When Creighton takes the floor on Tuesday night to face Xavier, it will have been just 76 hours (roughly) since the conclusion of their epic triple-overtime win at Seton Hall. A game that long is a pretty rare occurrence; it had been 45 years since the last one for Creighton, a span of nearly 1,500 games, and that was the only other one they’d ever played. That other one? A Feb. 1, 1978 loss (85-82) in Omaha to No. 13 DePaul, a non-conference game long before either were in the Big East. It’s not just rare for CU — the Big East as a league has only had one game of three overtimes or longer since reconfiguring in 2013, a 99-92 Providence win over Xavier in 2022.
The Jays’ top players logged huge minutes in Saturday’s win, as you’d expect. Steven Ashworth played 48, and likely would have played more if not for getting his face cut open. Trey Alexander played 53, Ryan Kalkbrenner played 54 despite his jaw getting called for a foul, and Baylor Scheierman played every second of the 55-minute game. The obvious question is how much they have left in the tank for Tuesday night.
“I’m a little tired, but honestly better than I thought I’d be feeling,” Kalkbrenner said on Monday. “It was kind of crazy but a lot of fun being a part of that game.”
As for his jaw that was whistled for a personal foul, a call emblematic of the wrestling match that the officials allowed the game to devolve into — and the strange calls they made when they did blow the whistle — Kalkbrenner said it was finally feeling better by the time practice rolled around on Monday.
“I couldn’t close it after the game,” Kalkbrenner said. “Sunday I could almost close it but not quite, and today I can finally close it so it’s doing better. Thankfully it wasn’t too hard to talk, because I could still kind of open and close it, I just couldn’t get it closed all the way.”
Greg McDermott noted that they track how many “miles” players put on their bodies each week, and if they expend more in games than planned, they back off in practice to compensate. So while Sunday was a scheduled practice day, the six players that saw the biggest minutes in the game walked through the scouting prep for Xavier and then got off their feet while the rest of the team scrimmaged.
Given the reality of the energy expended in that triple-overtime game, it’s debatable whether you’d rather play another grinder against a big, physical team in the next game, or a track meet against an opponent who wants to run. For better or worse Creighton is getting the latter, as Xavier plays at the second-fasted tempo in the Big East behind only Marquette.
“They’re so fast. They’re the fastest team we’ve played this year in transition, and they come at you with pace especially when they take it off the glass,” McDermott said. “Our ability to get back, get turned around and defend is going to be critical.”
Noting that Xavier is the third-most efficient team in the country over the first six seconds of the shot clock, McDermott talked about the pressure that puts on an opponent — do you crash the boards to try to stop them from clearing a defensive board and running? Or do you run back so you have an extra second or two to get organized?
“It’s easier to get your defense put together if number one, you don’t turn it over. And number two, if you’re taking good shots,” McDermott said. “Often times when somebody takes a bad shot, it’s a shot their teammates didn’t expect them to take. Your transition defense isn’t already on the move when someone takes a bad shot, so as crazy as it sounds, shot selection is really important to transition defense and probably doesn’t get talked about enough.”
Xavier is a different team to get a read on. They were counting on seniors Zach Freemantle and Jerome Hunter to lead the way, and both have missed the entire season due to preseason injuries. A roster of 10 newcomers, including six true freshmen that have logged 30% of their minutes, has been up-and-down — as recently as two weeks ago, Xavier was struggling and below .500 both overall and in the Big East. But they come to Omaha on a three-game winning streak and are now 10-8 overall and 4-3 in the league, and with a NET of 43 are hoping to continue building a case to be a bubble team six weeks from now. They’re not there yet, but with a cache of solid Q1/Q2 wins — Saint Mary’s, Cincinnati, Seton Hall and Providence, with the latter two by 20 points each — they’re the 11th team out on BracketMatrix, which puts them in position to be right there on Selection Sunday if they can get hot.
