Creighton is off to an 0-2 start in Big East play for the first time in nine years. The last time came in 2014-15, and that team lost eight in a row to begin league play before finally picking up their first win on January 28 against St. John’s at home (though even that one didn’t come easy; it was a 77-74 win decided in the final minute.) The big difference, of course, is that the 2014-15 team had zero expectations. This year’s team began ranked in the top ten and has now tumbled out of the rankings entirely.
If there’s good news, it’s this: the next opponent is Georgetown, who ranks #203 in the latest NCAA NET rankings and has earned every bit of that lowly mark. (Creighton, incidentally, is 14th in the latest NET, which is exactly where they were prior to Saturday’s loss.) The Hoyas are 7-6 overall, and six of their wins are classified as Q4. All have come at home. They’ve beaten no one of substance — Notre Dame, at #186, is their best win — and have lost by double digits four times. Another loss came at home to Holy Cross, a team ranked #351 in the NET, after the Hoyas surrendered an 11-0 run to erase an 11 point lead late in the game.
Stylistically, though, the Hoyas already look a lot like an Ed Cooley team despite being just 13 games into his tenure in D.C. They’re a legitimately great offensive rebounding team, corralling 34.8% of their missed shots (47th best in D1). And they’re pretty good at drawing fouls and getting to the line, earning 28.8 free throw attempts per 100 possessions (82nd).
Problem is, they generally haven’t been good enough to take advantage of those things. The Hoyas have made only 48.5% of two-point shots (233rd in D1), and just 69.8% at the line (226th). Where they have been decent is from the perimeter, making 35.4% from three-point range.
Defensively, they do not create much pressure or do things to make opponents uncomfortable. They’ve come away with a steal on just 8.8% of opponents’ possessions, ranking 236th in D1. Their opponents commit a turnover on just 7.9% of their total possessions, ranking 198th. And they’re slightly above average in rim protection, blocking 10.1% of opponents’ shots (the D1 average is 9.4%). So it’s little wonder that their overall defensive efficiency rates poorly — they give up 107.8 points per 100 possessions, ranking 254th.
With that said, Creighton still needs to be smarter with the ball than they have been in their first two Big East games. Georgetown may not be as active in passing lanes as Villanova and Marquette, but if they Jays commit dumb turnovers and make lazy passes, they’re more than capable of turning those into points. And the Hoyas’ proficiency on the offensive glass is concerning after watching CU give up 18 offensive boards on Saturday. If there’s a path to a Georgetown upset, that’s where it lies.
6’9″ big man Supreme Cook, a transfer from Fairfield, is the key player in that area. He averages 10.4 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, and has hauled in 15.6% of his team’s missed shots while he’s been on the floor. That makes him the 24th best player in college basketball at offensive rebounding.
Dontrez Styles, a 6’6″ transfer from North Carolina, averages 15.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. He has a nose for the ball on the offensive glass, too, grabbing 7.8% of his team’s misses. Styles’ versatility makes him a tough assignment — he’s made 41.0% of three-pointers (25-of-61), 48.9% of twos (43-of-88), and taken over 1/4 of his shots at the rim where he converts 53.7% of the time.
Illinois transfer Jayden Epps leads the team in scoring at 17.8 points per game, and in assists at 4.1 per game. His assist rate is among the best in the country, as he’s had an assist on 28.9% of his team’s made baskets while on the floor. Notably, he began the year red-hot from three-point range, making 47% over his first seven games. But he’s regressed to the mean since, and had some truly horrible shooting nights — he was 1-of-9 from three against Syracuse and 1-of-8 from three against Marquette. His overall percentage of 37.0% is now closer to what he shot at Illinois a year ago. It remains to be seen what type of shooter he will be going forward.
