Daniss Jenkins brought Greg McDermott’s fears to fruition at Madison Square Garden. Creighton’s head coach was concerned about the clash of styles going into Sunday afternoon’s rematch with St. John’s. The Red Storm’s fourth-year point guard is one of the top shooters on “tough twos” in the entire country, a shot that Creighton’s defense is schematically designed to force teams to take. On Sunday, Jenkins took them, and made them, finishing with a team-high 27 points in a commanding 80-66 win over the Bluejays that his team badly needed as they try to stay in the hunt for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid.
Jenkins and his backcourt mate Jordan Dingle — who are both shooting over 50% on “Far 2’s” against Top 100 competition this season, according to barttorvik.com — combined to score a highly efficient 38 points on 26 shots inside the arc on Sunday after being limited to 20 points on 21 2-point shots in the first meeting back on January 13 in Omaha.
“Jenkins was obviously difficult for us to stop,” McDermott said after the game. “I was concerned coming in. What we do really well defensively forces teams into what they do really well. We got away with it at home, but we weren’t able to get away with it today. And anytime we tried to be a little bit more aggressive, they made the extra pass and turn a good shot into a better shot really the entire afternoon. 24 assists and three turnovers — we don’t give up a lot of assists with our defense, and we haven’t all season long, but they moved it so well today and found the open guy.”
Along with his 27 points — nine of which he scored in a span of four possessions during crunch time to turn a 7-point cushion into a 72-56 lead with 2:52 to go — Jenkins was also responsible for six of those 24 assists to go along with a pair of steals and a pair of blocked shots in his 31 minutes on the floor. It wasn’t just what he did, but when he did it. He set the tone at the start of the game to get his team and the crowd engaged, and whenever Creighton threatened to flip the game, Jenkins made the plays that put out the fires.
He produced eight points in the first eight minutes to help St. John’s open up a 18-8 lead. Trey Alexander punched back for the Bluejays, scoring 10 of his game and season-high 31 points during a 15-4 run that gave Creighton a 23-22 with 8:000 left before halftime. Once again, Jenkins came through with three baskets, three assists, and two blocked shots to spark a 17-3 run that put the Red Storm in firm control with a 41-28 lead at the break — the largest halftime deficit of the season for the Jays.
CU stayed in range of a game-changing run thanks to 18 second-half points by Alexander, but the closest they could ever get to putting some game pressure on St. John’s was five points. Each time they threatened, Dingle and Jenkins made a big shot. The Red Storm finally broke the Bluejays on a one-man 9-0 run by Jenkins that put them up 16 with under three minutes to play.
Senior center Ryan Kalkbrenner flirted with Creighton’s second triple-double in the last two weeks, finishing with 12 points, 10 rebounds, and a career-high eight blocks. His presence forced St. John’s to miss 21 of the 38 shots they attempted in the lane and at the rim, but the mid-range game rhythm that Jenkins and Dingle were in produced 30 points on non-paint 2-point shots and made it difficult for the Jays to get enough stops to flip the game. SJU shot just 39.5% in the second half, but they rebounded 12 of their 23 misses to keep Creighton’s transition offense in check.
Even in the instances where the Bluejays did get a stop, they had a tough time capitalizing. Of the 18 possessions they scored on in the second half, 13 of them came after St. John’s scored themselves, and most of those responses came from Alexander or Kalkbrenner. The other half of CU’s core four, Baylor Scheierman and Steven Ashworth, never could find a sustainable rhythm. Between them, they scored just 21 points on 28 shooting possessions, missed 14 of the 16 threes they attempted, and finished with more turnovers (7) than assists (5) in 76 combined minutes.
“Defensively, they knocked us out of rhythm for a good portion of the game,” McDermott said. “We had a couple stretches where I thought our flow was better and our pace was better. But you know they can throw a lot of bodies at you, and they really knocked us out of rhythm on several occasions.”
Despite the shooting struggling of really everyone but himself, Alexander came away from the game with thinking that more opportunities were lost on the defensive side of the floor that could have helped to establish the rhythm and flow that fuels Creighton on the offensive end.
“I feel like there were a couple of shots that I kind of rushed, but as a team, I know that we’re going to make shots in the future. Baylor’s not going to go 1-for-10 on many nights, we’re going to get [Kalkbrenner] more touches in the paint, and I know that Steven is going to be going to make half the shots that he [takes]. I’m not really worried about us making shots. It’s more about us on the defensive end that I’m worried about. Being able to find that teeth and make sure that we can stop opponents because we like to play in transition. For us to do that, we have to get stops. They made a lot of a lot of tough shots today; a lot of the mid-range jumpers so we weren’t really able to get out in transition as much as we wanted to. As a whole I feel like we can do a little bit better on the defensive end.”
After falling to 20-7 on the season and into sole possession of fourth place in the Big East standings at 11-6, Creighton will now fly back to Omaha, lick their wounds, and regroup for a pivotal week of home games beginning with a rematch of the “game of the year” in college basketball when they welcome Seton Hall to town on Wednesday night. The Bluejays won the first meeting 97-94 in triple overtime in New Jersey in what is still rated as the “most tense” the sport has produced this season, according to KenPom.com. Like St. John’s, the Pirates also find themselves in a situation down the stretch where every game is a chance to make a case to the selection committee.
“We played an incredible game with them in Newark, and we were lucky to win that one as well,” McDermott said. “We know that we’re going to get their best shot because we know how we felt when lost one to Butler that was kind of crazy at home. You’re pretty motivated when you go on the road and have an opportunity to try to even the score. I’m sure we’re going to get Seton Hall’s best effort. They’re an NCAA tournament team, in my opinion, and we’ll have to play really well on Wednesday night.”
Tip-off between the Bluejays and Pirates is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. (CT) on FS1.