The point guard position has been a strength for Creighton men’s basketball with the likes of Maurice Watson Jr., Marcus Zegarowski, Ryan Nembhard and Steven Ashworth holding down the job for the majority of the last decade. With Ashworth exhausting his eligibility last season, Greg McDermott and his staff went back into the transfer portal during the offseason looking for help at the position and quickly zeroed in on former Charlotte 49er Nik Graves.
The 6-foot-2 southpaw from Durham, North Carolina, committed to the Jays on April 2, becoming the program’s second pickup of the cycle.
“Honestly, I just came here and had a really, really good visit, had a lot of great hosts, being Ty [Davis], Jackson [McAndrew] and Isaac [Traudt],” Graves told Hurrdat Sports. “I really just felt a family atmosphere. I knew there were a lot of pieces where I could come in and be able to provide and be in a situation where I could grow on and off the court honestly. I just had a confidence that I felt coming from the coaching staff to have a joint partnership and hopefully get something special done this year.”
The two-year starter at Charlotte will have one season of eligibility at Creighton after averaging 17.5 points (fifth in the American Athletic Conference), 4.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists as a junior.
The move from Charlotte to Omaha has included a significant learning curve, but the with the start of the season fast approaching, Graves has begun to settle in to the way the Jays need him to play.
“He’s gotten better as camp has gone on,” McDermott said during the team’s media day on Oct. 9. “He played in one of the slowest-playing programs at Charlotte last year, and now we want him to play with pace all the time. He’s electric with the ball, he’s very fast with the ball in transition, and we’ve just got to get him to do it all the time. He’s played particularly well the last four or five practices, and I just think as guys settle into the pace and the conditioning and the fatigue and everything that goes with it, everything becomes a little bit easier, their mind slows down a little bit.
“We’ve seen our shooting numbers increase significantly from the first five practices to the second five, and I think that’s a case of just everybody settling in and understanding what we’re doing and how hard you have to do it.”
What kind of player has Graves been, and how will his game translate to the Big East? Let’s dive deeper into the tape and numbers to find out with the help of Synergy Sports.
Overall Scoring Efficiency
Grave shot 49.3% inside the arc on 6.6 attempts per game and 32.8% from 3 on 5.6 attempts per game — both below the efficiency mark you’d like to see — but he made up for that by attempting 7.7 free throws per game and hitting them at a 77.3% clip. That plus a low turnover rate results in an above average efficiency overall as he scored 1.038 points per possession (PPP), ranked in the 82nd percentile nationally.
Keep in mind that Charlotte was 322nd in the country in 3-point percentage at 31%, with only two above average shooters on the roster by percentage (neither of which attempted even four 3s per game). In addition to the low pace McDermott mentioned (306th in tempo, 313th in possession length), Graves was battling a significant lack of spacing and was far and away Charlotte’s best perimeter scoring option.
As mentioned above, he wasn’t great from the field as his 0.97 points per shot (PPS) ranked in the 39th percentile. Jump shots accounted for 56.9% of his attempts and produced 0.89 PPS (43rd percentile) while shooting 31.6% (13-of-44 on 2s, 61-of-190 on 3s). However, I don’t think that reveals Graves’ true shooting ability.
His catch-and-shoot numbers paint a more encouraging picture. He scored 1.06 PPS (62nd percentile), shooting 35.4% (46-of-130, all on 3s). Nearly 60% of his catch-and-shoot looks were contested, yet he scored 1.09 PPS (74th percentile) and shot 36.4% (28-of-77) on those looks.
However, Graves created a ton of his own looks, and those didn’t fall at a great rate. He scored 0.67 PPS (28th percentile) and shot 26.7% (13-of-44 on 3s, 14-of-57 on 3s) on pull-up jumpers. He likely won’t need to shoulder as much of the offensive load at Creighton, and a lot of those possessions that ended in off-the-dribble jumpers will likely turn into passes to other talented scorers this season.
