When Creighton and St. John’s tip off Wednesday night — if they tip off — the Jays will have played just four Big East games in the previous 33 days. They’ll then be scheduled to play 16 Big East games over the next 46 days, including the St. John’s game. Not ideal, as they say.
By playing Villanova at home, at Marquette, at Villanova, and at Xavier, the Jays have had the 26th toughest conference schedule in the country so far according to KenPom’s data, and the toughest in the Big East by a huge margin. Going 2-2 is pretty impressive when you think about it that way — and if the schedule holds, they have an opportunity to make some strides over the next week. They’re favored in home games with St. John’s and DePaul, and in a road game at Butler, before the next tough stretch hits them.
The first game in that stretch is the Red Storm, who come into Omaha 10-5 and 2-2 in the Big East. Their resume is not terribly impressive, with zero Q1 wins. They squandered opportunities for big wins by losing to Kansas, Indiana, Providence and UConn. But their style of play looks like kryptonite for Creighton, with an opponent turnover rate (23.5% of possessions) ranking 24th nationally. Given how careless Creighton has been with the ball, that’s concerning to say the least.
“We have to take care of the basketball. It’s a broken record, and the guys are certainly aware of the issues,” McDermott said on the postgame radio show after Saturday’s loss. “But we have a tendency to invent new ways to turn it over.”
“The issue is it’s not just one guy, and it’s not just one particular thing. It’s traveling. It’s stepping out of bounds. It’s casual passes. Casual catches. Some of the turnovers today were timing issues, from not being in the kind of rhythm we’d probably be in if we’d played more games recently. But as the game moves on, you should adjust to that. And we didn’t do a good job of that. As coaches, we have to put them in a situation where they have a better chance to be successful, and I think we’re moving the right direction. But not as quick as they would like, or our fans would like, and certainly not as quick as I would like.”
St. John’s has forced just under 18 turnovers per game, by far the best in the Big East and the 14th-most in D1. The Johnnies have forced 16 turnovers or more in all but one game — and had 13 in that one against Kansas. While they don’t exactly run a traditional full court press, their defense does often extend the length of the floor and they use a variety of traps. It results in a lot of deflections and steals. Once you get across half-court, they’re aggresive in anticipating passing lanes and they are adept at crowding the ball without fouling. Basically, they make opponents uncomfortable for 40 minutes.
“As a coach I think you have to be careful with how much you talk about it,” McDermott said during a media session on Tuesday. “At the end of the day, I’ve got a lot of young guys that while they think they have it figured out, there’s probably some insecurities in there and a lack of confidence. The last thing they need to feel is their head coach doesn’t think they can handle that pressure.”
Preseason All-Big East wing Julian Champagnie leads the conference in scoring (21.4 ppg.) and the team in both rebounding (7.2 rpg.) and three-pointers made (37). He lit up the Jays a year ago, scoring 50 points in two games. And the way he did it illustrates why he’s so difficult to defend. In Queens, he had 17 points on 0-of-5 shooting in the paint as they took away most of his driving lanes. So he made 5-of-8 from three-point range instead. In Omaha, when he scored 33, he got hot and they could never slow him down. Champagnie made 9-of-15 on two-pointers and 4-of-6 from three-point range.
They’re not alone, of course. Champagnie has scored in double figures in 39 straight games because of the variety of ways he can beat you.
And he’s not alone. Champagnie and point guard Posh Alexander have both scored in double-figures in every game played this season. Alexander is often the smallest guy on the floor at just 6’0”, but no one plays harder. He has 14 offensive rebounds in their four Big East games so far, fourth-most in the league. As Jon Nyatawa said in his game preview in the Omaha World-Herald, that tells you everything you need to know about Posh Alexander. He’s stat-stuffer in the very best sense of the word, averaging 15.5 points, 5.1 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.6 steals per game.
As a freshman, Alexander had two pretty solid games against the Jays. He made 5-of-8 inside the arc on the way to 13 points in Queens, and 4-of-9 for eight points with six assists and six rebounds (three offensive) in Omaha.
Sophomore guard Dylan Addae-Wusu has made the most of all the defensive attention paid to Champagnie and Alexander. He’s averaging 15.0 points and 5.8 assists in Big East play, and has made 8-of-14 from three-point range.
Against Georgetown over the weekend, he was 6-of-8 from the floor, including 4-for-5 from three-point range, to register 17 points with seven assists and four boards. Before the team’s Big East opener this year, Addae-Wusu had never scored more than 16 points in 39 collegiate appearances. In the four games since, he has hit that mark three times, including a 20-point effort on the road at Providence.
