Creighton begins a stretch of nine games in four weeks on Saturday, when they’ll take on the Butler Bulldogs in Indianapolis. Of course, that’s pending any changes to the schedule because of COVID — case in point, this game against Butler has moved tip times twice already because of COVID issues postponing other games around the league.
Before the season started, the importance of getting to 13 games was mentioned by coaches across the country. That’s the threshold to be eligible for the NCAA Tournament. Creighton’s game Saturday at Butler is their 13th game, so if teams continue going on pause and games start dropping off the schedule, at least they’ve hit that threshold.
The Bulldogs were picked eighth in the preseason Big East poll, as they entered a season they knew would have ups and downs because of so many newcomers on the roster. A year ago, they were picked eighth, too, and blasted out to a 15-1 start, rose as high as #5 in the polls…and won only seven of their final 15 games, limping into an NCAA Tournament that didn’t happen. The heights of early January 2020 Butler seem like a long time ago. They enter Saturday with a 3-7 mark, which means that the Bulldogs have gone 10-15 since that impressive start a year ago.
Butler won their opener over Western Michigan and then missed nearly a month because of COVID; they’ve only played three non-conference games. Compounding matters: while this year’s team returned three starters, surrounding those three is one of the youngest teams in the country, and injuries forced those newcomers into key roles immediately. Four of the top eight players in their rotation are true freshmen; the combination of All-Big East player Aaron Thompson missing time with a sprained ankle and a ton of minutes for those freshmen has added up to that 3-7 start.
Jair Bolden (13.4 ppg.) and Aaron Thompson (13.4 ppg.) share the team lead in points per game. Bolden, a grad transfer from South Carolina, is Butler’s best perimeter shooter. He’s made 31-of-72 three-pointers (43.1%) and his average of 3.1 made threes per game lead the conference. He’s not much of a scorer from anywhere else, though — exactly one of Bolden’s 110 shot attempts have come at or near the rim, and he missed it. He’s just 12-of-38 on two-pointers. Your task as a defender is to run him off the line; if he shoots a three, he makes it a little less than half the time. Make him shoot something else.
Thompson has played just five games, and though it goes without saying, we’ll say it anyway. Butler is a lot better when Thompson is in the lineup. He’s a quick, aggressive player who is basically the polar opposite of Bolden — two of his 40 shot attempts this year have been threes, with most (60%) of his attempts coming at the rim. When he gets downhill he’s hard to stop. He makes them better defensively, too, particularly when guarding the perimeter.
True freshman Chuck Harris averages 11.1 points per game, but missed the Bulldogs game earlier this week against St. John’s because of a bone bruise in his knee. He’s a gametime decision for the Jays, and if he can’t go, it’s a big loss — Harris has made 42% of his threes (15-of-35) and 61% of his shots at or near the rim through his first nine games in a Bulldog uniform. Harris has scored in double figures in six of his nine collegiate contests, and among true freshmen in the Big East, only Marquette’s Dawson Garcia (at 13.5 points per game) is averaging more points per game.
Another true freshman, Myles Tate, played all 40 minutes against St. John’s on Tuesday night, scoring eight points to go along with six rebounds and four assists. Earlier in the month, he scored 22 points at Seton Hall with five made-threes.
6’9″ junior Bryce Golden is the fourth Bulldog to average in double figures at 10.1 points per game. He’s scored in double figures in six games this year, including 17 against SIU.
And then there’s Bryce Nze, their versatile 6’7″ forward who does a little bit of everything. He’s strong enough to post up opposing bigs and score in the paint, he’s comfortable shooting from the perimeter (making 35% of his threes so far), and he’s drawn the most fouls. It’s worth noting that while he’s attempted the most free throws on the team with 36, he’s been beyond terrible from the line, somehow making only 41%. Nze is also their second-leading rebounder, at 4.9 per game, with three games of 10 or more — including 14 at St. John’s on Tuesday night.
Since joining the Big East, Creighton is 7-1 when scoring 72 or more points against the Bulldogs and 1-5 when scoring 71 points or less. We say it every year in the Primer before Butler games because it’s more true against them than it is against anyone else: if the Jays can push the pace into something resembling a track meet, they’ll win. If the game gets dragged into the mud — Butler’s average possession length is 19.4 seconds, 331st in D1 — the Bulldogs probably win.
Whether they can do that or not depends at least in part on the status of Marcus Zegarowski. Officially listed as day-to-day with his hamstring injury, if he can’t go Saturday the Jays will once again turn to sophomore Shereef Mitchell in his place. Mitchell played well at home in Saturday’s win over St. John’s, but duplicating it at Hinkle is another story.
- Tip: 1:00pm
- Venue: Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
- TV: FS1
- Announcers: Matt Schumacker and Nick Bahe
- In Omaha: Cox channel 78 (SD), 1078 (HD); CenturyLink Prism channel 620 (SD), 1620 (HD)
- Outside Omaha: FS1 Channel Finder
- Satellite: DirecTV channel 219, Dish Network channel 150
- 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: XM channel 201, Sirius channel 136
- Butler broadcast: XM channel 384
- The highest-rated recruiting class in Butler history has lived up to the billing so far. Chuck Harris, Myles Tate and JaKobe Coles (who is currently sidelined with a meniscus injury) have each scored in double figures in multiple games so far this season and all three have led the team in scoring in a game so far this season.
- The Bulldogs shot a sizzling 11-of-22 from three-point range January 2 at Seton Hall. The 11 three-pointers were the most by a Butler team since hitting 12 at Nebraska March 20, 2019 in the NIT.
- Butler turned the ball over a season-high 16 times at St. John’s in Tuesday’s loss. The Bulldogs entered the game among the nation’s best at taking care of the ball, highlighted by committing only six turnovers in the January 6 win over Georgetown, matching the team’s fewest turnovers in a game so far this season. Butler’s average of only 11.6 turnovers per game is now just outside the Top 50 nationally.
- With a win on Saturday, Creighton will start 4-0 in conference road games for just the second time since 1943-44, as the 2011-12 team won its first five league games on the road. In its last 14 Big East road games, Creighton is 10-4, posting at least one road win at each Big East other than Butler and Georgetown.
- Creighton put up 56 points in the first half last Saturday vs. St. John’s, its highest output before intermission in a league game since joining the Big East. After a total of eight halves of 52 points or more in its first seven years in the league, Creighton has already scored 52 points or more in three different halves this Big East season.
- Freshman Ryan Kalkbrenner has had four blocked shots in Creighton’s games each of the last two Saturday’s. He’s just the second Bluejay in Greg McDermott’s 11 years to have multiple games with four or more blocks in the same season, joining Olympian Gregory Echenique.
Creighton is 12-9 all-time vs. Butler. The home team has won the last six meetings. Creighton is 3-7 all-time in Indianapolis against the Bulldogs, including a 2-5 mark since the schools became Big East rivals.
Greg McDermott is 8-8 in his career vs. Butler, including a 8-6 mark on the Creighton sideline. He is 3-3 against LaVall Jordan, with the home team winning each time.
On January 16, 2010, Creighton defeated Wichita State 57-56 for their seventeenth — 17th! — straight win at home in the series. Ott’s recap is a real tour de force; I’d excerpt something from it but I’m not sure where to begin and where to end. Just go re-read the whole thing. I beg you. I PLEAD WITH YOU.
The Bottom Line:
The Jays haven’t just lost a lot of games at Hinkle Fieldhouse since joining the league, they’ve frequently not looked very good doing it, either. CU has lost three straight there by an average of 17 points. This feels like the year to flip the script.
Creighton 77, Butler 71