“We got out-coached. We got out-played. We got out-toughed. We got out-executed. It’s relatively simple. For whatever reason at halftime we just decided we’re just going to try to outscore them in the second half. We weren’t interested in protecting the paint. We weren’t interested in guarding the dribble. We weren’t interested in challenging the rim. That was disappointing. Obviously we executed some things down the stretch to give ourselves a chance, but had a couple costly turnovers and some missed free throws and a missed shot. This is a tough one to swallow.”
That’s Greg McDermott from his postgame radio show in the immediate aftermath of last year’s loss to Arizona State. It was indeed a tough one to swallow — the Bluejays led by eight at halftime, and then stopped playing defense. The Sun Devils made 10 of their first 12 shots after halftime, mostly by driving right at the rim and succeeding because of bad on-ball defense and bad defensive rotations; on the two shots they missed, they got the offensive rebound and scored anyway. Somehow the Bluejays survived that mess, had multiple chances to win, and botched all of them thanks to missed free throws and poor ball control.
Though Isaiah Zierden took most of the heat, everyone on the court was guilty. Thomas and Watson weren’t defending ASU’s guards close enough, allowing them room to operate. Geoff Groselle was burned on pick and rolls because he reacted too slowly time after time. Cole Huff continually was taken out of plays by cuts and screens, and provided little to no backside help defense. The defensive madness was a team effort. If there’s any silver lining, it’s that all of those players (except Groselle) will play tonight, and you can bet the coaches have reminded them of that second half in the days leading up to the rematch.
On the other side, almost all of the players who torched the Jays are no longer around for ASU, and the new roster makeup has them playing a bit differently.
Savon Goodman scored 23 points and had seven boards; he transferred to LaSalle in the spring for his senior season (and then promptly left). Big man Eric Jacobsen, who gave the Jays so much trouble in the post and grabbed 10 boards, four of them offensive in last year’s game, graduated and is now playing professionally. Willie Atwood is also playing overseas, after scoring 14 points with 5 boards a year ago.
The 2016-17 ASU team takes far more three-pointers — 41% of their shot attempts have been from behind the arc this year, a marked increase over last year (35%). They play at a much faster pace, increasing their tempo by over four possessions per game over last year. And they’re a far worse team defensively, with one of the worst effective field goal percentages in the country — they allow opponents to make 55% of their two-point shots (ranking 307th) and give up an effective FG% of 54.4%.
Even by traditional metrics, their defense has been really bad; they give up an average of 82.2 points per game and have had two opponents hang 100+ on them. One was Kentucky in a 115-69 boat racing, which is understandable. The other was The Citadel, who scored 110 in a 1980’s NBA-esque 127-110 circus. Purdue scored 97 and blew them out by 33 points. And in the most damning indictment of their defense, Northern Iowa — slow as molasses Northern Iowa! — hung 82 points on them, which in UNI math is basically the same as hanging 100.
Individually, they’re led by Torian Graham, a 6’5” senior who averages 16.5 points and four rebounds a game. It’s Graham’s first (and likely only) year in Tempe, as the former four-star recruit has had a star-crossed collegiate career. Originally committed to NC State after receiving offers from a host of big-time programs including Indiana, Louisville, Xavier, and Georgetown, he couldn’t get clearance to play for the Wolfpack and landed at a junior college. He played so well there that he landed offers from even more big time programs such as Kentucky and Florida, but soon found himself in legal trouble and wound up at Houston playing for Kelvin Sampson. He never played a game before leaving for personal reasons, and transferred to Buffalo to play for Bobby Hurley. Then after his mandatory redshirt year, Hurley took the ASU job, and Graham followed him having never played a game for Buffalo either.
Finally on the court for a D1 program, Graham has been a good scorer for the Sun Devils, and has scored 18 or more points in six games this year. He shoots well from about anywhere, converting 54.8% of his two-point attempts, 36.4% from three and 85% from the line. He’s feasted against lesser teams and struggled against better ones, however. Graham was 0-6 from three-point range against Purdue, 0-7 against Kentucky, 1-5 against San Diego State, and 1-6 against Davidson.
