There’s a telling stat in Rob Anderson’s game notes for Thursday’s clash at Oklahoma State: Creighton is 19-2 since 2002 in the game following a loss by 20 points or more. That’s 21 losses by 20+ points in 21 years, or basically one per year.
Losses like the Jays suffered last Thursday to Colorado State happen during the course of the season. But they almost always rebound to win the next one, and those losses rarely if ever torpedo their season. Take the last time it happened: an 82-60 loss to Xavier in the 2023 Big East Tournament semifinal where their primary playmaker had one of the worst nights of his career (Ryan Nembhard was 1-of-9 on two-pointers and missed four layups at the rim) and they looked completely lost defensively. Nembhard had a big role in that, too, as his primary assignment Souley Boum scored 23 points on 7-of-17 shooting, with six assists.*
*We single him out because as brilliant as Nembhard was in two years with the Jays, he had his share of games where shots wouldn’t fall too — though he was crafty enough to get to the rim and create shots, he wasn’t always able to finish. Those games are (rightfully) overshadowed by ones where he carried them to victory, like his 30-piece against Baylor in the Round of 32 a year ago. But just having Nembhard on the roster doesn’t mean a loss like the one to Colorado State doesn’t happen.
A week after that loss to Xavier, they began a run to the Elite Eight with a 72-63 win over NC State, a game that saw them shoot even worse — 3-of-20 from three-point range. But they locked in defensively and dominated in the paint, a formula they used successfully to compete on nights where their jump shots were off. This year’s team hasn’t figured out how to win those games yet.
Can they?
For his part, Greg McDermott isn’t hitting the panic button and isn’t changing their approach.
“We got really good shots,” McDermott said at his weekly press conference. “If we play that first half over again and take the exact same shots and they take the exact same shots, I think we have a double-digit lead and I think the game probably goes a different direction in the second half. But we started pressing a little, especially when we got ten minutes into second half and we weren’t really able to cut into that lead as much as we’d like.”
With that said, McDermott clearly saw some things last week that bothered him, because all reports from practice indicate that it’s been a week of physical, high-intensity drills — the type of practices you see when a coach feels like his team isn’t playing as tough as they should.
Trey Alexander alluded to it, telling the media that McDermott “got after us a little bit. But we needed that.”
Noting that they have to find more teeth defensively, he added “I think that in the first half, we played pretty well even without shots falling on the defensive end. But then the second half I feel like we kind of got away from that. We were letting guys get to their spots. I think we weren’t getting over screens as well as we should have been, things like that.”
Ryan Kalkbrenner, too, spoke of the intensity of practice this past week. “It sounds kind of silly to say, but we’ve focused on small things like the pace we move at, our cuts, our intensity and talking on defense — things like that we just needed to hammer on.”
He added that when they watched the film, one thing that jumped out was how the team’s activity level on both ends of the floor dropped as shots continued to rim out. “That can’t happen because eventually you’re going to have games that you don’t make shots. You’ve got to keep playing the same way.”
After dropping to 15th in the AP Top 25, Creighton will play two road games in four days — at Oklahoma State and at Nebraska. It’s a rough stretch where they’ll be required to play with a tougher edge than they’ve showed in their first six games.
It’s also a homecoming for Alexander, a native of Oklahoma City who says he’s been to games in Gallagher-Iba Arena “hundreds of times.” He’s collected tickets from teammates for this one so his family and friends can attend, and is excited to play in his home state. He’s also excited to turn the page on a rough tourney in Kansas City that saw him make just 4-of-26 shots from the floor and score 11 total points in two games; he also had two assists and seven turnovers. Come to think of it, rough doesn’t even begin to describe numbers that bad. Especially for a player who had averaged 21 points, seven boards and six assists through the first four games.
“He hasn’t had many days like that in his career, so you have to learn to deal with it a little bit as well,” McDermott said. “For him to go back to his home state, having had a great career here at Creighton, it’ll be pretty cool.”
Alexander said the key to getting back on track is to focus on playing his game, and not forcing things despite the temptation to do so — coming off those two poor outings, and heading into a homecoming game.
