How’s this for a scheduling quirk? On February 20, with just five games remaining in the Big East schedule, Creighton and DePaul meet for the first time — after completing the season series with six other schools. Dave Leitao’s team is quite a bit improved over a year ago, holding a 13-11 record (5-8 in the Big East, including a sweep of Seton Hall and a road win over St. John’s). With another league win, they’d equal their high water mark since the league relaunched in 2014 (they were 6-12 in 2015-16) but do so with significantly more momentum as that squad lost their last eight games. It’s been 13 years since they won more than six Big East games — the 2006-07 team that was their last postseason qualifier after going 9-7 in the Big East and earning a three-seed in the NIT where they advanced to the third round. There’s optimism around the Blue Demons program for the first time in a long time.
And next year, they’ll welcome a star-studded recruiting class ranked as high as 17th nationally and among the top 25 according to all three major recruiting services. It’s the top class in the state of Illinois — far better than either of the state’s Big Ten rivals — and positions the Blue Demons to make a giant leap next year. They could have legitimate NCAA Tournament aspirations for the first time in a generation.
But that’s next year.
The team Creighton will be contending with on Wednesday night in Chicago is led by senior Max Strus, their 6’6″ guard who leads them in scoring (17.2 points per game) and three-pointers made (65). Strus is a true volume shooter, and is not terribly efficient — his 327 shot attempts are nearly 100 more than any other Blue Demon, and he’s made just 39% of them. He’s taken 190 three-pointers, making just 34% of them. The Jays saw that first hand a year ago, when Strus scored 25 points in two games but took a TON of shots to get there — he was 4-of-15 (and 1-of-9 from three-point range) in Omaha, and 3-of-11 (1-of-6 on threes) in Chicago.
Prior to busting out against Butler over the weekend with 23 points (7-14 overall, 3-6 on threes), he’d been in a prolonged slump that included ugly shooting lines in six straight games — among them 6-of-20 at Xavier, 4-of-13 against Villanova, and 4-of-17 at Marquette. He’s heating up just as the Jays come to town, which figures.
Joining Strus in the backcourt is fellow senior Eli Cain, who averages 12.5 points and 3.6 assists per game. Cain is their only other real threat from behind the arc, converting 36% of his attempts (41-113); Strus and Cain have combined for around two-thirds of the team’s shot attempts from long range. He’s coming off a 17-point performance at Butler where he made 3-of-5 on three-pointers.
Sophomore Devin Gage has done a nice job running the offense alongside of Cain; he has a nearly 2:1 assist to turnover ratio and leads the team with 93 assists (3.8 per game). A slasher, most of Gage’s offense comes at or near the rim. The further away from the basket you can convince him to shoot from, the better; he’s 8-34 on threes this year.
DePaul’s bigs are where the Bluejays will struggle to match up. Femi Olujobi (13.5 points, 5.3 rebounds per game) and Paul Reed (11.6 points, 8.1 rebounds) give them one of the league’s best one-two punches inside.
Olujobi, a grad transfer from North Carolina A&T by way of Oakland (MI) University, has been an impact player — his huge 6’9″, 258-pound frame has made him tough to guard. He’s made 65% of his shots around the rim (105-161, 50th best in the country), and has drawn the most fouls on the team (making 75% of his free throws, 84-112).
Reed is 6’9″ with a 7’1″ wingspan, and gives them a rim protector (he’s averaging over a block per game) that allows other defenders to be more aggressive in the paint. He’s averaging over three offensive rebounds a game, leading an attack that has the best offensive rebound percentage in the Big East (32.3% of their own missed shots are corralled by the Blue Demons). When shots go up, Creighton has to box out and try to get in position as best as they can, because there’s been times this year where DePaul’s best offense comes on second opportunities — they’ll take a wild shot, get a rebound and then score when the defense is unorganized.
The Blue Demons are top-heavy, with one of the shortest benches in the Big East. Their five starters have played 74.9% of the total minutes so far, making them particularly susceptible to foul trouble and to fatigue late in games against teams who are able to push tempo. And while they’ve been terrific in the paint defensively, they’ve given up a ton of three-pointers — among Big East teams only St. John’s has allowed opponents to shoot more threes, and at 43% of opponent’s total shot attempts, DePaul’s ratio is 316th highest in the country. Butler and Marquette combined to make 24 of their 57 3-pointers (44.4 percent) against DePaul a week ago.
Creighton is going to get as many threes as they want tonight. They have to knock them down.
- Tip: 8:00pm
- Venue: Wintrust Center, Chicago, IL
- TV: FSN
- Announcers: Jeff Levering and Dickey Simpkins
- In Omaha: Cox channel 47 (SD), 1047 (HD); CenturyLink Prism 748 (SD), 1748 (HD); DirecTV channel 671; Dish Network channel 418
- Outside Omaha: Varies depending on region. Clearances, both live and tape delayed, are here (click image in the tweet to enlarge)
- Announcers: Jeff Levering and Dickey Simpkins
- Streaming on FoxSportsGO, with region restrictions
- Radio: 1620AM
- Announcers: John Bishop and Taylor Stormberg
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- For Cord Cutters:
- DePaul has outrebounded the opponent in 17 of 24 games. The Blue Demons are 13-4 in those games and 0-7 when getting outrebounded.
