On the same night Creighton built a 19-0 lead over Georgetown in what became a 99-59 blowout, DePaul fell behind 29-2 after eight minutes at UConn in an 88-59 loss. Given that the Bluejays have beaten DePaul 17 consecutive times, and DePaul has lost 11 straight this season, you’d be forgiven if you were looking ahead to next week’s Big East Tournament instead of Saturday night’s regular season finale in the Windy City.
To that end, Creighton’s bracket scenarios are pretty straightforward:
- Creighton will be the No. 3 seed with a victory at DePaul AND a loss by either Xavier (home vs. Butler) or Providence (home vs. Seton Hall) or both. If CU is the No. 3 seed, it will play the winner of Georgetown/Villanova at around 8:30pm Omaha time on Thursday.
- CU will be the No. 4 seed if it wins at DePaul and both Xavier (home vs. Butler) and Providence (home vs. Seton Hall) win, or if Creighton loses at DePaul and UConn loses at Villanova. If Creighton is the No. 4 seed, it will play UConn at 1:30pm Omaha time on Thursday.
- Creighton will be the No. 5 seed if it loses at DePaul and UConn wins at Villanova. If Creighton is the No. 5 seed, it will face either Providence (if UConn wins and CU/PC both lose) or UConn (if UConn/PC both win and CU loses) at 1:30pm Omaha time on Thursday.
The Jays will know exactly what’s at stake by the time they tip on Saturday night, as their game is the last of five Big East games that day.
But back to DePaul. They’re looking to snap an 11-game skid, with their last win coming against Xavier on Jan. 18, but got a huge shot in the arm when 6’11” senior Nick Ongenda made his season debut in mid-February. He missed the first 25 games of the season with a wrist injury but is averaging 11.9 points, 8.0 rebounds, 5.0 blocks and 1.6 steals per game since his return. In games played since his return on Feb. 14, Ongenda leads the Big East in blocks per game and ranks second in rebounds. And his 5.0 blocks per game are more than double the next closest player in the league, Ryan Kalkbrenner, who is averaging 2.7.
They’ve lost all five games since his return, but the Blue Demons have averaged 3.4 more rebounds, 3.4 more blocks, and 1.9 more assists per game — while opponents have shot worse both overall and from the perimeter. That’s a testament to just how bad they were without him.
He’s been a force, scoring 17 points with six boards and two blocks in that loss to UConn on Wednesday (on 6-of-11 shooting, 5-of-7 from the line), and 16 points with five blocks, three steals and 12 rebounds (four offensive) in a surprisingly close loss to Marquette over the weekend. That’s not great news considering the Jays were beaten up pretty badly in the paint in the first meeting — Ryan Kalkbrenner scored just four points, and the Jays were outscored in the paint 22-14.
Combined with 18 turnovers (on a nightmarish 24.7% of their possessions) and 13 DePaul offensive rebounds, the Blue Demons took 23 more shots than the Jays did.
Of course, that didn’t matter because early in that game, someone on DePaul’s bench decided to trash talk the then-struggling Trey Alexander. He mockingly yelled “shooter!” as Alexander’s first shot attempt went up. Alexander responded by delivering a heckuva Christmas present to Bluejay fans: a career-high 32 points, punctuated with some return-fire trash talk to DePaul’s bench after every basket. And there were a lot of them: 11-of-16 overall, 7-of-12 from three. Dumb, unforced mistakes have been DePaul’s MO most of the season.
It’s partially why a team with Ongenda inside and a perimeter scorer like Umoja Gibson hasn’t won in six weeks. Gibson has made 84 three-pointers at a 42.2% clip from deep (tops in the Big East and 14th best nationally), and is the league’s fifth-highest scorer in conference games, averaging 16.5 points per game. In the first meeting, he scored 14 points on 2-of-6 from outside the arc.
Javan Johnson averages 14.1 points per game and shoots 39.8 percent from deep. Johnson has been especially good in Blue Demons wins, as he’s averaged 21.2 points and 5.4 rebounds in those nine games while making 56.6% of his shots and 59.6% of his three-pointers. In 21 losses, Johnson has averaged 11.1 points per game on 34.3% shooting from the floor and 30.6% shooting from deep. That was true in Omaha, too — Johnson scored just 11 on 4-of-11 shooting.
