As 2019 closed and the Big East conference season began, nine of the 10 teams were ranked 67 or higher in the latest NET. Seven were inside the top 50. Nine teams were listed as likely NCAA Tourney teams as of December 31 on BracketMatrix. The team on the outside looking in? Providence.
Ed Cooley’s Friars were picked fourth in the preseason Big East poll, a combination of respect for Cooley’s coaching ability and the belief that a team returning six of their top seven scorers was set for a big jump. Instead, they putzed and plodded through an uninspiring two months of basketball, going 7-6 against a slate of teams ranking 203rd best according to KenPom. Along the way they lost to Penn (147 NET), Long Beach State (281), College of Charleston (108), and Northwestern (145). Until they beat Texas (68) in their final non-con game, their best win had been against Stony Brook (126). Yikes.
They remained a talented team capable of beating anyone in the league on a good night, so it seemed likely the Friars would play the role of spoiler throughout conference play — “upsetting” teams ahead of them in the standings, handing out “bad” losses like candy. Here’s the funny thing: Big East play started, and it’s like Cooley snapped his fingers to turn on a light bulb. They beat Georgetown handily, 76-60. They won a back-and-forth game against DePaul 66-65. They beat Marquette in overtime 81-80. They rebounded from a loss to Butler to beat St. John’s 63-58 and just like that — as quick as a snap of Cooley’s fingers — Providence is 4-1 in the Big East, in second place nearly 1/3 of the way through conference play.
If they can stay there through January, they’ll have earned it. Saturday they’re here in Omaha. Then they continue the road trip at Seton Hall, play Villanova at home, go back on the road for Butler, and host the rematch with Creighton. It’s a stretch of five straight games against the league’s top ranked teams in the NET.
Preseason All-Big East forward Alpha Diallo (14.3 ppg., 8.5 rpg., 1.9 spg., 0.9 bpg.) leads the Friars in points, rebounds, steals and blocks per game. He’s an ALL CAPS DUDE with 62 offensive rebounds this season — 3.4 per game. At 6’7″, 210 Diallo is a powerful, aggressive player who’s difficult to stop when he gets a head of steam rolling on the way to the rim. He draws a ton of fouls, and has attempted the third-most free throws in the league at 94 (only Markus Howard and Tyrique Jones have taken more). Diallo is a poor shooter from the line, however, making just 56.4% (53-of-94).
He had monster games against the Jays a year ago, with a combined 31 points, 22 rebounds, and 23 free throw attempts in two games. And that was with Martin Krampelj protecting the rim.
Sophomore David Duke has turned his improved shooting stroke into the second-most points on the team, averaging 11.7 per game. He was a 29.7% three-point shooter a year ago, and has made 45.3% (24-of-53) this season. But he’s more than just a jump shooter. Duke can drive, finish at the rim, and draw fouls — he’s made more free throws than Diallo with significantly fewer attempts (55-of-69, 79.7%). He’s also second on the squad in rebounds, and is tied for the team high in assists.
6’10”, 250-pound junior Nate Watson is the team’s third-leading scorer at 9.4 points per game, and is tied for second in rebounds with 4.3 per game. He missed the first four games with a knee injury and has come off the bench in all 14 games he’s played in after starting the second half of last season; his minutes have also been limited, with him playing an average of just 18.8 per game. His size could make him an x-factor against the Jays, especially if Diallo is successful at getting Christian Bishop into foul trouble.
6’3″ senior Maliek White has been the unsung hero of the Friars’ hot start in Big East play. After scoring in double figures just four times through the non-conference, he’s averaging 13.5 points in league games. He’s used his quickness to get into the paint and finish and/or draw fouls; he was 9-of-13 from the line against Marquette, for example. His emergence has made the Friars that much tougher to guard.
On the injury front, sophomore guard AJ Reeves (6.3 points, 2.8 rebounds in 19 minutes a game) and senior forward Emmitt Holt (6.8 points, 4.9 rebounds in 18.9 minutes a game) did not play in the Friars’ win over St. John’s on Wednesday. Reeves missed the game due to a head injury and Holt was scratched from the lineup due to an ankle injury. Both players are listed as day to day.
As usual, the Friars are as good as anyone in the country at turning basketball games into rock fights. Their roster is stacked with tough, aggressive, strong players who enjoy pushing opponents around. They’re long and athletic, too, and employ defensive tactics like an occasional press, traps, and aggressive on-ball defense. All of it is aimed to slow the game down and create turnovers. The Friars’ opponents have turned it over on 22.7% of their possessions (38th nationally), with steals the big culprit (12.8% of opponent’s possessions end in a Friar steal, 11th best in the country). And they crash the glass — especially on the offensive end — as well as anyone. They had 15 offensive rebounds in their win over St. John’s. In other words, they’re once again built like the perfect Creighton kryptonite.
