In this strange college basketball year, the Bluejays are 7-0 against the top half of the Big East (Xavier, Connecticut, Seton Hall and St. John’s). They’re 2-4 against the bottom half. They’ll have a chance to avenge two of those losses in the next four days, with trips to Marquette and Georgetown on tap.
Marquette beat the Jays in Omaha nearly two months ago to begin the conference slate. The Golden Eagles have since endured two separate three-game losing streaks in Big East play to squander any momentum they might have gained from that win, and come into Saturday in desperation mode. At 9-9 overall and 5-7 in league play, they have to start piling up wins if they want any chance at an NCAA Tournament berth.
Meanwhile, while Creighton isn’t quite in desperation or must-win mode, they’re in the vicinity given their goal is not simply to make the tourney but to make noise once they get there. And with a NET of 34 following a loss to Georgetown, the Jays’ potential seed is moving towards the middle of the bracket where it’s much harder to advance from.
In that first meeting, Creighton led by nine at the half and then allowed Marquette to make 10 of their first 13 shots in the second half. All totaled they surrendered 54 points after halftime, allowed Marquette to make 7-of-9 from three-point range, and grab an offensive rebound on 10 of their 14 missed shots. CU missed 11 free throws, all of them in the game’s final 10 minutes.
The Golden Eagles made a season-high 12 3-pointers in that game. They’re averaging 6.4 made 3s per game over their other 11 conference games, making just 32.4%. Sophomore guard D.J. Carton was a big part of that; he made five 3-pointers and scored 20 points. And he’s coming in hot, scoring 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting with nine rebounds against Butler on Tuesday.
Fellow guard Greg Elliot had been 3-of-9 from three-point range before that night. He made all four 3’s that he took, a couple of them while flopping wildly in the air — enough so to draw two flop warnings and a technical foul. Elliot hasn’t had another game close to that one since; he’s 9-for-22 since that night in 11 games.
Their best shooter since, Jamal Cain, scored just five points in the first meeting. He’s made 50.5% of his shots in Big East games (and 47.4% from 3-point range).
Marquette did a lot of damage inside, too. Dawson Garcia, the Big East preseason freshman of the year, has proven to be every bit as good as advertised. He’s shooting 50.8% inside the arc and 39.6% on threes. And he had a double-double in the first meeting, with 14 points and 10 rebounds — six of them offensive. Garcia was a big reason the Golden Eagles grabbed an offensive board on 10 of their 16 opportunities in the second half of that game. Two of those were after missed free throws.
The other half of the inside duo that tortured Creighton in that game, Justin Lewis, has missed the last two games with a leg injury. He’s questionable in this one. Lewis had 11 points and nine rebounds (four offensive) in the first meeting.
Marquette has both strength and size in the post, and that could be problematic for the Jays. It was in December. So they can’t compound it with deficiencies elsewhere — the Jays were just 14-of-25 from the free throw line, for example. And they can live with Marquette excelling inside if they’re not also draining threes at a high rate.
- Tip: 4:00pm
- Venue: Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, WI
- TV: FOX
- Announcers: Tim Brando and Nick Bahe
- In Omaha: Cox channel 10 (SD), 1010 (HD); CenturyLink Prism channel 42 (SD), 1042 (HD); DirecTV 42; Dish Network 42 or 5203
- Outside Omaha: Your local FOX affiliate
- Streaming on FoxSportsGO
- Radio: 1620AM
- Announcers: John Bishop and Taylor Stormberg
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- Satellite Radio:
- Creighton broadcast: Sirius channel 121, XM 201
- Marquette broadcast: XM channel 387
- Marquette led by as many as 18 points in the second half on Tuesday night against Butler before hanging on for a 70-67 victory at Fiserv Forum. Guards D.J. Carton and Koby McEwen each scored 18 points to lead four players in double figures and Marquette finished 61.5 percent (24-of-39) from the floor. The Golden Eagles battled foul trouble, with both Theo John and Dawson Garcia fouling out.
- Marquette’s starting five accounted for all of the team’s 73 points in Sunday’s game against St. John’s, with each player finishing with double figures. The three reserves to see action against the Red Storm combined for just one shot attempt. On Tuesday against Butler, the bench corps contributed just five total points, again leaving almost all of the scoring (96.5 percent in last two games) to the starting five.
- Dawson Garcia, the Preseason Big East Freshman of the Year is ranked among the league leaders in scoring (16th, 12.7 ppg.), rebounding (10th, 6.8 rpg.), field goal percentage (13th, .476), 3-point field goal percentage (11th, .396), free throw percentage (13th, .758), offensive rebounds (9th, 2.3 orpg.) and defensive rebounds (14th, 4.5 drpg.).
- Creighton is 5-1 in its first six Big East road games this season, its best road start in league play since the 2016-17 club also started 5-1. Creighton has not started 6-1 on the road in league play since 2001-02. That team, like this season’s, also split a pair of overtime road games. The only loss came to a Northern Iowa team coached by… Greg McDermott.
- Creighton’s trip to Marquette (Feb. 6) and Georgetown (Feb. 9) will mark its third two-game road swing in Big East play this season, and it’ll look to replicate the success from its first two adventures. Creighton went 2-0 on a trip to St. John’s and UConn on Dec. 17-20, and also went 2-0 last week from Jan. 27-30 on a trip that spanned the Seton Hall and DePaul games.
- On Wednesday, Creighton fell to 13-5 after losing its 18th game of the season to Georgetown, 86-79. Last year Creighton fell to 13-5 after losing its 18th game of the season to Georgetown, 83-80. Last season’s Bluejay team would overcome the setback to the Hoyas by winning 11 of its final 13 league games en route to winning a share of its first Big East title.
Marquette leads the series with Creighton by a 56-35 margin, and has a 32-14 lead in Milwaukee. Marquette leads the series 8-7 since the teams became Big East rivals, but Creighton has won three of the past four match-ups.
Creighton has won each of its first two trips to Fiserv Forum, and with a win on Saturday can become the first visiting basketball team to win there three times. Marquette is 36-12 all-time in the facility.
It was announced Friday that Creighton will play in the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam this fall. The field is underwhelming to say the least — Bradley, Brown, Colorado, Colorado State, Creighton, Duquesne, Northeastern and Southern Illinois — but with a roster featuring six freshmen the Jays will be looking to pick up early momentum.
The tourney will be televised on ESPN3 and ESPN+.
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.
The Bottom Line:
Which half of basketball from the first meeting is more likely to repeat itself? The one where the Jays won by nine, 44-35, by making nine 3’s and holding their own inside? Or the one where Marquette won by 14, 54-40, by controlling both the perimeter and the paint?
Let’s split the difference. Creighton by a bucket.
Bluejays 80, Marquette 77