“I know that shots are going to fall throughout the course of the season. This just happens sometimes in basketball, it’s a part of the game,” he said. “I have to try to get my teammates involved early in games like that.”
The Cowboys come in a 3-3 after a pair of blowout wins over KenPom #283 New Orleans (96-68) and #358 Houston Christian (92-65) where they began to right the ship. The first two weeks saw them lose at home to Abilene Christian 64-59, and to St. Bonaventure and Notre Dame by identical 66-64 scores on consecutive days in Brooklyn.
For a team with goals of a top-half finish in the rough-and-tumble Big XII and an NCAA Tournament bid, dropping multiple games to low majors in November leaves a bit of a dent. But it’s not totally unexpected given the turnover in the roster — three would-be fifth-year seniors transferred out, and they lost 43 points and 24 rebounds per game off a team that won 20 games and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT.
In their place, coach Mike Boynton hit the transfer portal hard, adding four D1 transfers to supplement a recruiting class with three freshmen. And that remade roster has been impressive in spurts, as Bryce Thompson (14.3 points per game) leads a group of five double-digit scorers, just ahead of Javon Small (14.0), Jamyron Keller (14.0), Mike Marsh (10.4 ppg) and John-Michael Wright (10.3). Problem is, the only one of that group to play in all six games is Wright.
So let’s start there. The 6’1″ Wright, a fifth-year senior who handled point guard duties for most of his first four years, moved off the ball after the season opening loss to Abilene Christian — a game where he struggled immensely (two points on 1-of-9 shooting, including 0-of-6 from three point range). Since then, he’s scored in double figures in all five games, the longest streak of his career. His shooting hasn’t gotten much better, however; he’s a fairly pedestrian 11-of-21 (52%) inside the arc and 9-of-38 (23.7%) outside. His scoring has come from the line, where he’s made 92% of his free throws so far.
The 6’6″ Thompson, a senior who started his career at Kansas before transferring to OSU, has missed the last three games due to injury. He’s “trending toward being available” for tonight’s game, according to his coach earlier this week, and if so that’s a big boost — he led the team with 19 points in the season opener, and had 17 in the next game. The explosive wing is averaging a team-best 27.0 points-per-40-minutes and has hit on 50% of his threes (6-of-12). He has All-Big XII talent if he can find the consistency to thrive when he’s at the top of opponent’s scouting reports; a year ago he had too many games with six or fewer points (nine) for a player with the ability to get 20+.
Small, a 6’3″ transfer from East Carolina, had huge numbers in the AAC: 15.8 points, 5.6 assists, and 4.8 rebounds a year ago. He was Tristen Newton’s replacement at ECU after Newton transferred to UConn, and Newton’s success after moving to the Big East has them excited that Small can do the same. A strong, fast facilitator, his shooting numbers mean defenses have to know where he is every second he’s on the floor. He’s had five or more assists in four games so far, and ranks 34th nationally in assists per game (5.6). Over the last two games, he’s had 13 assists to zero turnovers. Against Notre Dame, he had a monster 29-point, 10-rebound effort that was OSU’s first 25+ point double-double since Cade Cunningham in 2020-21.
Marsh is a 6’10”, 250-pound center who transferred from Jacksonville; he’s 24 years old, knows how to play and defend on the block, and has the body to give most collegiate centers trouble. He had a team-high 14 points against Houston Christian on 6-of-9 shooting, and posted his first double-double as a Cowboy with 13 points and 11 rebounds against New Orleans. He’s OSU’s leading rebounder (7.0 rpg) and also shooting a team-best 66.7% from the field.
Through six years at OSU, Mike Boynton’s program has developed a reputation for elite defense. They’ve finished in the top 20 nationally in defensive efficiency on KenPom in each of the past three seasons. But in their best years, they’ve coupled it with a prolific offense. In 2021, a year they earned a four-seed in the NCAA Tournament, they ranked 60th in offensive efficiency. The last two years when they missed the big dance, they ranked 161st and 146th.