- Over the last 12 games, Femi Olujobi is averaging 16.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Meanwhile over the last 11 games, Paul Reed is averaging 15.1 points and 10.3 rebounds while shooting .533 (65-122) from the field, .966 (28-29) from the free throw line and .533 (8-15) from three-point range.
- Following the Creighton game, DePaul is off until Feb. 27 at Georgetown. The Blue Demons and Hoyas will meet twice in an eight-day span.
- Creighton has won 11-of-12 meetings with DePaul since the schools became league rivals in the Big East. It’s probably not a coincidence that Creighton’s 80.75 points per game against the Blue Demons is its most against any league foe in that span.
- Creighton has scored 75 or more points in each of its 13 victories this season, and in 18 straight wins. CU’s last win when scoring 74 points or less was 13 months ago — a 68-63 win over St. John’s on Jan. 23, 2018.
- Martin Krampelj’s Big East numbers have been outstanding, as he averages 16.0 points per game, 8.1 rebounds per game and 1.1 blocks per game. Creighton has not had a player at least 16 points, 8 rebounds and 1 blocked shot per league game for an entire conference season in 30 years, as Chad Gallagher (18.6 ppg., 8.7 rpg., 2.8 bpg.) was the last to do it in 1989-90 back in their MVC days.
Creighton has won 13 of the last 14 meetings with DePaul, and 11 of 12 meetings since joining the Big East, to take an 18-16 lead in the all-time series. Last year’s sweep marked the first time since the 1976-77 campaign (when CU led 4-3) that the Bluejays have taken the lead in the series.
Creighton has won at DePaul each of the last five years. The only other teams they’ve beaten five straight times on the road? Grinnell College from 1929-30 to 1935-36, Washington University (Missouri) from 1935-36 to 1939-40, and Southern Illinois from 2008-09 to 2012-13.
The last time they met, Creighton smoked DePaul by 25 on Senior Night, and Marcus Foster did this:
Marcus Zegarowski returned on Sunday with a custom-built pad on his broken hand, and played 35 minutes in the game. The difference in the Jays’ offense was notable. He talked to WBR’s Matt DeMarinis for this feature on his return, and mentioned the word “confidence” over and over. And this quote is Exhibit A in the case of “This is Marcus Z’s team now”:
“Sitting back and watching gave me a different perspective on the practice floor, so when I got back I wanted to implement that part of my game and just be more of a leader,” Zegarowski said. “That’s one thing the coaches have been getting on me about, because they feel I can be more of a leader on this team being the point guard and the guy that runs the offense. That’s one thing I’m really take pride in is being more of a leader.
“I have to be able to tell somebody what I think, and it doesn’t matter who it is. It could be my best friend, but I have to let my teammates know what I think and then we can talk it out. That’s the only way we’ll get better. That’s the only way we’ll kill this losing streak is if we talk things out, and I feel as if I’m in a position to do that. And I will do that.”
Read it.
On February 20, 2010, Creighton defeated Loyola-Chicago 78-58 at the CLink. It became a running joke on social media and message boards for years to come, as the Bluejays delayed the mandatory return game year after year, even after they switched leagues, coaches, and the BracketBuster event itself went away. Five seasons passed, and then they finally returned it with a 2015 game at Loyola.
As for the 2010 game — the most recent time Creighton’s played on this date — the Bluejays and Ramblers met in a non-televised, minimal-hype BracketBuster game that was essentially a non-conference game in the middle of February between two middling teams. A much different atmosphere than previous BracketBusters, which saw great Creighton teams square off with other great non-power conference teams in games that were often highlights of the schedule, as Ott wrote the next day:
“There was a decidedly different aura surrounding the half-full sections about 10 minutes before the opening tip. Battling dinner crowds and exiting cars from the state wrestling tournament and the home and garden show at the Qwest convention center, thousands of Jays fans sauntered to their seats with a much more laid back gait. People were excited, sure; but excited like one gets excited for an evening out that’s been planned for sometime, regardless of what is actually going on. Savvy CU fans have known for quite awhile this game would be played on a Saturday evening, something that hasn’t happened yet this season. It was bound to be an event, even if the Bluejays didn’t cooperate.
And while the Jays haven’t cooperated for most of the season — with fans’ expectations, with no doubt their own expectations, and likely those of the coaching staff as well — they played host to a fun and carefree atmosphere Saturday night. The Bluejays would lead for the first time thanks to a 3-pointer by Kenny Lawson at the 14:44 mark, and they wouldn’t trail the rest of the evening. Sure, CU gave up a 10-point lead with 4 minutes to play in the first half and took just a 1-point cushion into the locker room at intermission, but a blowout seemed inevitable.
In fact, the only people in the Qwest Center who seemed nervous, aside from the folks who turned in less than exceptional fan shoot-out efforts, were new starters Ethan Wragge and Josh Jones. Taking the spots of Casey Harriman and Darryl Ashford, respectively, the two freshmen who have given the team a boost in recent weeks were rewarded with a spot in the opening lineup.”
It’s a snow day in Omaha, which means it’s a SNOW DAY in the Primer. Pun intended. And I apologize.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUmIiWLoEuo
The Bottom Line:
KenPom predicts a one-point Creighton win, which illustrates the blind spots of computer metrics — does any human think Creighton can win a one-point game, on the road, after losing four straight games where they had the lead in the closing minutes?
DePaul 73, Creighton 68