When Creighton last saw St. John’s three weeks ago, the Red Storm were an NCAA Tourney bubble team according to several bracketologists — ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had them “in” the field as an 11 seed. The Jays won 78-71 that night to drop the Johnnies to 0-3 in the league, and St. John’s hasn’t won since.
Their 0-8 record in the Big East is partially a product of a struggling team, but it’s also proof of how damn tough the league is — the margin between utter disaster and keeping your head above water is awfully thin for most of the league (Creighton included). Six of St. John’s losses have come by seven or fewer points, including Saturday’s 93-89 double-overtime loss at Georgetown, a six-point loss at Xavier last Wednesday, and a seven-point loss against Villanova. They’ve been extremely competitive, and as Creighton’s Jordan Scurry told the Omaha World-Herald, the Red Storm are “the best 0-8 team ever.”
In All-American Shamorie Ponds, the Red Storm have one of the best scoring guards in the country. He ranks in the top five in the Big East in three categories, with 20.7 points, 4.9 assists, and 2.5 steals per game, and also grabs 5.4 rebounds a game. Ponds has scored in double-figures in each of his last 12 games, and in all but one game this season; over his last three games he’s averaging 29.3 points on 33-71 shooting (46.5%). Creighton held Ponds to just 12 points in the first meeting, forcing him to take half of his shots from three-point range — where he was just 1-7.
His backcourt running mate Marcus LoVett is out for the season with a knee injury, taking nearly 15 points per game with him. It’s an extremely odd situation; our friends at Rumble In The Garden summed it up rather well so we won’t rehash it too much here.
Their starting five, even without LoVett, is a formidable group. Bashir Ahmed averages 11.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game, and scored a season-high 21 points in the first game against the Jays. Tariq Owens leads the Big East and is third nationally in blocks, averaging nearly 4 per game; he scores 8.3 points and grabs 6.2 boards a game. Justin Simon leads the Big East in steals (2.7 per game), and is sixth in rebounding (7.4), while scoring 11.6 points a game. And Marvin Clark III is a 43% shooter from three-point range (38-87, 8th-best in the league) while scoring 11.6 points per game.
The problem is there’s not much else. St. John’s suits up just eight players and has a rotation of six or seven, depending on the night. In Big East play, all five starters average over 30 minutes a night, with Ponds at 38.4 and Simon at 36.2; both rarely come off the floor. In Saturday’s double-OT loss to Georgetown, Ponds played 49 of the 50 minutes, and Simon played 48.
And so it’s little wonder they’ve had trouble closing out tight games. Against Georgetown, they were ahead by five with 24 seconds left in regulation, but allowed the Hoyas to tie it. At Xavier, they had a second half lead but went scoreless for over seven minutes as the Musketeers went on a 15-0 run. In Omaha, they were ahead by ten, 56-46, before a decisive 18-2 Bluejay run. Time after time, they build a lead after 30 minutes or so, only to hit a wall at some point in the second half and allow their opponent to go on a game-changing run.
Sometimes it’s mental fatigue that causes them to make mistakes they wouldn’t normally make, as in the Georgetown loss where they fouled jump shooters over and over in the late stages of the game. In particular, Kassoum Yakwe fouling the Hoyas’ Marcus Derrickson shooting a three-pointer while his team was ahead by five with 15 seconds left (ouch), and in the second OT, Ponds fouling a three-point shooter who made the shot, then the free-throw, for a four-point play (double ouch). And sometimes it’s physical, manifesting itself in long scoring droughts like the games against Xavier and Creighton. Either way, as fatigue sets in, so do the mistakes, and it seems to happen routinely.
Still, they’ve been good enough to build those leads, and it starts on the defensive end. They’ve been terrific at forcing turnovers and preventing teams from making shots at the rim. They force a turnover on 24.5% of their opponent’s possessions, third best in the country. They average the eighth-most steals per game in the country at 9.3 per game (ripping away a steal on 12.6% of opponent’s possessions, fourth-best in the country). They’re sixth nationally in blocks, averaging 6.3 per game (blocking 19.0% of opponents shots, the third-best percentage in the country). They have a Big East-best +5.4 turnover margin. And they hold teams to just 43.6% shooting inside the arc, 12th best. They’re long, they’re athletic, they disrupt your passing lanes and your rhythm, and they get you sped up.
As a result of all that havoc they cause inside the arc, teams often attempt more threes against St. John’s than against other opponents — on average, 42% of shot attempts against St. John’s defense have been threes, which is the 43rd most in D1. That would be fine if they were good at defending the shot, but they’re not. Opponents make 38.4% of those threes (37th highest in D1). That’s been problematic in several games, including the first meeting in Omaha where the Jays took 22 three-pointers and made 10.
Those numbers have only gotten worse in Big East games. In league play, they’ve allowed teams to shoot an embarrassing 46.7% from three-point range — tenth-highest in all of college basketball — and given up nearly 12 made threes a game, ranking among the top-ten most. They’ve surrendered a 55.9% effective field goal percentage, a top-ten worst mark. And they’ve allowed teams to grab an offensive rebound on 36.1% of their missed shots, which also ranks among the ten worst teams in D1. The latter is a big reason the Johnnies have been outrebounded by 10.9 rebounds per game.