- Tip: 8:00pm
- Venue: Gallagher Iba Arena, Stillwater, OK
- TV: ESPN2
- Announcers: Rich Hollenberg and Tim Welsh
- In Omaha: Cox channel 30 (SD), 1030 (HD)
- Satellite: DirecTV channel 209, Dish Network channel 143
- Cable Cutters: Available on all major streaming platforms
- Streaming on WatchESPN
- Radio: 1620AM, 101.9FM
- Announcer: John Bishop
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- Simulcast on SiriusXM channel 119 or 201, as well as on their website and app
- Freshman Jamyron Keller missed the first four games due to injury but exploded for 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting (4-of-7 on threes) in his debut against New Orleans and had 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting vs. Houston Christian. In two collegiate games he’s 11-of-14 from the field (78.6%) and 5-of-8 from deep (62.5%).
- Another freshman, 6’11” Brandon Garrison, became one of only four Cowboy freshmen who have blocked six or more shots in a game after doing it last week against Houston Christian. The others? Yor Anei (4x in 2018-19), Byron Houston (2x in 1988-89) and Leroy Combs (1979-80).
- OSU opponents have finished with more turnovers than assists in five of the six games and have a 0.75 ratio (59 A, 79 TO) for the year. Creighton’s 1.75 ratio ranks 16th nationally.
- Baylor Scheierman owns 1,695 points, 983 rebounds, 466 assists and has made 272 career three-pointers in 133 total games when you combine his Creighton and South Dakota State stats. Creighton’s only other players to reach 1,000 career rebounds have been Paul Silas (1,751), Bob Harstad (1,126), Doug McDermott (1,088) and Benoit Benjamin (1,005).
- Creighton is the highest-ranked non-conference opponent to play at Gallagher-Iba Arena since No. 6 Wichita State in 2017.
- Hall of Fame coach Eddie Sutton’s first Division I head coaching job was at Creighton, where he patrolled the Bluejay sideline from 1969-74 and went 82-50. Sutton later coached at Arkansas and Kentucky before leading Oklahoma State to 368 wins from 1990-2006. Current Oklahoma State assistant coach Scott Sutton is the son of Eddie Sutton. He was born in Omaha in 1970. Thursday’s game is “Survivor Night” presented by the Eddie Sutton Foundation, with “I Scowl at Cancer” signs to be distributed to fans beforehand. It should be a wonderful tribute to a coach that made lasting impressions at both schools – often with a scowl on his face.
Creighton is 21-19 all-time against Oklahoma State, but just 7-13 in games played in Stillwater. 35 of the 40 series meetings took place from 1928-48 when both schools were members of the Missouri Valley Conference and the OSU Cowboys were known as the Oklahoma A&M Aggies. The rivalry’s height came over a nine-year stretch from 1934-35 to 1942-43 when either Creighton or Henry Iba’s Aggies (sometimes both) finished atop the Valley standings in every season. Creighton won four titles and OSU claimed six during that stretch.
Notably, OSU lost only six home games in historic Gallagher-Iba Arena’s first 10 seasons (1938-48). Two of them were to Creighton. But Creighton has not won in Stillwater since 1943, and have scored 53 points or less in each its seven wins in the city.
Creighton won the most recent meeting on Dec. 20, 1998, topping the then-No. 18 Cowboys 66-60 in Eddie Sutton’s return to Omaha.
On November 30, 2011, Creighton rallied from a 17-point deficit at San Diego State to win a huge game in a hostile environment, 85-83. It marked the official arrival of the Doug McDermott-led Bluejays on the national scene, it’s one of the signature wins of his four-year career, and it remains the biggest deficit the Jays have overcome to win in the Greg McDermott Era. What a night.
The Bottom Line:
Creighton is a 7.5 point favorite according to Vegas oddsmakers, and has a 71.3% chance of victory according to ESPN’s BPI. KenPom also predicts a Jays win, albeit in a bit closer game (favoring them by six).
Any road win is a good win, no matter the score.
Creighton 74, Oklahoma State 66