Small sample size here, but Graves was decent on his jump shots inside of 17 feet (9-of-23, 39.1%) but struggled beyond that point (4-of-21, 19% out to the arc) and only shot 2-of-14 on runners.
At the rim, Graves scored 1.13 PPS (47th percentile), shooting 56.6%. On layups alone, he shot 58.6% (89-of-152), producing 1.17 PPS and ranking in the 67th percentile.
Pick-and-Roll Ball-Handler
Pick-and-rolls made up 23.5% of Graves’ scoring possessions last year and he averaged 0.962 PPP (85th percentile), shooting 39.3% from the field (26-of-69 on 2s, 6-of-20 on 3s) with a 25.2% free-throw rate.
Graves is left-hand dominant, but is pretty good at getting back to that hand to get a shot up. He’s incredibly crafty, using hesitations, crossovers, head fakes and changes of speed and direction to get to his spots. He’ll split traps or put his defender in jail, showing good burst to the rim when he hits the turbo button. He plays well off two feet in the paint and is strong around the basket. His free-throw grifter tendencies certainly show up here, though he doesn’t always get the call. He also found a way to convert some tough/weird shots, as you can see in the reel below.
If you factor in his passes out of ball screens, the possession count rises to 37.3% of his offense. Unfortunately, he didn’t have dynamic roll men or knockdown shooters spacing the floor, though Graves pick-and-rolls still produced 0.976 PPP overall (75th percentile). He shows the vision and processing ability to make all the passes in the pick-and-roll game.
He uses his craftiness to consistently get in the lane and collapse the defense, showing the ability to identify the open man and make difficult kick-out passes to spot-up shooters. He can put the ball where it needs to go for the roll man, though he didn’t have a consistent pick-and-pop threat at Charlotte. He sees cutters as well and can put the pass on the money.
The pick-and-roll is a huge part of Creighton’s offense, and Graves is no stranger to running the two-man game. With the better talent around him, I think we’ll get to see more of his passing ability and less of him forcing tough shots.
“Just trying to be that lead guard, be able to facilitate for my teammates, score the ball when needed, but ultimately just be a be a lead guard,” Graves said of his role. “I’m still developing myself as a leader and being able to lead this team vocally, just growing that aspect each and every day. But I think a lot of people looked at my numbers last year and just looked at me as a scorer, but that’s not honestly how I ever would have liked to play, but it taught me a lot of things, and I think I’ll be able to flourish in my role now.”
Spot-Up
Graves spent a lot of time on the court with the ball in his hands, but spot-up offense still made up 16.2% of his possessions. He scored 0.867 PPP (39th percentile) and shot 30% from the field (10-of-19 on 2s, 14-of-61 on 3s).
I’ll start with the bad: he’s certainly no Ashworth when it comes to perimeter shooting. He had to take some tough 3s late in the shot clock that dragged his percentage down (0-of-6 on pull-up 3s), but he didn’t shoot it great on the good looks either. However, if teams do close out hard, he does a good job of attacking, using head fakes to create driving opportunities and finishing well at the rim.
Handoffs
Charlotte ran a lot of handoffs with Graves, accounting for 14.4% of his scoring possessions. He scored 1.138 PPP (84th percentile) and shot 40.3% from the field.
What’s interesting is he actually shoots the 3 better off handoffs than in any other way (22-of-52, 43.1%) yet struggled to get to the rim (7-of-21, 33.3% on 2s). He does a good job of making defenders pay for going under handoffs, setting his feet and letting it fly.
Transition
Charlotte rarely pushed the pace, but Graves did play in transition on 13.8% of his possessions. He scored 1.0 PPP (42nd percentile), shooting 47.2% from the field (21-of-41 on 2s, 4-of-12 on 3s) with a 20.8% foul rate and a 13% turnover rate. He logged 57 possessions leading the break himself and 20 running the floor with someone else bringing the ball up.
His aggressiveness and foul-baiting get him in trouble at times when he tries to force things, but his craftiness also shined through at others as he operated with more space in the open floor.
