The Creighton men’s basketball team is coming off a stretch of three games in a seven-day span, including two on the road, that ended in a flat effort against a physical, relentless St. John’s squad on Saturday.
Greg McDermott said the difficult stretch showed itself in a lack of energy against the Red Storm, but Jasen Green wasn’t making any excuses after the loss.
“I’m definitely feeling it a little bit, but I feel like it’s not that bad to the point where we can’t perform the way that we want to as of right now,” Green said. “I feel like we definitely had more to give, and we just weren’t able to do that. But playing three games in six days, obviously isn’t easy at all. But we’re going to have situations like these, and we’re not going to be able to blame our past games for performances like this.”
After a 4-1 start to Big East play that included a last-second loss on the road to Seton Hall, the 17-point loss to St. John’s (that saw Creighton trail by as much as 27 in the second half) was a big step back for a team that had seemed to find its stride. Even so, Creighton (10-7, 4-2 Big East) is still third in both adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency since league play began — significant progress from the 5-5 start to the season.
“We’ve played better,” McDermott said. “Starting with that second half of the K-State game, really, this eight minutes that we had here at the end of the first half [against St. John’s] and the last five or six minutes of the Seton Hall game, other than that, we’ve played pretty good basketball, and I think we have a better understanding of who we are. Obviously, we have some warts, and there are some things that we can’t control, and we’re going to have to try to figure out how to be successful knowing that we have a few shortcomings, but this group has become more connected, they’ve become more together.”
Creighton leads the Big East in effective field goal percentage during Big East play, showcasing the team’s ability to operate at a high level when things are clicking despite the roster limitations McDermott mentioned. The Jays have found something since shaking up the starting lineup and rotation, and it’s sparked a turnaround they will look to continue despite Saturday’s set-back.
“When you’re not winning and you’re a program that’s accustomed to winning, sometimes that can really fracture on some teams, and the season can go south in a hurry, and you can’t wait for it to be over,” McDermott continued. “I don’t think there’s one person that locker room that feels that way. I think they’re connected. I think to have each other’s back. Obviously, we’ve tried some different starting lineups, and we’ve settled kind of for now on what we’re doing, and I think guys have embraced that and supported each other, and the guys that are coming off the bench have understood the value that they can still bring. We’ve put ourselves in a tough spot by the way we started, but there’s still plenty in front of us.”
One of the few positives from the St. John’s game is McDermott got freshman Hudson Greer a bit more run. He scored a couple buckets inside and hit a pair of free throws for six points in 10 minutes. Greer played five minutes in his first game back from injury against Seton Hall but didn’t see the court in the win at Villanova.
“He’s gradually kind of getting back in shape … We’ve got to try to get him back in the flow a little bit,” McDermott said. “Missing that much time is difficult, especially for a young player. The roller coaster he’s been on — redshirting, not redshirting, then gets hurt, and now he’s trying to fight his way back. And then on top of that, they go to bed at 3 a.m. on Wednesday after the game, and you try to gear it back up.”
The Bluejays had Sunday and Monday to recharge and rest before facing a home-and-away week against Georgetown on Tuesday and at Providence on Friday. After that, they won’t play again until next Wednesday. Creighton will have to find a way to keep energy levels high until they reach that break.
“We have a very similar stretch now,” McDermott said. “We play Tuesday and then again on the road on Friday. The schedule makers didn’t do us any favors with this stretch, but we have to make sure we’re ready for Georgetown, because they’re a very talented team.”
McDermott praised Georgetown’s talent, but the results haven’t matched to this point. The Hoyas are 9-7 overall including 1-4 in Big East play. They’ve lost four straight conference games since winning at Marquette in their league opener, with the lone win in there against Coppin State (ranked 364th out of 365 Division-I teams by KenPom). Georgetown is 109th in net rating, second-worst in the Big East ahead of only the 6-11 Golden Eagles and one spot behind DePaul.
However, teams haven’t been blowing the Hoyas out. Their losses have come to Xavier by three points, to St. John’s by 12, to DePaul by six and to Seton Hall by nine. The Hoyas have shown some teeth defensively, holding opponents to a sub-50 effective field goal percentage and ranking in the top-50 in opponent 2-point percentage (47.5%) and block percentage (12.8%).
Georgetown has size in the middle with a pair of 7-foot centers in Julius Halaifonua (7-foot, 259 pounds) and Vincent Iwuchukwu (7-foot-1, 257 pounds). The duo is averaging a combined 20.7 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.9 blocks on 54.9% from the field. However, Iwuchukwu has only played in six games so far this season.
Offensively, Georgetown doesn’t turn the ball over with the 11th-best rate in the country (13.4%) and the Hoyas live at the foul line with a 44.8% free-throw rate (28th nationally). They’re dreadful from the field, however, ranking 286th in effective field goal percentage (48%) and 308th in 3-point percentage (30.6%).
Arizona transfer KJ Lewis, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound guard, is leading the way for the Hoyas with 15.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.1 steals per game, but he’s only shooting 39.9% from the field, including 28.9% from 3. Point guard Malik Mack is back for a second year with the Hoyas and is averaging 14.4 points and 4.3 assists, but he’s only shooting 36.3% from the field with a sub-40 mark inside the arc. Caleb Williams, a 6-foot-7, 227-pound wing, is the fourth double-digit scorer for Georgetown (Halaifonua being the third), averaging 10.3 points and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 35.3% from deep.
Per the Big East availability report, Georgetown will be without sophomore Isaiah Abraham, a 6-foot-7, 205-pound wing who had started all 16 games for the Hoyas. He’s averaging 6.6 points and shooting 41.9% from 3 in 19.3 minutes per game.
Tipoff on Tuesday is set for 8 p.m. CT on NBC Sports Network and Peacock with Paul Burmeister and Nick Bahe on the call. The game is Creighton’s annual Fan Appreciation Night, otherwise known as “Dollar Beer Night.” Fans can purchase $1 beer and soda from the doors opening at 6:30 until tipoff.