- Tip: 6:00pm
- Venue: Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
- TV: CBSSN
- Announcers: Tom McCarthy and Steve Lappas
- 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
- Creighton Radio: 1620AM, 101.9FM
- Announcer: John Bishop
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- Simulcast on SiriusXM channel 119 or 202, and on the SXM app
- Georgetown Radio: 99.1FM in the Washington, D.C. area
- Announcer: Rich Chvotkin
- Simulcast on SiriusXM channel 383 and on the SXM app
- Other Hoyas of note include freshman Rowan Brumbaugh, who’s averaging 8.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. He leads the team with 18 steals, and ranks sixth in the Big East with 1.5 of them per game. 6’9″ senior Ismael Massoud, a transfer from Kansas State, has only played in seven games, starting five, and averages 8.7 points and 4.9 rebounds while playing over 30 minutes per night. And 6’3″ senior Jay Heath averages 8.5 points per game, is third on the team in assists with 30, and is shooting 30.9% from three-point range.
- Jayden Epps scored 30 or more in two straight games earlier this year (31 against American and 34 against Jackson State). It was the first time a Georgetown player has achieved that feat since Austin Freeman in 2010.
- In 23 all-time meetings against the Hoyas, Creighton is 12-2 when scoring 74 points or more against Georgetown, but 2-7 when scoring 73 points or less. The Bluejays average 82.43 points in the 14 wins, but 61.11 points per game in the nine losses.
- Mason Miller never scored more than nine points and averaged 2.8 points per game in his first 42 games at Creighton. But in his last five games, he’s averaged 9.6 points per game, including two games with 17 and 11 points, and made 13-of-21 three-pointers (.619). That’s good enough to move him to 57.5 percent on the season, which leads the Big East.
- Baylor Scheierman ranks first in the Big East Conference in scoring at 18.6 points per game. He’s one of just two players in the league to have scored in double-figures in every game this season, joining St. John’s Joel Soriano. Scheierman is just the third Creighton player in the last 25 seasons to score in double-figures each of the first 13 games of a year, joining Doug McDermott (all 35 games in 2011-12) and Marcus Foster (first 15 in 2017-18).
Creighton is 14-9 all-time against Georgetown and has won 11 of the last 14 meetings in the series. Creighton is 5-5 in Washington, D.C., against the Hoyas all-time, including three straight double-figure victories. Each of the last seven Bluejay wins, and each of the last six meetings regardless of victor, have been decided by double-digits.
Greg McDermott is 10-13 in his career against Ed Cooley, though all of those games came when Cooley was at Providence. Cooley is 13-11 in his career against Creighton, having also lost a CIT game when he was head coach at Fairfield in addition to his 13-10 mark leading the Friars vs. CU.
CU won 99-59 in the most recent meeting on March 1, 2023 in Omaha.
On January 2, 2001, Creighton beat Nebraska 62-51 at the Devaney Center in Lincoln to pick up their first-ever win in the building in 13 tries. The 11-point win was made all the more remarkable by the fact that the Jays went scoreless for their first 15 possessions — 8-1/2 minutes of game time — and then scored 62 in the remaining 31-1/2. In fact, the Bluejays only stayed in the game because Nebraska was nearly as bad, scoring just seven points of their own during the dry spell.
The Huskers had more turnovers (15) than field goals (7) in the first half, and as a result led only 24-22 at the half. The Jays took the lead on the very first possession of the second, and never trailed again.
Leading the charge was sophomore Kyle Korver, who had 22 points, 13 rebounds, and four steals. It was his three that gave them a 25-24 lead with 19:17 to go; after the game, he told the media the win was of little significance to him, “But it’s big for Creighton, and it’s big for our fans.”
The Creighton fans he spoke of took over the Devaney Center in the game’s final minute. As a good portion of Nebraska’s fans headed for the exits, Bluejay backers filled the arena with chants of “Let’s Go Bluejays!” — the first instance of something that would become commonplace in years to come.
The Bottom Line:
Creighton is favored by 12.5 according to oddsmakers, and KenPom predicts a 13-point win. ESPN’s BPI gives them 86.5% odds of victory. That’s a lot in a conference game, but to stave off further panic among their fanbase, Creighton needs to not just win but cover that big spread. When you not only have big expectations, but outwardly embrace them, that’s just how it is. Georgetown is not very good, CU has the positional advantage at all five spots among the starting five, and a double-digit win should be expected.
I think they ultimately will, but this will be closer than you’d like for a lot of the night.
Bluejays 79, Hoyas 64