Synergy also logged 18 assist possessions for him in transition, with 14 of those resulting in 3-pointers. Playing with pace is an area in which he’s improved significantly since he arrived, and he seems to be operating at the speed in transition that McDermott wants to see from his point guards more consistently.
“I think it’ll allow me to utilize my speed, playing off two feet,” Graves said of Creighton’s system. “I was able to get fouled, to get to the free-throw line a lot of times. This year, just being able to get a lot of paint touches, spray it out to a numerous around the shooters, so I think it’ll be great.”
Isolation
Again, Graves had to carry a heavy scoring load for the 49ers, and 11.7% of his possessions were isolations. He scored 1.185 PPP (93rd percentile) and shot 46% (15-of-31 on 2s, 8-of-19 on 3s) with a 26.2% foul rate, all fantastic numbers.
He’s aggressive attacking mismatches if defenders switch ball screens or handoffs. He does a great job utilizing a change of speed, lulling his defender to sleep than catching him off guard for the blow-by. He’s quick enough in a straight line to explode to the rim if he gets by his man and also likes to dance with the defender to get to his step-back or pull-up. He’ll give the ball up to get it back in a triple threat position, using jab steps to create space to let the ball fly.
McDermott isn’t a big fan of early-clock isolation offense (and with good reason), but it’s beneficial to have someone who can create his own shot with time winding down, and Graves is one of a handful of players who could fill that role this season.
Defense
Defense was a mixed bag for Graves, although it’s always worth considering how much a player in his position has to do offensively and how that might impact him on the other end.
I didn’t see elite lateral quickness; he’ll work hard to stay in front at times, but can’t always hold up. He also struggled to hold his own on switches (though he certainly has more size than Creighton’s last starting point guard). He works hard to get back in front of his man in ball-screen situations and shows some good vertical pop to contest shots around the basket and on the perimeter. His nine blocks last season ranked third on Charlotte. However, he can get a bit too aggressive and jumpy, resulting in foul trouble at times.
Ashworth struggled significantly on defense early in the 2023-24 season as he adjusted to the Big East level and learned how to fit into Creighton’s system, but he eventually settled in. Of course, the Jays have been experimenting throughout the preseason in search of a defensive identity for the post-Ryan Kalkbrenner era, so Graves isn’t in quite the same spot Ashworth was when he arrived.
It will be interesting to dee how Creighton’s defense evolves throughout the nonconference and how Graves factors in.
Overview
The leap from the American to the Big East is a big one. How cleanly will he be able to beat high-major defenders off the dribble? How much of his foul-drawing will translate to a conference where the officials or notoriously hesitant to blow their whistles, and how quickly will he adjust if he doesn’t get the calls he’s used to? How well will he hold up at the point of attack against the Big East’s best point guards?
He’s not going to play the same role for Creighton that he did for Charlotte, and that will require a shift in mindset from looking for his own shot whenever possible to getting his teammates involved more often. However, by all accounts, he’s excited about that change.
“He said in the locker room one day he hasn’t played with this kind of talent before,” fellow transfer Josh Dix said. “He’s used to scoring, but for all of us, it’s kind of different. We haven’t played with this many players that are this good, and I feel like that’s a credit to Coach Mac and what he’s built here, and how deep we are as a team. He’s been great, just distributing the ball. He’s able to score whenever — he averaged 18 points a game last year, not a lot of people can do that — but just passing, his defense and his leadership. As a point guard, you want to be a leader, and he’s definitely taking big steps in that area.”
Graves will only have one season with the Bluejays, and he’s hoping to make the most of it.
“Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to make an NCAA Tournament in my three years at Charlotte, so that would be my first goal, just being able to get there,” Graves said. “But after that, I don’t want to just get there, I want to flourish in the tournament and make a really deep run and hope that ends up in a national championship. I only have one year, so make as much of a legacy as I can here as a Creighton Bluejay.”