Don’t be surprised if St. John’s builds an early lead in this one. Owens is going to block shots. Simon’s going to harass the ball handler and get a few steals. Ponds will draw the focus on defense, and Ahmed and Clark will make shots. But as long as Creighton doesn’t allow any of those factors to blow the game out of reach, there will likely come a point in the second half where they can make a run — and if they take care of the basketball, make smart decisions, and hit the open looks they’re certain to get from behind the arc, this should be a Bluejay victory by the final horn.
- Tip: 7:31pm
- Venue: Carnesecca Arena, Queens, NY
- TV: FS1
- Announcers: Aaron Goldsmith and Jim Spanarkel
- 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 Taylor Stormberg
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- Satellite Radio: SiriusXM channel 83 (Internet channel 83)
- St. John’s IMG Radio Network broadcast with announcers John Minko and Vin Parise
- For Cord Cutters
- St. John’s is allowing 83.3 points per game in Big East games this year; Creighton is 99-9 all-time under Greg McDermott when scoring 80 or more. St. John’s gives up 11.6 made three-pointers per game in Big East play; Creighton averages 10.6 made threes and is 79-21 all-time under McDermott when they make 10 or more.
- Three of St. John’s next four games are at home, starting with tonight’s game. They go to Butler next, then play #8 Xavier at Carnesecca Arena on January 30 and #4 Duke at Madison Square Garden on February 3.
- Sophomore Shamorie Ponds had 33 points in Saturday’s loss to Georgetown, his third 30-point performance of the season, in addition to registering eight assists, six rebounds and three steals. Playing 49 out of a possible 50 minutes, Ponds made 12 of his 23 field goal attempts, including 10 of his first 16.
- One of the nation’s top teams in terms of forcing turnovers, the Red Storm forced 19 miscues on Saturday afternoon, resulting in 24 points off turnovers. On the season, the Red Storm ranks seventh nationally with 18.1 turnovers forced per outing, turning those into 21.0 points per game on average. A team that strives to take care of the rock, the Johnnies also check in at No. 4 nationally with a +6.3 turnover margin.
- Marcus Foster had 25 points (vs. Seton Hall) and 22 points (at Providence) last week. With 20+ points vs. St. John’s on Tuesday, Foster could become the first Creighton player with three straight games of 20 or more points since Doug McDermott’s streak of 14 straight games from Jan. 25 – March 21, 2014 when he was named National Player of the Year. Foster owns 58 points in three career games against St. John’s, good for 19.3 ppg., with a high of 25 in the most recent match-up.
- Two Bluejays are making their return to New York State on Tuesday. Manny Suarez grew up in New Jersey, but spent the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons at Fordham University in Bronx, N.Y before starring at Division II Adelphi University in 2015-16 and 2016-17. Kaleb Joseph played the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons at Syracuse University.
- Saturday’s game was Creighton’s 20th contest of the season. With 15 wins this year, Creighton has now been .500 or better after 20 games in 22 of the last 23 seasons (including 2017-18). Even more impressive, Creighton has now won at least 13 of its first 20 games in 19 of the last 21 seasons.
Creighton leads the series 9-7 overall, and is 7-2 against the Johnnies in Big East action. The Bluejays are 2-6 all-time in road games against the Red Storm, but have won two straight — both of which were contested at Carnesecca Arena.
In the last meeting, after blowing a seven-point lead and falling behind by 10 points in the second half, Creighton got 11 straight defensive stops as part of a 13-0 run to retake the lead. Then they made clutch plays on both ends of the floor to come away with a win.
Sunday night, Creighton awarded a scholarship to walk-on Jordan Scurry for the 2017-18 season. The exciting moment was captured on video, and is enough to give any Bluejay fan goosebumps:
https://twitter.com/khyri_2/status/955282276908232705
The notes from his teammates past and present are even cooler, though.
https://twitter.com/_kokoparas/status/955290898207682560
On January 23, 1999, Creighton defeated Illinois State 95-84 at the Civic, snapping a ten-game losing streak to the Redbirds. In scoring 90+ points for the second straight game, all five of their starters scored in double-figures, and the win pushed them into a four-way tie for first in the MVC.
The Jays fell behind early, rallied to tie the game early in the second half, and took over with an 18-6 run late. The run was capped by back-to-back threes from Ryan Sears, giving the Jays an 82-71 lead with just over five minutes to go.
Rodney Buford led Creighton with 22 points and Doug Swenson added 21, while their three starting guards — Sears, Ben Walker and Corie Brandon — combined for 41 points, 10 assists and five steals.
Def Leppard finally added their back catalog to Spotify and other streaming services over the weekend; for this aging metal head it was a welcome addition to my gym time.
The Bottom Line:
Marcus Foster and Khyri Thomas take over late, and the Jays win a close one.
Creighton 84, St. John’s 77