Jalen Terry, coming off the bench, scored 14 with a pair of threes in that game. He missed seven games starting in mid-January, and has struggled to find his shooting rhythm since returning: he has 21 total points in those five games.
Embarrassment at UConn notwithstanding, DePaul is better than they were on December 25 in Omaha. Look no further than last weekend at Marquette; with the Golden Eagles trying to clinch a tie for the Big East title, DePaul pushed them to the limit in a 90-84 loss. Creighton should win, probably by double digits as the experts think, but if it’s closer than that for a chunk of the game don’t be surprised.
- Tip: 8:00pm
- Venue: Wintrust Arena (Capacity: 10,387) in Chicago, Ill.
- TV: FS1
- Announcers: Kevin Kugler and Dickey Simpkins
- 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
- Cable Cutters: Available on all major streaming platforms
- Streaming on the Fox Sports app and website
- Creighton Radio: 1620AM, 101.9FM
- Announcer: John Bishop
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- Simulcast on SiriusXM channel 381 and on SXM app channel 971
- DePaul Radio: WSCR 670AM TheScore
- Announcers: Zach Zaidman and Dave Corzine
- Streaming on the DePaul Blue Demons App
DePaul is 4-1 this season when making ten or more three-pointers. In wins, the team is shooting 44.7% from three-point range, compared to 32.3% in losses. They rank third in the Big East with a 36.1% three-point percentage and are top-75 nationally in three-pointers per game.
The Blue Demons last win against Creighton came Jan. 7, 2015 on the road in a 70-60 win.
Creighton has beaten DePaul in 17 straight meetings, its longest run of victories over one opponent in more than 85 years. The only teams that Creighton has beaten more than 15 times in a row are Grinnell (18 times, between 1926 and 1937) and South Dakota (17 times, between 1918 and 1936).
Trey Alexander had a career-high seven three-pointers in Creighton’s Christmas Day win over DePaul, then made 7-of-10 from behind the arc on Wednesday in a win over Georgetown. Alexander is the fourth player in Creighton history with multiple games of seven or more three-pointers made in a career, joining Mitch Ballock (4x), Kyle Korver (4x) and Ethan Wragge (2x).
Creighton’s 13 league wins are one shy of tying a program record for most conference wins in any of its 10 seasons in the Big East. Three of CU’s four previous teams to win 12 or more league games reached the Big East Tournament final, with the prematurely cancelled 2019-20 campaign being the other.
Creighton has won 22 of the last 23 (including 17 straight) meetings with DePaul to take a 27-16 lead in the all-time series.
Nineteen of the last 21 meetings in the series have been decided by double-figures, including all but the 2018 and 2021 meetings in Chicago since then. Creighton is 20-1 in the series since joining the Big East, including 17 straight victories.
On March 4, Creighton has won three MVC Tournament titles, two against Southern Illinois and one against Illinois State. The first came on March 4, 2002, a 84-76 victory over SIU in which Terrell Taylor led the way with 20 points. Junior Kyle Korver added 18 along with nine rebounds and five assists. Trailing 36-33 at halftime, Creighton opened the second half on an 11-2 run to take a 44-38 lead. Over the second half’s first 12 minutes, the Bluejays shot 60% (12-for-20), while Southern Illinois mustered only 26%, missing 14 of 19 shots in falling behind 64-53. During that stretch, the Salukis had seven turnovers.
Then on March 4, 2007, the Jays toppled top-seeded and 11th ranked SIU 67-61 in front of 22,612 fans at Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Their seniors led the way, as tournament most outstanding player Nate Funk scored 19 points, while Anthony Tolliver recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 15 points and 13 rebounds and Nick Porter had 15 points and a team-best six assists. The Bluejays snapped an eight-game losing streak to SIU, topping the Salukis for the first time since the 2003 MVC Championship game. They controlled the game throughout, owning a 32-28 halftime lead and pushing ahead by as many as 14 in the second half.
Most recently, they defeated the Redbirds on March 4, 2012, 83-79 in overtime to capture the first MVC Tournament title of the Greg McDermott Era. Doug McDermott scored 33 points, and senior Antoine Young had 14 — including eight in an overtime period where he literally put the team on his back.
The Bottom Line:
Creighton has an 87.8% chance of victory according to ESPN’s BPI, and KenPom predicts a 10-point Bluejay win. Vegas favors them by 11.5. Take the over.
Bluejays 77, Blue Demons 65
