Through Creighton’s first 11 games, the Creighton men were top-50 nationally in turnover rate. The Jays hadn’t given the ball away more than 12 times in a game and had put together five games with single-digit turnovers.
Then Big East play began, and Creighton gave the ball away 16 times in a loss to Villanova, 15 times in a loss at Marquette and 11 times in the first half in Tuesday’s game at Georgetown. Coach Greg McDermott said on Thursday that he’s seen a bit of everything from a turnover perspective.
“We traveled a couple times,” McDermott said. “Against Villanova here, just a couple of goofy handoffs with guys that have been around a long time that you don’t see happen very often. It’s the live ball ones we have to clean up. If you travel or you get a shot clock violation, that’s one thing, but it’s the live ball you have to be careful. It starts with not making passes on the move and not taking quite as many chances.
“I thought at Georgetown in particular in the first half, I thought we had what we were looking for, but it was a second or second and a half late to get it delivered and by time we tried to deliver it the defense had adjusted. The timing of some of that is so important, and then understanding if you miss your opportunity, you probably have to pass on it, make a different pass and keep the basketball moving. So it has it hadn’t been a problem with this team and all of a sudden it’s cropped up. Hopefully it’s in our past.”
The Bluejays (10-4, 1-2 Big East) cleaned things up in the second half against the Hoyas, committing just three turnovers (all dead-ball) as they ran away for an easy win. Baylor Scheierman said a lot of the turnover issues have been the result of guys trying to do too much and overcomplicating things. The ball and man movement improved significantly in the second half.
“We didn’t turn the ball over, and I think we just had better pace, especially to transition, getting out and running and just kind of flowing into the offense,” Scheierman said. “The first half it was kind of stagnant getting into it and the second half it kind of just flowed really well from transition, and we were able to get some open looks out of that … The second half was a lot of fun, just running up and down, the ball moving, wasn’t a lot of dribbling and just finding the open guy and shooting. Kind of playing basketball how it’s supposed to be played.”
Scheierman passed a new milestone against the Hoyas, eclipsing 500 career assists. He crossed the 1,000-rebound threshold earlier this season and is closing in on 2,000 career points as well. Scheierman is currently leading the Big East in scoring (18.6 per game), he’s seventh in rebounding (7.9 per game) and is eighth in assists (4.2. per game). Known more for his perimeter shooting coming out of South Dakota State as a transfer, McDermott said he’s improved in a lot of ways since arriving in Omaha prior to last season.
“I think he’s score comfortable offensively making plays for other people,” McDermott said. “Defensively, he’s made gigantic strides. Last year he was the new starter to four returning starters, so I think he really walked a fine line of leadership last year. He didn’t want to overstep his bounds, I think, since he was a new guy, maybe tried too hard to fit in. This year, he’s really taking the bull by the horns. He’s been a great leader, the rebounding numbers, the assist numbers, he does he does everything for our team, and he’s been an absolute pleasure to coach.”
Scheierman kept the team afloat in the first half against Georgetown, but Trey Alexander is the one who took over in the second half to turn the game into a blowout. He scored 18 of his season-high 25 points in the second half, shooting 11-of-17 from the field including 3-of-5 from deep, a good sign for the junior who has been struggling with his 3-ball this season.
“Trey has been working,” McDermott said. “You always talk about trusting your work, and Trey doesn’t lack getting the extra reps in. Besides scoring the basketball, his assist numbers are great and after a rough first half, he really cleaned up the turnover aspect as well and made better decisions with the basketball. He’s got the ball in his hands more this year, so you have to make more decisions, and when you make more decisions, you’re going to make some mistakes. But I was really proud of the way he kind of refocused, reset and came out and had a great second half.”
Alexander will face as tough an individual test as he’ll see this season on Saturday as Creighton hosts No. 23 Providence (11-3), led by junior Devin Carter. The 6-foot-3 guard is one of the best perimeter defenders in the country, and he’s taken a big step forward on offense this season as the team’s leading scorer (16.2 points per game, shooting 38.8% from 3).
“He wins the point of attack a lot on ball screens,” McDermott said. “He’s really hard to screen and he’s physical enough and quick enough that he keeps it out of your hands some. And then he’s very physical against the drive. So I would guess he’s going to spend some time on Trey, so our ability to screen him is going to be really important just to get Trey loose a little so he can get downhill and then make some reads.”
Unfortunately, Carter lost his running mate in Wednesday’s loss to Seton Hall as forward Bryce Hopkins (15.5 points and 8.6 rebounds per game) went down with a season-ending knee injury. Even so, the Friars still have a significant force inside in George Mason transfer big man Josh Oduro (14.7 points and 6.8 rebounds per game).
“They’re playing really well, I think the most physical team that we will have faced,” McDermott said. “They have a couple days to figure out how to play without Bryce. Obviously, it was difficult last night mid-game to get a feel for what they’re going to do and how they’re going to do it, but Oduro is really good down low and Carter is one of the best guards in the league, so they’ve got plenty of pieces.”
Scheierman offered his prayers and hopes for a speedy recovery for Hopkins and said oftentimes a serious injury can bring a team closer together and inspire them to play even harder. Creighton will have to be ready to go for the afternoon tip at CHI Health Center Omaha, set for 1 p.m. CT.
“I love the early starts,” Scheierman said. “I wish we could play at noon or one o’clock every single game. I hate waiting around all day to play. So I’m looking forward to it and it’s obviously going to be a great game.”
FS1 will broadcast the game with Matt Schumacker and Nick Bahe on the call.
