Get ** $2 OFF BEERS ** all night long during our 3rd viewing party of the season at Scriptown Brewing Company, when the Creighton Men’s Basketball heads to Philly to face Villanova (7pm CT).
RSVP, spread the word, and bring a Jays fan or two with you to Scriptown Brewing Company for a game against the defending champs.
#gojays
All the info is on the Facebook event page!
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Creighton’s been hit by the injury bug a lot in recent years, but what they’re facing as they begin a three-game road trip at #14 Villanova Wednesday night is something out of a horror movie. Of the 11 available scholarship players they began the season with, just seven will potentially be active for the game at the Wildcats now that Marcus Zegarowski has joined the injured list with a broken hand.
Damien Jefferson has missed the last three weeks with his ankle injury and though he warmed up prior to Sunday’s game and practiced on a limited basis this week, if he plays Wednesday it will be in a small role. Connor Cashaw remains out with the shoulder injury he sustained last week, and his prognosis is the same as Jefferson’s — he practiced this week, but won’t be counted on for much just yet. And Jacob Epperson has, of course, been out for the season since before the first of the year. That leaves the Jays without three players who were either starters or significant contributors, and without a fourth who has provided them with veteran depth off the bench. That’s not even enough healthy bodies to field a full five-on-five scrimmage in practice, much less take on the defending national champs on their home floor.
Walk-on Jordan Scurry was awarded a scholarship at the semester break, and given what’s available to Greg McDermott roster-wise, he’ll probably get playing time — perhaps significant time — in this one if nothing else than to give one or more of their guards a few moments to catch their breath.
Despite the mounting injuries, CU went 4-5 in the first half of the Big East schedule, tying them for third place after being picked ninth in the preseason. If the inexplicable loss to Marquette doesn’t happen, think of where this team would be — 5-4, alone in third, and probably on the right side of the bubble heading into the home stretch. Even with that loss, they’re sixth among teams just outside the bubble according to BracketMatrix.com, meaning they’re very much in the conversation. It’s not a particularly strong bubble full of teams with markedly more deserving resumes, either, so while an NCAA Tournament berth was not the expectation entering the season, as the season enters the final month it’s a realistic (if not likely) goal to achieve.
First up on the backstretch of conference play is a rematch with Villanova, who beat Creighton handily in Omaha a month ago. The Wildcats have only gotten better since, winning 10 straight and going undefeated through the first half of their Big East schedule. They’ve outrebounded seven straight opponents. They’ve made nine or more three-pointers in seven straight too. They’ve only had more than 10 turnovers once in that span — 14 against Seton Hall — though they won that game by 28 points (80-52) anyway. And they’re led by a senior with more big game experience than anyone in college basketball — two-time national champion Phil Booth, who’s played in more NCAA Tournament games than any other active player.
When they met three weeks ago, Creighton got a taste of all four facets. Villanova won the battle of the boards 27-22. They made 12 threes. They had 10 turnovers, but offset them with eight steals of their own. And Phil Booth scored 28 points (5-of-7 on two-pointers, 4-of-7 on threes, 6-of-6 from the line) with seven assists and four boards. He also went on a personal 8-0 run over less than two minutes to turn a seven-point Villanova deficit into a one-point lead early in the second half.
CU was able to build that lead in the first place because they exploited a mismatch inside. Martin Krampelj and Christian Bishop combined for 17 points and eight rebounds in the opening 20 minutes, shooting 7-of-9 from the field, a perfect 3-for-3 from the free throw line, with a total of four dunks. From Matt DeMarinis’ postgame notebook:
The second half wasn’t just a different chapter, it felt like an entirely different book all together. By the time the game clock hit 0.0, Villanova had clawed their back to a 10-10 tie in second-chance points and outscored the Jays in the paint 36-29. Krampelj had more fouls (3) than field goals (2), and Bishop only played two minutes after halftime. Creighton head coach Greg McDermott felt the drop off in production out of the post was due in large part to his team’s decision-making against Villanova’s zone defense.
“I thought we missed them some,” he said of why Krampelj and Bishop didn’t get as many touches inside. “They mixed their defenses, they mixed some zone in a little and made it tough to get it in there. We did not do a good job of attacking the middle of the zone. I thought it was open and we didn’t get it there. Our guys were too quick to reverse instead of making sure it touched the middle of the floor, which is really critical against a zone.”
Is that something Creighton can exploit again, and sustain for 40 minutes with the benefit of game film of Villanova’s switching defenses? That would be more likely with Zegarowski on the floor to run the offense and make entry passes into the post; with him on the bench, that task falls on the rest of the (healthy) Creighton guards.
Outside of that, CU has to hang their hopes on outgunning Villanova from behind the arc. That doesn’t happen very often, especially at the Finn, so Creighton’s best chance to win hinges on getting Krampelj (and Bishop and Samson Froling) easy buckets, taking care of the basketball, remaining disciplined defensively against Nova’s array of pump-fakes and ball screens, and — perhaps biggest of all — stopping Villanova’s big runs before they become BIG RUNS. Twice in the second half in Omaha, the Wildcats had 13-0 runs. That can’t happen again.