6’3″ guard Quincy Olivari, a fifth-year senior after four great seasons at Rice, is leading the Musketeers with 18.1 points per game (third best in the Big East). He was a really good shooter at Rice, but has taken it to another level this year, making a team-high 53 three-pointers at at 43.3% clip (second best in the league). He’s adept at scoring in the paint, too, and has drawn a lot of fouls — he’s 81-of-100 at the line, helping offset his streaky shooting from the floor. Last Friday against Georgetown, he was just 2-of-7 inside the arc and 5-of-10 outside, but made 8-of-10 at the line. Against UConn, he was 6-of-15 from the floor but made 10-of-12 at the line. Against Villanova, he shot 3-of-13 but made 7-of-7 on free throws. It’s why he’s been able to score in double-figures in 17 games this year, including each of the last 15.
And when he gets on a heater from the floor? Watch out. He made 5-of-8 from three-point range against Butler and 5-of-11 from outside against Seton Hall. They kept him off the line and he burned them elsewhere.
6’6″ sophomore Desmond Claude is second in scoring at 16.0 points per game (10th most in the Big East) and second in assists with 4.0 per game (9th most in the Big East). He was named to the league’s Honor Roll for the third time after averaging 22.5 points and 6.5 assists this past week — he had 21 points at Providence (6-of-10 inside the arc, 3-of-6 outside), 26 points vs Butler (9-of-15 on two’s, 8-of-8 at the line) and 19 points vs Georgetown (6-of-9 on two’s). Notably, the three 3-pointers at Providence are a bit of an outlier; he’s made only 16 for the entire season (25.8%).
6’0″ senior Dayvion McKnight, a transfer from Western Kentucky, is third in scoring at 10.6 points per game. He leads the Big East and is 15th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.50, and is fifth in the league in assists at 5.1 per game. He’s a great distributor and keeps their offense humming while almost never turning the ball over — McKnight has only had more than two turnovers in a game once this year, and it came against #1 Houston where he had three. 91 assists to 26 turnovers is an impressive ratio.
6’0″ freshman Trey Green is their top scorer off the bench, and has made at least one three-pointer in 14 games — including in each of the last eight games. He scored a career-high 23 points at Providence on the strength of five 3-pointers, and led XU’s big second half with 18 points after halftime.
Inside, 6’10” North Texas transfer Abou Ousmane has gotten about 70% of the minutes at the ‘5’ spot. He’s averaging 8.6 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, and is fourth in the Big East in offensive rebounds with 2.9 per game — though that average is skewed a bit by grabbing eight offensive boards against UConn.
6’7″ Gytis Nemeiksa starts at the ‘4’, and averages 7.1 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. Three freshmen, 6’7″ Dailyn Swain (4.4 points, 2.8 rebounds per game), 6’9″ Sasa Ciani (3.2 points, 3.4 rebounds), and 6’10” Lazar Djokovic (2.4 points, 2.6 rebounds), split time both there and at the power forward. Of those three, Swain has done the most to distinguish himself so far, and he gets the most minutes (18.8 minutes off the bench per game). Swain had seven points, six rebounds, five assists, two blocks and two steals vs. Georgetown on Friday and had the game-winning drive and dunk.
None of those players have the versatility to drag Ryan Kalkbrenner away from the rim (or force CU into a mismatch they don’t want) the way Jack Nunge did the last two years. That should allow Creighton to defend Xavier more or less using their standard drop coverage packages.
It’s a battle of strength versus strength, as Xavier has the Big East’s second-best offense in terms of adjusted efficiency (111.2) and Creighton has the league’s best defense (95.8). Meanwhile, Creighton has the second-worst offense (102.0) and Xavier’s defense ranks 8th (104.2). Those type of games often come down to execution — who can follow their plan better, who can keep mistakes to a minimum.