It’ll be a battle. It always is against Providence. But Creighton’s desperate for a win, and they’re at home, and they’re due to hit some shots after a tough road trip. Will they be able to score enough to win in a slow, methodical style of game?
- Tip: 3:30pm
- Venue: CHI Health Center Omaha
- TV: FS1
- Announcers: Lisa Byington 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 Josh Dotzler
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- For Cord Cutters
- The Friars’ last win over a ranked team on the road was a 68-66 win at #23 Creighton on February 22, 2017
- Grad transfer Luwane Pipkins has led the Friars to an 8-2 mark when he registers four or more assists in a game. Pipkins, who is in his first season with the Friars after transferring from UMass, is averaging 8.8 points per game.
- Providence concluded a two-game road swing on January 7 that featured two, one-point wins – both of which were won with free throws. The Friars won 66-65 at DePaul on January 4 and 81-80 in overtime at Marquette on January 7. It marked the first time the Friars won back-to-back games on the road in league play since the 2013-14 season
- Mitch Ballock leads Creighton with 53 three-point baskets this season, which gives him 192 in his Bluejay career. That puts him in eighth place in program history in that category. Only seven Bluejays have ever reached 200 or more triples, and Ballock (and classmate Ty-Shon Alexander) could soon join Kyle Korver and Ethan Wragge as the only Bluejays to reach that milestone as juniors.
- Creighton is holding foes to 28.7 percent shooting from three-point range, a key reason why the Bluejays have outscored foes by 123 points behind the arc. Creighton held both Villanova (18.2%) and Xavier (19.2%) under 20 percent in early January, and have now held 12 consecutive foes under 35 percent from downtown. The 28.7 percent shooting from three-point range by CU opponents is on pace to be the best mark in program history. In fact, the only other time CU held foes under 31 percent from deep was in 1995-96 (29.2%).
- Creighton has won its sixth conference game of the season in 21 of the previous 25 seasons.
Providence leads the all-time series 15-10. The Friars have won nine of the 15 meetings since Creighton joined the Big East, and three of six in Omaha — with two of the wins coming in the final seconds. CU won 76-70 in overtime in Omaha last year to pick up their first-ever season sweep of the Friars. An excerpt from WBR’s Morning After picks up at the start of OT:
“Providence had all the momentum in the world, having erased a 16-point deficit on the road and stopped the home team from walking off with a buzzer-beater on the final possession of regulation. But the Bluejays had seen this before, and were sick of it. One Bluejay in particular.
“Before overtime, I huddled my guys up and told them, Providence feels like they’re going to punk us. I’m not going to let them,” Ty-Shon Alexander said in a postgame radio interview. “They’re not going to come out here and beat us like that on our home court. We’re done losing at home.”
He drilled the three-pointer that gave Creighton the lead for good, 66-63, the beneficiary of a really nice dribble-drive from Connor Cashaw — the senior split a double-team, got the defense scrambling, and kicked it out to a wide-open Alexander on the right wing.
Seconds later, he poked the way away from Providence’s Maliek White, raced down court, and threw down a thunderous dunk — then stood still for a second with a steely glare in his eyes that the Jays aren’t used to seeing from their normally mild-mannered sophomore guard.
“My dad was telling me, he said, remember where you were raised,” Alexander said in the press conference afterward. “You have to be mean to play this game. They were kind of trying to push us and shove us around — doing all those things to punk us. I wasn’t about to let that happen.”
It was the decisive moment of the game, 100% and without a shadow of a doubt.
“That five-point stretch won the game for them,” Cooley told the media afterward. “The 3. The steal and dunk. Game, set, match.”
On January 18, 2003, Creighton defeated Southern Illinois 85-76 in front of 10,184 fans at the Civic Auditorium, one of the most fondly-remembered games of the Altman Era or any era, honestly. We looked back at that game as part of our “Bluejay Rewind” series a couple of years ago.
We don’t treat the power of Rocky IV lightly. But it’s time to bust out the big guns for a big game the Jays need badly.
The Bottom Line:
ESPN’s BPI lists Creighton’s odds at north of 75%. KenPom predicts an 8-point win with 75% odds. That just seems too…optimistic. Creighton wins, but it won’t be that easy.
Bluejays 66, Friars 61