Denzel Mahoney brings an extra jolt to the Creighton offense (Juszyk / WBR)
In the final days leading up to the on-court debut of Southeast Missouri State transfer Denzel Mahoney, Creighton head coach Greg McDermott preached patience. While Mahoney had been practicing with the team since the start of the school year, it was still going to be game one for him and game 11 for everyone else by the time he stepped on the floor. Adding a career 17-point-a-game scorer to the equation is one thing if he’s jumping in to provide a much-needed punch on the offensive end. But on a team that already featured three double-figure scorers who were averaging at least nine field goal attempts each night out? That was going to be a bit jarring.
“The challenging thing is we were 10 games in and it’s different,” McDermott said. “There was a flow and everybody kind of knew where they were getting their shots from, and now you bring new piece in — a very valuable piece that has helped us win a couple games — and it’s a new normal, and it’s going to take a little bit of time for us to get used to that.”
The Bluejays have gone 2-0 since Mahoney’s arrival, with wins over Oklahoma and Arizona State helping to boost their overall record to 10-2 on the season and their official ranking in the NET to climb from 58 to 24. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound bruising guard averaged 14.9 points per game as a freshman and 19.3 points per game as a sophomore while shooting 45.6% from the field, 39.5% from three, and 82.6% from the free throw line in 64 career games at SEMO. Through two games in a Bluejay uniform he is putting up 14.0 points a night in 23.5 minutes off the bench, but he’s shot just 36.4% from the floor in the process and has only one assist in 47 total minutes.
“I just think I’m trying to get used to playing college basketball again,” Mahoney said. “I’m coming into a situation where these guys are 8-2 without me and I’m trying to find my way in. It’s been hard. Sometimes I’ve been over aggressive, but Mac and the guys are helping me.
“Me and Mac watched film yesterday and talked about picking spots where I can drive to the basket and jump stop to look for my teammates on the outside instead of always trying to force a layup. I just have to find a good balance of being aggressive for me and being aggressive for the team and making plays for everybody else.”
Mahoney is trying to find his spot with an established set of scorers (Williams / WBR)
The first half and second half against Arizona State provided an example of the continuity transition that Creighton is going through right now. Mahoney led all players with 14 points in the first half, but the Bluejays as a team were upside down with four assists and seven turnovers. The rest of the team also only combined for two more points than him at halftime. In the second half, CU assisted on 11 of 15 made baskets and only turned it over four times. Through 29 possessions that have ended with Mahoney either scoring, turning it over, or getting to the free throw line, there have been just four passes after the ball hit his hands the first time. Not all of that is because he’s putting his head down and hunting his own offense once he gets a touch, though.
“There were times he shot it when he didn’t have any choice but to shoot it because we didn’t rotate to a spot where he had an outlet,” McDermott said. “That’s what we’ve been working on in practice. When the ball is driven we’ve got to get to certain spots on the floor so that the guy that’s driving it knows where his teammates are. You can’t be in blind spots where he can’t see you. It’s are job to rotate no matter who drives it. Whether it’s Denzel or one of the other guys, we’ve got to fill those spots, and generally when you pass it out of a situation like that you’re attacking a close-out and you’re getting downhill and distorting the defense.
“The ball’s gotta move. It can’t get stuck. When you’re not getting as many shots as you’re used to getting you have a tendency to maybe take one that you maybe wouldn’t have taken before. We just have to eliminate that and understand that the ball will continue to move and we’ll play the way that we’ve always played.”
Mahoney and the Bluejays will look to make strides in their continuity offensively when they take on Midland University on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. at the CHI Health Center Omaha in their final tune-up before opening Big East play at home against Marquette on January 1.