost at Villanova, 56-55. This year’s series is currently led by the Big 12 (2-1), with the road team winning all three tilts.
- Tuesday’s tilt will be Creighton’s first regular-season game to air on ESPN (not ESPN2, or ESPNU) since Feb. 23, 2013, a BracketBusters contest at Saint Mary’s. Creighton’s last regular-season win on ESPN came all the back on Feb. 18, 2006, a 67-62 victory over Fresno State in a BracketBusters game that tipped off at 11:02 p.m. Central.
- With a win, Creighton would earn its sixth straight win against an opponent ranked in the top-25, and its fifth straight win against a foe ranked in the top-10. The Bluejays have outscored the opposition by an average of 10.8 points per game in those four straight wins over top-10 foes.
- Creighton has more players from the state of Kansas (4), than any other state. Two of them — Christian Bishop (Lee’s Summit) and Mitch Ballock (Eudora) — have started every game for CU the past two seasons. Jett Canfield (Topeka) and Nic Zeil (Kansas City) also hail from the state.
Kansas leads the all-time series with Creighton by a 9-6 count, including a 5-1 advantage in Lawrence. But the teams have not met since a 55-54 KU win in the second round of the 1974 NCAA Tournament. We wrote about that game as part of our Great Teams series on the 1973-74 Jays:
…the game was tight throughout, and the Jays actually led 33-30 at halftime behind 59.3% shooting. Doug Brookins was 5-10 in the opening half, and Gene Harmon was 4-6. Creighton held on to the lead until the 13:16 mark of the second half, when Kansas’ Rick Suttle banked home a jumper to give them a 41-40 lead. Then the Jays stormed back out front on buckets by Tom Anderson and Ted Wuebben, going up 46-43. A Ralph Bobik runner made it 48-45 with 8:08 to go, and two Bobik field goals with 7:14 left made it 50-45. An 8-2 Kansas run gave them a 53-52 lead with 1:21 to go, before Gene Harmon gave the Jays their last lead, 54-53, on a jumper from the left wing.
KU’s Tommie Smith answered with a jumper of his own to make it 55-54, and Eddie Sutton called timeout to draw up a play. Intended for Gene Harmon, they got him the look they wanted … and he missed. “I was waiting for (Kansas’) Rick Suttle to come out on me and try to get the ball in to Doug Brookins,” Harmon explained. “I just wasn’t concentrating on the hoop.” Head Coach Eddie Sutton defended his senior. “The shot we got from Harmon at the end was a very good shot. It was the shot we wanted.”
But Creighton wasn’t ready to concede defeat just yet. With 22 seconds left, Brookins tied up Kansas’ Roger Morningstar and forced a jump ball. KU controlled the tip, though, and successfully played keep away to avoid being fouled, killing the clock and the Jays season.
Their seniors were distraught after the game. Ralph Bobik told the World-Herald, “Our turnovers beat us. We beat ourselves.” Gene Harmon was even more defiant, telling the paper’s Don Lee, “We thought we were the best team. The best team didn’t win tonight, but that’s athletics.”
The Jays would play one more game, the Consolation Game in the Midwest Regional, and the 80-71 win over Louisville made them the winningest team in school history at 23-7, besting the mark of 22-7 by the 1964 team.
Eddie Sutton, who unbeknownst to anyone had just coached his final game at Creighton, reflected back on the team’s run. “We’ve had some great times together. I’m not sure any coach ever has been blessed with boys the caliber of this team. The senior class had the best freshman record (17-2) the school ever had. And now, the very best varsity mark. It was a little misty-eyed after the game.”
Gene Harmon, the Schuyler, Nebraska native who had been so defiant in the moments after the Kansas loss, was more philosophical following this one. “The biggest thing was proving the fact that a small town boy can make it. Hopefully, I’ve been something of an inspiration to small-town kids in Nebraska. It’s most gratifying to be on the greatest team in Creighton history.”
Creighton’s last win in the series came on Dec. 5, 1949, a 59-55 win in Omaha.
Greg McDermott is 0-8 all-time against the Jayhawks, with all eight meetings coming between 2006-10 when he was the head coach at Iowa State. Self is 2-3 in his career against Creighton (0-3 as Oral Roberts coach, 1-0 as Tulsa coach, and 1-0 as Illinois coach).
On December 8, 2013, Creighton defeated Nebraska 82-67. From our recap the next day:
“At the 18:36 mark of the first half, Ethan Wragge nailed a three to put the Jays up 3-0, and that would be the closest the Huskers would be the rest of the night. In fact, over the first eight minutes of action, spanning two media timeouts and two team timeouts, the Huskers managed just one field goal, throwing up brick after brick after brick. Meanwhile, Creighton was as efficient as ever, and at the end of those first eight minutes, they had a 22-3 lead thanks to a trio of three pointers from Doug McDermott and a dunk from Grant Gibbs, who took advantage of the defensive focus on the perimeter to drive a wide-open lane for the slam.
Rather than ease off the gas, Creighton kept rolling, while Nebraska kept doing masonry work. The lead swelled to 38-8 with seven minutes to play, a score that looks even more improbable Monday morning than it did at the time. With 6:47 to go, Nebraska’s Leslee Smith rattled home a jumper to give them ten points — as a team, mind you — and the CU student section serenaded them with chants of “Double-Digits! Double-Digits!” Holding a 51-25 lead at the break, the only drama remaining was how many points Creighton would win by, not whether or not they’d win.”
While looking back in the WBR archives for something else, I found a link to this video at the bottom of an old Primer. The note? “Billy Squier and the MTV Chorus from 1981! Hideous or rad? That’s for you to decide. Its no “The Stroke,” sure, but then, what is, really?”
15th year of Primers. 12th year on WBR. And cheesy Christmas videos never get old.
The Bottom Line:
Kansas is favored by four according to Las Vegas. ESPN’s BPI gives the Jayhawks a slight edge, with a 57.8% win probability. KenPom, too, gives the nod to KU with a predicted score of 76-72.
But that doesn’t sound like much fun. I think KU’s small ball tendencies this year play right into Creighton’s hands, and the chance to make a statement will bring the best out of Marcus Zegarowski and Mitch Ballock. Veteran stars often carry the day in college hoops, and Tuesday will be no different.
#8 Creighton 77, #5 Kansas 73