Shannon Evans II, a 6’1” junior who also followed Hurley to ASU from Buffalo, is their second-leading scorer at 16.1 points per game. More than just a scorer, Evans has a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio with 50 assists and just 25 turnovers, averages 3.4 rebounds a game and more than a steal per game. As a scorer, he too can shoot well from anywhere — including 40% from three-point range (25-63) and 87% from the line (40-46).
Tra Holder, a 6’1” junior, scored eight points with eight assists in the game last year, but also committed five turnovers. Holder is third on the team in scoring this year at 15.6 points per game, but his game is far more concentrated inside the arc than either Graham or Evans. Nearly three-fourths of his shot attempts have been two-pointers, as he excels at creating off the dribble. He does have the ability to score from outside if you let him, though, as he’s made 33% from three-point range (13-39).
And then there’s Obinna Oleka. At 6’8”, 225 pounds, Oleka is their biggest body among their top rotation players, and he’s been dominant inside. Oleka averages 12.1 points per game and shoots nearly 45%, but his real value comes on the glass where he averages 9.8 rebounds a game — and 3.5 offensive rebounds a game. If there’s a player who can beat Creighton single-handedly, it’s Oleka because of his ability to punish them on the glass. ASU destroyed the Jays on the boards a year ago, and rebounding continues to be a problem for Creighton this year; one look at Oleka’s game-by-game box gives me nightmares.
- 11 boards, four offensive, against Kentucky
- 15 boards, eight offensive, against The Citadel
- 12 boards, four offensive, against San Diego State
- 11 boards, four offensive, against New Mexico State
- 13 boards, five offensive, against Portland State
On the other hand, with the way ASU crashes the glass IF — and it’s a big IF — Creighton can get defensive rebounds off missed shots, they could have open floor to run and push tempo. And because ASU likes to play fast, the game is likely to be played at a 70-75 possession pace making the occasional offensive rebound less deadly.
The key is making sure they’re only occasional. If this turns into a layup line and rebounding clinic like last year, it won’t go well for the Bluejays. And if it’s a close game where free throws matter, it also won’t go well for the Bluejays, as ASU is one of the best free throw shooting teams in the NCAA and Creighton is, well, not that.
One thing that could be in Creighton’s favor: ASU is a team in a bit of chaos at the moment. Freshman Sam Cunliffe, who’d been averaging nearly 10 points a game, announced his plans to transfer a week ago and in the first game after his departure, they lost at home to New Mexico State. NMSU is a good program, but one that hadn’t beaten a power conference team in a decade. As they took a 16-point lead Bobby Hurley took out his frustrations on the officials, and was ejected from the game in a tirade widely shown on ESPN and FS1.
Quick Notes on the Sun Devils:
- ASU is at the tail-end of a six-game stretch over 23 days that has them playing No. 1 Kentucky, No. 18 Purdue and No. 9 Creighton along with UNLV, at San Diego State (2016 Mountain West regular season champion) and New Mexico State (2016 WAC regular season champion).
- The Sun Devils are making free throws at a rate that is tied for second-best school history, as ASU is shooting 180-of-238 (.756) from the charity stripe. ASU shot .756 in 1977-78 and .754 in 1954-55 for its best seasons. ASU went 12-of-12 in the second half of a tight win at San Diego State on December 10 and was 16-of-18 for the game to seal that road tilt.
- CU is the highest-ranked non-conference opponent to enter Wells Fargo Arena since No. 7 Ohio State in 1980. That 1980 game featured no less than nine future NBA players, as Sam Williams, Alton Lister, Lafayette “Fat” Lever and Byron Scott played for ASU, while Ohio State rolled out a team that included Clark Kellogg, Herb Williams, Jim Smith, Tony Campbell and Granville Waiters.
Bluejay Bytes:
- Creighton is a perfect 4-0 away from home this winter, with those wins coming by an average of 17 points per game. With a win on Tuesday, Creighton will win its first five games away from home for just the third time since World War II, having also done it in 1999-2000 and 2012-13. Both of those seasons culminated with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
- CU has scored 94.5 points per game in road/neutral contests this season, shooting 55.5 percent from the floor and 51.0 percent from three-point range. Cole Huff has been especially lethal in those games, shooting 14-of-20 from three-point range and ranking second on the team in both scoring (14.5 ppg.) and rebounding (5.3).
