Steven Ashworth introduced himself to Creighton fans with a 17-point explosion featuring five triples in the season-opener against Florida A&M, showing off great chemistry with his new teammates and the skill set to be a great fit in Greg McDermott’s offense.
However, things slowed down for him from there as he totaled just 31 points over his next five games and only attempted more than five shots in two of them. He dished out 17 assists with nine turnovers during that five-game stretch. Ashworth did a fine job keeping Creighton organized and getting the ball where it needed to go, but he wasn’t terribly impactful. Similar to Baylor Scheierman a year ago, it seemed like Ashworth was deferring plenty to the incumbent playmakers and was trying to feel out where and when to be aggressive.
On Thursday night in Stillwater, the Ashworth we saw in the opener returned. Ashworth scored 11 of Creighton’s first 18 points, finishing with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting (4-of-5 from 3) and a season-high five assists. Ashworth hit his first five shots including three triples and an and-one before finally having a deep 3 rim out. Ashworth put the team on his back until the big three Bluejays got going, helping the Jays bounce back from their first loss of the season.
How did he do it? Let’s take a look at the film to find out.
Ashworth’s first bucket came on Creighton’s second offensive possession of the game. The Bluejays moved the ball around until it found its way into Mason Miller’s hands at the top of the key. Miller’s defender gambled and missed, putting the Cowboys into rotation.
Ashworth was already cutting through when Miller put the ball on the deck and attacked, and both Ashworth’s man (No. 12, Javon Small) and Ryan Kalkbrenner’s (No. 23, Brandon Garrison) helped to cut off Miller’s drive. Ashworth flared out to the corner and Miller kicked it out to him as Kalkbrenner screened Miller’s man, No. 2 Eric Dailey Jr., who was trying to recover and rotate out to Ashworth. He caught and fired, knocking down the triple.
This second bucket was important, and it’s a shot that Ashworth is going to have to look for if teams continue defending Creighton the way they have. The veteran point guard ran off a pin-down from Trey Alexander and caught the ball near the top of the key then flowed into a ball screen from Kalkbrenner.
Ashworth’s man, Small, got caught chasing over the top of the screen while the big man, No. 32 Mike Marsh, continued to retreat in a drop. So Ashworth took one dribble after the screen and rose up from about 15 feet for the in-rhythm jumper.
He was one of the best pull-up shooters in the country last year at Utah State, especially in pick-and-roll situations, and he was aggressive looking for his shot early in this one. The third bucket was more of the same, only this time the shot was worth an extra point.
Ashworth brought the ball up the floor and Kalkbrenner set a ball screen right away.
Small again died on the screen then tried to go over while Marsh remained at the free-throw line in a drop. Creighton got into its action so quickly that Alexander hadn’t even crossed halfcourt yet, so his man was pinching in from the wing. Ashworth recognized all of this and pulled up for the 3 — splash.
His fourth bucket again starts as an off-ball action that flows into another ball screen. Scheierman attacked out of a pump fake and got into the lane for a jump-stop and pivot. Ashworth lifted to make himself available and Scheierman kicked it out, then Ashworth called for Fredrick King to come set a screen on the wing.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Small died on the screen, Garrison remained in a drop and Ashworth got to his spot and rose up for the mid-range jumper — only this time the big man tried to close out late and didn’t let him land cleanly, resulting in an and-one.
This next bucket is fun, and it shows the kind of faith this team has in Ashworth’s shooting ability. He dribbled the ball to the wing then passed back to Francisco Farabello popping to the top of the key. Ashworth then ran off a triple staggered screen.
First Isaac Traudt, then Scheierman, then Kalkbrenner set screens for Small to navigate as Ashworth circled around to the opposite wing for a catch-and-shoot 3 — again, nothing but net.
Ashworth finally missed his sixth shot on the next possession, a deep 3 off a handoff from Kalkbrenner that just rimmed out. It’s a shot he’s fully capable of hitting, however, and adds a dangerous element to Creighton’s offense.
Ashworth’s final bucket came about five minutes into the second half, but this one was just a broken play more so than Ashworth making anything happen himself. Kalkbrenner rebounded his own miss at the rim, and the Cowboys went into scramble mode trying to find the open shooters.
Small was digging in on Kalkbrenner while No. 5 Quion Williams flew out the corner to make sure Kalkbrenner couldn’t kick the ball to Scheierman for an open 3. That left Traudt open and Kalkbrenner kicked it out to him, which led to John Michael-Wright flying over in rotation. Traudt swung the ball to his open teammate and Ashworth set his feet and fired before the Cowboy in the corner could get there to contest, knocking it down to push Creighton’s lead back to 15.
Ashworth’s final two misses were both great reads as well; he put another mid-range pull-up hard off the back of the rim and left a layup short. By that point, Scheierman and Alexander had got going, however, and those two carried the team home.
Ashworth’s five assists also displayed the same processing ability that led to his buckets — making the right decision based on what the defense was showing him. Here are all five, which includes five different kinds of plays.
The first is simply Ashworth keeping his head up in transition and recognizing that King had his man on his back. The second showed patience with a ball screen, a re-screen and a kick to the corner with Scheierman’s man giving him too much space. The third was all hustle as he beat Wright to a loose ball, drew the defenders’ eyes in the paint and dropped it back to Alexander for the catch-and-shoot 3, triggering Creighton’s 24-6 finish to the half. That was a pivotal point in the game and the veteran point guard made a big play.
Ashworth’s fourth assist was a pick-and-pop. Wright was pressuring Ashworth and made it tough to use the screen, so he instead refused it then passed back to Kalkbrenner with Marsh still in a drop, and the 7-footer let it fly. Finally, Creighton ran a set it practices frequently to get Kalkbrenner a deep touch on the move, and Ashworth put the ball on the money to get his big man an easy bucket.
Between scoring and assists, Ashworth accounted for 30 of Creighton’s 79 points, and he did so by simply taking what the defense gave him. He was a bit more aggressive hunting his shot within the flow of the offense and exploit the way the Cowboys were defending the Jays. Through seven games he’s shooting 47.1% on nearly five 3-point attempts per game and is sporting a 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio. He’s also 4-for-6 on mid-range pull-ups.
Ashworth won’t have a big scoring game every night, but when teams focus a bit too much on trying to limit opportunities for Kalkbrenner and Alexander, he’s fully equipped to make them pay for it.