- Tip: 7:05pm
- Venue: Finneran Pavilion, Philadelphia, PA
- TV: CBSSN
- Announcers: Andrew Catalon and Steve Lappas on the call, and Evan Washburn serving as sideline reporter
- 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
- Announcers: John Bishop and Taylor Stormberg
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- For Cord Cutters:
- In Big East play, Phil Booth is third in scoring (20.7 points per game), first in assist-to-turnover rate (3.1) and fourth in 3-point shooting (44.7 percent). In the last two weeks alone, he’s had these performances:
- 19 points, eight assists and zero turnovers in an 86-74 win at DePaul on Jan. 30
- Led the Wildcats past Seton Hall on Jan. 27, scoring 25 points to go with five rebounds and five assists
- Added 17 points, five assists and four rebounds to an 80-72 win at Butler on Jan. 22
- Fellow senior Eric Paschall is their toughest matchup, which is saying something on a team with Phil Booth. But it’s true — he’s confident enough to stick jump shots even if you face guard him, he’s quick enough to put the ball on the floor and drive past defenders, and he’s springy enough to jump for rebounds (and easy putbacks) even if your box-out technique is solid. Paschall had 21 points in Omaha on 6-of-7 shooting, all inside the arc.
- Collin Gillespie isn’t asked to do much other than shoot threes given what else is on the roster — 70% of his shots are threes — and he’s made over half of his attempts from behind the arc over the last three weeks (25-of-49, 51%). And he’s coming off his best game, a career-high 30 points on 6-of-11 shooting from three-point range, along with 10-of-12 from the line, against Georgetown over the weekend. He made 4-of-7 from behind the arc in the first meeting.
- Saddiq Bey recorded his first career double double on Jan. 30 at DePaul, scoring 16 points and adding 11 rebounds in an 86-74 victory. His four 3-pointers in that game were also a season high. Bey had seven points and six boards in Omaha.
- Jermaine Samuels collected a career high 16 rebounds to help Villanova down Georgetown 77-65 at the Wells Fargo Center on Feb. 3. He had 13 points and six boards in the first meeting.
- Villanova is a nation-best 183-25 record since the start of the 2013-14 season, which coincides with the reconfiguration of the Big East. Of the 68 different schools to play Villanova in that time, only 18 have actually beaten the Wildcats. Creighton is one of four schools to post multiple victories over the Wildcats in that time. Creighton, Butler and Seton Hall all have three victories over Villanova, while Providence has two in that span.
- Per Monday’s NET rankings provided by the NCAA, no teams in the Big East have played more difficult schedules than Creighton and Villanova. CU’s schedule is ranked ninth-toughest nationally, while Villanova’s is 20th-most difficult. Both the Bluejays and Wildcats have played 14 Quadrant 1 or Quadrant 2 games, tied for second in the Big East behind Butler’s 15. Each of Creighton’s next five games are currently classified to be Q1 or Q2 games.
- Creighton is 9-12 since the start of the 2016-17 season against ranked teams. The nine wins over ranked teams in that time is tied for 17th nationally, and trails only Villanova (16) among Big East clubs.
Villanova leads the all-time series with Creighton, 12-3, including a 7-1 record in games played in Pennsylvania.
Villanova won in Omaha, 90-78, last month.
On February 6, 2002, Tyler McKinney hit two free throws with 6.8 seconds remaining to lift Creighton to a 64-63 win at Indiana State. CU led most of the game and built aa 59-50 edge with 5:35 to go, but ISU Blue used a 13-3 run — capped by a three pointer from Matt Broermann with 14 seconds to play — to take a 63-62 lead. Then McKinney was working for a last-second shot when he was fouled by ISU’s Lamar Grimes in front of the bench. His free throws were sweet justice for the Bluejays, as he alluded to in talking to the media afterward.
“I was just trying to penetrate, get to the lane and hope to get a shot for someone else. He did push me, and I kind of stepped out of bounds, so they probably had to call something. We kind of know what they feel like. We got the call called on us last time.”
Ah yes, the last time. Three days prior to that game at Indiana State was the infamous Super Bowl Sunday heist where the Jays lost at home to SIU on a controversial foul call with 0.3 seconds remaining in a tie game. The Salukis’ Kent Williams sank a pair of free throws to steal the game 79-77, and the Civic came unglued, with fans first hurling insults at the officiating crew and then hurling debris in their direction. It was, without a doubt, the worst call I’ve ever seen, and led to a scathing column from Tom Shatel the next day where he called out the official by name:
“An official who decides the game. Not the players. Not the coaches.
By the time official Mike Sanzere put his prints on this one, CU had taken a 16 – point lead, blown a 14 – point halftime lead, fallen behind by four, then rallied frantically to tie at 77 with 4.5 seconds left on Mike Grimes’ two free throws.
SIU brought the ball down quickly and got the ball to guard Kent Williams, who was pinned on the sidelines by Creighton guard DeAnthony Bowden. Williams leaned into Bowden, making contact. Bowden bumped back. Williams threw up a prayer.
It was answered by the stunning sound of Sanzere’s whistle.
Let’s get this straight. Williams is so far away from the basket that he’s almost out of bounds. Players were tackled in this game and no foul called. There’s three – tenths of a second left. And Williams gets the foul called and three free throws for heaving the ball toward the hoop?
Are you kidding me?
Sadly, no.”
Gets my blood boiling now just reading about it.
17 years ago today, Tyler McKinney exacted a tiny bit of revenge by beating Indiana State in close to the same fashion.
This song was in the Primer before last February’s upset of the Wildcats in Omaha. Why not again? Why not indeed.
The Bottom Line:
Vegas favors Villanova by 9. KenPom has the Wildcats by 8. ESPN’s BPI gives the ‘Cats an 85% chance of victory.
If Creighton can keep the game in single digits, maybe they can get a break or two and steal a win — if they get a win, that’s how it happens. Not many teams build and sustain a lead at Villanova. The likeliest scenario in this one is that it ends up in a 12-15 point loss.
#14 Villanova 88, Creighton 75
