Six games into Creighton’s season featured six lopsided results — five going for wins and one going for a loss. On Wednesday night against Arizona State the Bluejays found themselves in their first close game, and in the end it was missed free throws, costly turnovers, and a game-tying 3-pointer falling short at the end that dropped them to 5-2 on the season after a 79-77 loss to the visiting Sun Devils (5-2).
“We got out-coached. We got out-played. We got out-toughed. We got out-executed. It’s relatively simple,” Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said. “For whatever reason at halftime we just decided we’re just going to try to outscore them in the second half. We weren’t interested in protecting the paint. We weren’t interested in guarding the dribble. We weren’t interested in challenging the rim. That was disappointing. Obviously we executed some things down the stretch to give ourselves a chance, but had a couple costly turnovers and some missed free throws and a missed shot — tough one to swallow.”
The missed free throws and a missed shot came from Creighton junior forward Cole Huff. With six seconds remaining and Arizona State leading 78-77, Huff was fouled under the basket and stepped up to the free throw line with a chance to either tie the game or give his team the lead — he did neither, missing both attempts. Arizona State senior forward Willie Atwood secured the rebound, got fouled, missed the first free throw, but hit the second to give the Sun Devils a 79-77 lead with 5.6 seconds remaining.
That gave the Bluejays one more chance to either tie the game or win it, but Huff’s three-pointer from the top of the key drew only the front of the rim and caromed away to give Arizona State the win.
After the game, McDermott had no second thoughts about which one of his players had the ball with the game on the line.
“The reality of it is Cole spends more time in the gym than anybody in our program,” the Creighton coach said. “If you’re asking me who I want at the line at the end and who I want to shoot the three at the end, he’s the guy, because he’s prepared himself.”
“I feel awful for him, but he should be able to sleep tonight knowing that he did what he was supposed to do to prepare himself for that moment. That doesn’t mean it’s always going to work out the way you want, but he was prepared.”
Huff’s misses only highlight a night of missed opportunities for the Bluejays, who were trying to win their fourth game in a row after an 86-65 wake-up call loss at Indiana. Against Arizona State, they were the better team for the opening 20 minutes, but they made just enough mistakes and missed just enough shots to only go into the locker room with a 41-33 lead at halftime.
“I thought in the first half we defended at the level we’re capable of — they had 33 points on 34 possessions,” McDermott said. “[Willie] Atwood hit three threes, but that’s more on the scouting report than it is on our guys, but by doing that we took away some of their guard play. We probably missed four or five layups in the first half. We had some really good looks at rhythm threes that we didn’t make. We had a chance to probably be up 15 or 16 at the break and didn’t capitalize.”
It wasn’t long after halftime when the Bluejays started to realize that their missed opportunities were going to result in a dog fight at the end of this contest. The Sun Devils drove the ball into the teeth of Creighton’s defense on nearly every possession in the second half. They scored on 14 of their first 18 possessions in the second, ten of which were layups, to take a 63-59 lead with 10:39 remaining.
Eight of those points came from junior forward Savon Goodman, who ended up leading all players with 23 points to go along with seven rebounds, and helped set the physical tone down low for the Sun Devils.
“I think our guys attacked a little more,” Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley said of his team’s start to the second half. “We got into the paint a little more frequently. Their ball screen defense is good, and isn’t something that we face all the time, but our guys were able to get the corner a couple times and also find our bigs rolling to the hoop.”
“It was a theme coming out of our last game. We were fortunate to win on Sunday, and we didn’t feel like we attacked the rim enough and throw the ball inside enough. We talked with our guards about doing that, and that was more of a theme coming into this game. I’m glad that the guys followed the lead on that.”
Trailing for the first time all night, the Bluejays responded after a timeout. Sophomore forward Toby Hegner buried a 3-pointer from the left corner and senior center Geoff Groselle scored five straight points to put his team back in front, 67-63 with 8:35 left to play.
But a wide open 3-pointer fell for Arizona State junior guard Andre Spight to cut it to one, then Spight converted another Sun Devils’ layup to retake the lead, 68-67, and back and forth we went.
Creighton junior point guard Maurice Watson Jr., who finished with 10 points, five rebounds, and nine assists, found Groselle for an easy two-handed slam dunk with a nifty bounce pass into the paint from the top of the key to give the Bluejays a 69-68 lead with 6:47 to go.
With 4:40 to go, senior guard Gerry Blakes scored to make it 70-69, then senior forward Eric Jacobsen hit a pair of free throws to make it 72-69, Sun Devils, with 3:53 remaining. On the ensuing possession, Watson Jr. found junior guard Isaiah Zierden for a deep 3-pointer to tie the game at 72-all.
Next time down the floor, Atwood fed junior guard Obinna Oleka to put Arizona State back in front, 75-72. A couple offensive rebounds gave the Bluejays an extended possession the next time down the floor and Watson Jr. cut the deficit to 75-74 with a layup off the glass. After a stop on the defensive end, Hegner, who finished with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc, hit another big 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down to give Creighton 77-75 lead with 1:16 remaining.
A couple empty possessions by both teams followed Hegner’s go-ahead shot, but with 18 seconds remaining, Sun Devils junior forward Savon Goodman drew a foul and walked to the free throw line with a chance to tie the game. He hit the free throw, but missed the second. Zierden initially grabbed the rebound for the Bluejays, but Arizona State sophomore point guard Tra Holder came up and swiped the ball away from him and put it up off the glass. Groselle tried to swat the shot away, but it was clearly above the cylinder and the referees made the goal-tending call to put the Sun Devils in front for good.
“We were down one at that point, so worst-case scenario we foul them and goes to the line and makes two,” Holder said. “I saw an opening to get the ball, so I just tried to take advantage of it. I knocked it away and I was alone under the basket, so I just tried to go for the easy layup. I just tried to get it up there and just hit the glass. It worked in my favor.”
Despite leading the Bluejays with 15 points and 9 rebounds on 7-of-9 shooting in the loss, Groselle — a fifth-year senior and team captain — said he needs to set a better example for his team going forward.
“Really they just out-toughed us,” Groselle said. “My defensive ball screen effort wasn’t good enough. My effort keeping it out of the rim wasn’t good enough. That’s why we lost the game. This one definitely hurts just like any loss, but especially since they out-toughed us. That’s what hurts the most.”
“We’re going to get after it tomorrow. I’m going to make sure my leadership is better, especially on the defensive end.”
Next up for the Bluejays is a trip to the state of Illinois where they will face Loyola Chicago, the team that replaced them when the moved from the Missouri Valley Conference to the Big East. The Ramblers (4-3) and Creighton will tip-off at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Dec 5th.
Listen to Postgame Audio from Creighton–Greg McDermott, Geoffrey Groselle and Isaiah Zierden
Listen to Postgame Audio from Arizona State–Bobby Hurley and Tra Holder