And he’s making behind-the-back passes like this:
The Johnnies’ guard-orientated attack plays fast — their average possession lasts 14.6 seconds, third-fastest in D1. Their adjusted tempo is 73.6, sixth-highest. And most impressively, they’re incredibly unselfish, with just about everyone on the team bought into the idea of setting up their teammates for shots. They assist on a whopping 61.9% of their made baskets, 12th most in D1.
You’d think that with that super-fast pace, they’d use defensive rebounding to set up their transition game. You’d be wrong. They grab a defensive board just 67.1% of the time, ranking 316th in D1. Opponents have cleaned up the offensive glass against St. John’s, and that is one area where Creighton can potentially grab an advantage.
On the other end, strangely, St. John’s is an elite offensive rebounding team themselves. They grab a board off their own missed shot 32.4% of the time, ranking 59th. It’s a pretty bizarre dichotomy.
- Tip: 6:00pm
- Venue: CHI Health Center Omaha
- TV: FS1
- Announcers: Brandon Gaudin, 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
- Radio: 1620AM
- Announcers: John Bishop and Taylor Stormberg
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- Satellite radio: XM 385, SiriusXM app 975
- Other key contributors include Montez Mathis and Aaron Wheeler. Mathis scored 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting against the Hoyas last weekend, while Wheeler registered 10 points to finish in double figures for the third straight game. St. John’s has yet to lose a game in which Mathis logs 10 or more points this season (8-0).
- SJU owns a league-best +4.20 turnover margin per game figure, while Creighton is a league worst -3.80 per game in the same category. In league play, the figures are even more eye-opening, as St. John’s is +6.25 per game while Creighton is -8.75 per contest.
- St. John’s has yet to win a game away from NYC this season. The Johnnies are averaging 88.0 points per game and shooting 50.9 percent from the floor in their 10 wins this season, nine of which have come at Carnesecca Arena. In three true road games at Indiana, Providence and Connecticut, the Red Storm is averaging just 75.0 points per game on 39.2 percent shooting.
- After 33 days away, Creighton will be playing its first home game since crushing Villanova on Dec. 17th. The last time Creighton went 25 days or more between home games during a season came during the 1987-88 campaign when the Bluejays hosted Nebraska on Dec. 9th, then didn’t play again at home until welcoming Southern Illinois 33 days later on Jan. 11th. Creighton has never previously gone 30 days or more in the same season between home games, with both bookends being league contests.
- More contrasts in styles: Creighton is last in the league in three-point percentage (.309), but St. John’s is last in three-point percentage defense (.351).
- Arthur Kaluma is one of three freshmen nationally from the Big East or a Power Five Conference to be averaging at least 8.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 0.8 blocked shots per game. He’s joined by a pair of projected top-3 NBA Draft picks, Duke’s Paolo Banchero and Auburn’s Jabari Smith. He’s also just Creighton’s fifth player to average 8.0 points and 4.0 rebounds as a true freshman. The only others to do it are Doug McDermott (2010-11), Rodney Buford (1995-96), Bob Harstad (1987-88) and Chad Gallagher (1987-88).
Creighton is 13-10 all-time against St. John’s, and 11-5 in the rivalry since joining the Big East. The Bluejays are 7-1 against the Johnnies in Omaha during the Big East era, a stretch that began with a Doug McDermott buzzer-beater. Creighton has scored 94 points in each of its last three victories vs. St. John’s, including a 94-76 win in Queens and a 97-79 victory in Omaha last season.
On January 19, 1985, Benoit Benjamin scored 45 points with 16 rebounds, five blocked shots and five assists in a 115-80 win over Illinois State at the Civic. It came two days after he exploded for 43 points in a loss to Bradley, giving him an insane one-week average of 44 points, 16 rebounds and 7.5 blocked shots over two games. Benjamin’s second-straight dominant game overshadowed a terrific one from Vernon Moore, who made 15 of 17 shots from the floor and tied his career high at the time by scoring 30 points.
The 115 points remains fourth-highest in Creighton history, behind a pair of early-60s juggernauts and a 116-point performance against USC-Upstate in 2017. The 1963-64 team set the school record of 124 against Miami and the 1962-63 team hit 120 against Nevada.
The Bottom Line:
Turnovers have been the most popular topic of discussion around Bluejay basketball this week, and against St. John’s they will probably go a long way toward determining who wins. Over the weekend, St. John’s forced 21 Hoya turnovers and had a 29-5 edge in points off turnovers.
Can Creighton handle the pressure and not dig themselves a giant hole? KenPom predicts a six-point win, 79-73. ESPN’s BPI gives Creighton a 61% chance of victory. Vegas favors the Jays by 5.5.
At home that sounds right to me, even though the turnover question concerns me an awful lot.
Creighton 80, St. John’s 74