Maurice Watson, Jr. drove the lane all night on the Xavier big men (Adam Streur / WBR) CLICK TO BUY
In yet another “big game”, the kind that he dreamed of playing when he transferred from Boston University to Creighton almost two years ago, junior point guard Maurice Watson Jr. rose to the occasion with a career-high 32 points in 38 minutes to lead the Bluejays to a 70-56 win over No. 5 Xavier (21-3, 9-3) on Tuesday night in front of more than 17,000 fans at the CenturyLink Center.
Though he was only 1-of-8 from 3-point territory on the night, he more than made up for by converting on 10-of-13 field goal attempts inside the arc and hitting 9-of-10 at the free throw line as he diced up Xavier’s 1-3-1 defense late in the game to close the show and help Creighton improve to 16-9 overall and 7-5 in Big East play.
“It’s right up near the top,” head coach Greg McDermott said when asked where, in his time at Creighton, he rates Watson’s performance. “We needed this game. We’ve had opportunities because of the league we’re in, and because of the non-conference schedule that we played, to have signature wins, and we’ve fallen short several times. To be able get it done, and to see the way he did it, it was really a special performance by a really good point guard.”
James Milliken answered the call to the starting lineup just minutes before tipoff. (Adam Streur / WBR) CLICK TO BUY
Watson scored his teams first points as well as their last, and they never trailed at any point in between. Senior guard James Milliken was inserted into the starting lineup about 15 minutes prior to tip-off when freshman guard Khyri Thomas was a late scratch due to illness. Milliken answered the call by scoring seven of his eventual nine points in the first six minutes of the game. Junior guard Isaiah Zierden added a pair of 3-pointers to Milliken’s hot start as Creighton stormed out to a 21-4 lead over the fifth-ranked Musketeers with 11:54 remaining in the first half.
Defense was stifling for the Bluejays on the other end of the floor as Xavier misfired on 13 of their first 15 shots and only scored on two of their first 16 possessions to begin the game.
“When we jumped on them early we got two or three stops in a row to start the game and got the whole building going,” senior center Geoffrey Groselle said. “That really helped our energy throughout the whole game. Those first couple possessions were key.”
While they were pleased with the start, the Bluejays knew the first shots they landed wouldn’t be enough to put Xavier away, so it came as no surprise when the Musketeers started to claw their way back in the game. An 11-2 run helped the visitors close to within eight points with 8:19 to go in the opening half. Then after five quick points by junior forward Cole Huff pushed the lead back to double digits, Xavier freshman point guard Edmond Sumner answered with four points in a row to cut the deficit to 30-23. Each run by Xavier was met by one from Creighton as a couple successful trips to free throw line for Watson and another 3-pointer by Zierden kept the Bluejays in front by double digits, 37-27, at halftime.
Creighton’s floor general led all players with 10 points and five assists in the first half, and he still had his foot on the gas to begin the second half. The Bluejays began the second stanza with an 8-0 run to extend the lead to it’s largest of the game at 45-27. Watson began the run with a pair of free throws and capped it off with his only 3-pointer of the night. As big as the start to the game was for Creighton, the run to open things up in the second half may have been even more important.
“They didn’t score on their first five possessions, and we scored on three out of five to take a ten-point lead and make it an 18-point lead in the first five possessions,” McDermott said. “If that’s flipped, if that goes from 10 to two, now it’s a whole different game.”
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See photos from WBR Photographers Adam Streur, Brad Williams, and Mike Spomer
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While the Musketeers could never get it going from the perimeter, they did find success going inside on the offensive end. They scored 18 points in the paint in the second half and got 10 points off second chance opportunities while their 1-3-1 zone was causing fits for Creighton’s offense.
There was still over six minutes remaining when the Musketeers trimmed the lead down 55-50, but they wouldn’t get any closer. Watson was starting to exploit the cracks in Xavier’s zone. He had already scored six of his team’s last seven points when he found spot in the zone to get his shot off and put his team up by seven.
Everyone contributed to the win including Cole Huff with a key three down the stretch (Brad Williams / WBR) CLICK TO BUY
The attention Xavier was starting to pay to Watson set the stage for Cole Huff to hammer the final nail in the coffin when he found himself open in the corner and buried a 3-pointer to put Creighton up 60-50 with 4:37 remaining. Huff’s shot came at the tail end of a play that started with the Musketeer defenders chasing Watson, trying to prevent him from getting an easy look near the rim.
“That 1-3-1 zone that they ran kind of slowed us down a little bit, but I think Maurice did such a great job of getting to the rim,” Huff said. “He drew a lot of attention, which freed up Isaiah, and Isaiah was able to make that extra pass to me in the corner, and I took advantage of it.”
After Huff’s 3-pointer, Watson resumed his dissection of the Xavier defense, scoring seven of Creighton’s final 10 points to cap off his 22-point second half.
“They were switching a lot, and early on in the game I was kind of dribbling too much, because of the switches and it was making our offense stagnant,” Watson said. “Once I was able to swing the ball and get the ball back it got them chasing, and I was able to get into the lane and force guys to help. Because me teammates are such good shooters defenders don’t really want to help off of those guys, so it allowed me to get into the lane, and right then and there it’s up to everything that I do in the gym every day.”
Easier said than done according to his head coach, who explained that those sprints to the hoop that may look like easy, high percentage shots to the untrained eye are actually a result of the skill development and hard work that his junior point guard puts in when the cameras and recorders aren’t in his face awaiting the next colorful sound byte.
“Some of the finishes when you go back and slow them down and watch them they look like layups to the naked eye watching the game, but if you watch those slowly those were hard, hard shots,” McDermott said. “He’s just really creative. I don’t think it’s any secret that Maurice is a rather confident guy, but he’s also worked hard to back some of that up. He’s not a guy that runs his mouth with confidence but doesn’t back it up with a work ethic. He’s spent time in his season off honing his skills, getting better shooting the basketball, working on those floaters and finishes, and he’s stuck with that this season. That confidence and that edge I think you need some of that on your team, and he’s certainly brought that to our basketball team.”
The win was Creighton’s third under Greg McDermott over a team ranked in the top ten. It sets them up for a final month of the regular season that can still be used to bolster a resume that get the Bluejays back to where they’ve wanted to go since the beginning of the season.
“It’s been our goal from the start to get back to the NCAA Tournament, and we’re sitting there right on the bubble,” Groselle, a team captain and one of Creighton’s two seniors on this year’s roster, said. “We’re fighting to get in, and this was a big win for us. At the end of the year if we’re sitting on the bubble this will be a big win for us and hopefully push us over the edge to get into the tournament.”
The Bluejays will play four of their final six regular season games on the road beginning with a trip to Milwaukee, Wis., on Saturday night for their first meeting this season with the Marquette Golden Eagles.
“We wanted to be playing meaningful games in February that had postseason implications,” McDermott said. “That’s what we talked about at the start of the season and tonight was one of those. If we lose tonight, then Saturday’s game doesn’t mean as much. We won a game that mattered, and that makes the next few games matter. We just have to try to build on what was a great win tonight.”
Tip-off between Creighton and Marquette (15-9, 4-7) is scheduled for 7:01 p.m.
Listen to postgame interviews with Greg McDermott, Maurice Watson Jr., Geoffrey Groselle, Cole Huff and Xavier head coach Chris Mack.