- The Creighton men’s basketball team is ranked ninth in the country in this week’s Associated Press poll. It’s the sixth time in program history CU has been tabbed a top-10 team in the AP poll, which started in 1949, and matches the program’s best mark ever. The Bluejays were previously ranked ninth on February 24, 2014 after a 23-4 start.
The Series:
Arizona State holds a 5-4 lead in nine all-time meetings. Creighton has won two of the last three meetings, winning in 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada (87-73) and in 2013 in Fullerton, California (88-60). The Bluejays trailed for a total of 64 seconds in the two games.
The Last Time They Played:
I know we talked a lot about last year’s game up above, but here’s the maddening thing about that game that I still can’t wrap my head around: despite all the defensive miscues, the Jays had multiple chances to win the game and failed on all of them. They trailed 75-74 with 1:16 to play, and Toby Hegner hit a three to give them a two-point lead. Up by two, Zierden came up with a steal on the other end, but instead of milking even a little bit of clock, Watson immediately drove the length of the court and took a wild shot that missed.
That gave ASU the ball with 25 seconds left down two. They fouled Savon Goodman on a jumper, and he made only one of two free throws. Zierden got the rebound, but immediately had the ball stolen from behind by Tra Holder and his shot attempt was goal-tended by Geoff Groselle to give them the lead. Cole Huff was fouled under the basket with six seconds left, and he missed both free throws. After fouling ASU’s Willie Atwood to lengthen the game, he only made one of two, giving the Jays an opening. Huff got a wide-open look at a three…and missed it. From the Morning After:
“Despite all of that, if Zierden secures the rebound with 18 seconds left instead of getting his pocket picked by Tra Holder, the Jays probably win. Even with Holder doing that and making a bucket to put them ahead, if Cole Huff makes those two free throws, Creighton likely wins. And even with the turnover and the missed FT’s, if Huff hits the three-pointer at the buzzer, Creighton celebrates a win.
As bad as that second half was, they had three opportunities to take the win, three chances to make up for all that had gone wrong.”
UGH.
Gratuitous Linkage:
What has to happen between now and Selection Sunday for the Bluejays to be in position to go on a deep run in March? (I know, I know, we’re getting WAY ahead of ourselves, but that was the question!)
“We have to stay healthy,” Greg McDermott said Monday on Jon Rothstein’s College Hoops Today Podcast. “We need to keep our core guys intact and hopefully get a guy like Zach Hanson back in February, who would give us a legitimate reserve behind Justin Patton in the post. That’s the most important thing for us right now.”
The full 20-minute interview is highly recommended.
What the Other Side is Saying:
“They’re an exciting opponent, one of the best offensive teams in the country,” ASU coach Bobby Hurley said. “We’ll have our hands full, especially coming off a tough loss.”
“No. 9 Creighton is Next Big Test for Arizona State“, Arizona Republic
This Date in Creighton Hoops History:
Creighton defeated #18 Oklahoma State 66-60 at the Civic on this date in 1998. One of the signature wins of the Dana Altman Era, the Jays’ upset of former coach Eddie Sutton’s Cowboys also ranks as one of the more memorable wins in the history of the Civic Auditorium.
We featured this game on Bluejay Rewind a couple of summers ago; here’s our feature on it as well as highlights from the vault.
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day:
When the Primer started, it was on a standalone blog, Creighton was in the Valley and this column was read by 25 people on a good day, and far less on others. That made inside jokes like sticking Wham!’s “Last Christmas” at the bottom of the final Primer before Christmas a funny yearly tradition. It’s continued to be a tradition through all the years on WBR; every time I think about breaking the tradition I re-watch the video and realize, yeah, this is a tradition for a reason.
Enjoy!
The Bottom Line:
In the last 20 years, the only non-conference team to beat Creighton in consecutive seasons is Kent State. The Golden Flashes beat CU in Ohio in 2003-04, then repeated the feat in Omaha in 2004-05. ASU will not be the second.
Bluejays 85, Sun Devils 76