- Tip: 7:30pm
- Venue: CHI Health Center Omaha
- TV: FS1
- Announcers: Kevin Kugler 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
- Cable Cutters: Available on all major streaming platforms
- Streaming on the Fox Sports app and website
- Creighton Radio: 1620AM, 101.9FM
- Announcers: John Bishop and Taylor Stormberg
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- Simulcast on SiriusXM channel 162 or 202, as well as on the SiriusXM App
- Xavier Radio: 700 WLW-AM
- Announcers: Joe Sunderman and Byron Larkin
- Streaming on the Varsity Network and on SXM
- Xavier has played the 13th-toughest schedule in the nation, according to the latest KenPom rankings. Xavier has played No. 1 Houston, at No. 2 Purdue and vs. No. 6 UConn in addition to five other teams in the top 50: No. 30 Villanova, No. 41 St. John’s and No. 47 Providence on the road, No. 33 Cincinnati at home and No. 29 St. Mary’s on a neutral court. XU’s next two games are on the road at No. 14 Creighton and No. 6 UConn.
- Xavier has won three-straight games and is coming off a 92-91 victory over Georgetown on Friday night. XU trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half and 12 (44-56 with 16:42 left) in the second half. Xavier battled back to take a 69- 66 lead on a 3-pointer by freshman Trey Green with 9:02 left. GU grabbed the momentum back and led by five points, 87-82, with under three minutes left. Sophomore Desmond Claude, who finished with 19 points and a career-high nine assists, had a hand in eight of XU’s final 10 points. He scored six of XU’s final 10 points and had the assist on the game-winning dunk by freshman Dailyn Swain. XU had a season-high tying 27 assists on its 32 field goals.
- Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman and Providence’s Devin Carter are both averaging at least 15.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game this season. That’s notable because prior to this year, only eight Big East players have ever accomplished that feat over the course of a full season: Alpha Diallo (Providence, 2018-19); Greg Monroe (Georgetown, 2009-10); Ryan Gomes (Providence, 2004-05); Ricardo Greer (Pitt, 1999-00); Adrian Griffin (Seton Hall, 1995-96); Billy Owens (Syracuse, twice — 1989-90 and 1990-91) and Louis Orr (Syracuse, 1979-80).
- Baylor Scheierman played all 55 minutes in Saturday’s game at Seton Hall, setting a Creighton single-game record. He’s the first Big East player to play 55 minutes or more without leaving the floor since DePaul’s Will Walker played all 55 minutes vs. St. John’s on March 5, 2010. He leads the Big East with 39.9 minutes per game in conference games this season, a number made even more preposterous when you consider he logged just 26 minutes in a lopsided win at DePaul.
- Trey Alexander’s three-pointer with 28.4 seconds left in triple-overtime gave Creighton a 93-91 lead it would not surrender at Seton Hall, the second time he hit a come-from-behind shot in the final shot in the third overtime period. Alexander has been on the field for all 35 overtime minutes of each of Creighton’s last four games to go beyond 40 minutes, and he’s been excellent each time. He’s shot 10-for-16 from the field (.625), including 1-for-2 from three-point range (.500) while making 7-of-8 free throws (.875). Alexander also has two assists and two blocked shots in that span, scoring 28 of Creighton’s 61 overtime points in those four contests.
Xavier owns a 22-17 lead in the series with Creighton, but the Bluejays are 8-6 in games played in Omaha. Twenty-four of the 39 all-time meetings have been within five points in the final minute, including 10 of the last 18 games.
Xavier won 2-of-3 meetings a year ago, with the home team winning each regular-season contest before the Musketeers eliminated the Jays from the Big East Tournament in New York City.
On January 23, 2021 Creighton snapped a two-game losing streak with a 74-66 win over UConn. Denzel Mahoney scored five points in a decisive 14-2 run, turning a 48-48 tie into a 62-50 Bluejay lead, highlighted by this steal and layup in transition.
The Bottom Line:
This is a pivotal game in the Big East race, because while Creighton (or anyone) isn’t likely to chase down UConn at this point, the Jays are set up to be the best of the rest. With a win, the Jays would have a huge road win at Seton Hall and more league wins than anyone except UConn — with a six-game stretch coming up next where they’ll be favored in all six.
The Jays are favored by 8.5 in Vegas, and have 85.7% odds of victory according to ESPN’s BPI. KenPom is slightly less optimistic, predicting a seven-point Bluejay win.
Creighton 80, Xavier 71
