Greg McDermott said he was going to learn a lot about his Creighton men’s basketball team in the Players Era Men’s Championship over Thanksgiving week, and the tournament certainly provided plenty of opportunities to learn lessons.
The Jays (4-3) returned from Las Vegas with a 1-2 tournament record, falling to Baylor and No. 10 Iowa State before beating Oregon to wrap up their stay.
“I liked the way we fought back against Baylor in the second half and at least got ourselves to a point where it was anybody’s game with six or seven minutes left and just couldn’t finish,” McDermott said. “And then even as poorly as we played against Iowa State, we came out of the locker room and cut it to eight, got them to take a timeout, had some momentum, and again, came out and let them stretch it right back out.
“So the fact that we were able to regroup against Oregon in kind of a game that probably nobody wanted to be at, and you don’t expect to play a team as good as Oregon in that situation. I was proud that we found a way to get it done, and then we just have to build on it.”
Defensive rebounding has been a significant issue for the Jays this season as opponents have rebounded 36% of their misses, ranking Creighton 306th in the country. In three games in Vegas, the Bluejays gave up 51 offensive rebounds, leading to 61 second-chance points. Far too often, the Jays have been slower to the ball when a shot goes up.
“A lot of our problems have been in the paint,” McDermott said. “When the shot is taken from the perimeter, we’ve lost a few, but for the most part, we’ve done a good job of finding bodies. What we what we’ve been losing is the scrum. Somebody gets the basketball to six feet, they throw it up off the rim, there are six or seven guys within three feet of the rim, and we’re not winning those battles. Some of it’s physicality, some of it’s technique, some of it’s want-to, and when you have a combination of those three, you have a great rebounder.
“That’s what we had in Baylor Scheierman. We were so accustomed to [Ryan] Kalkbrenner for all those years. While he wasn’t a great defensive rebounder, his man very seldom got it, and that allowed the guards to kind of come in and make a play. Well, our fives aren’t doing as good a job of that this year. So besides some of the other problems we have in the guard court, our centers aren’t doing as good a job as they need to.”
Prior to the team’s departure for Vegas, McDermott learned that sophomore forward Jackson McAndrew needed season-ending surgery for a foot injury that had been bothering him since the preseason. His loss created the need for more lineup experimentation for a staff that has been looking for answers all season.
“Obviously, we didn’t have any time without him,” McDermott said. “Jasen [Green] had played primarily at the three and the five up until that point, so we shifted him to our starting power forward, and he’s played a fair amount of minutes there. And then we’re tinkering with Isaac [Traudt] there some, with Hudson there some, with Hudson a little bit at the three, and he’s relatively new to the rotation too. There were positive signs from all of them, just probably not consistent enough. That’s our next step for us is we need more guys to be consistent on a daily basis.”
Green, Traudt and Greer each scored in double figures at least once in Las Vegas, with the freshman putting up 16 points against the Bears and 12 against the Cyclones while shooting 6-of-10 from 3 in Vegas.
The Iowa State game resulted in an 18-point loss. Blake Harper, the team’s second-leading scorer on the season, went scoreless for the first time in his career, only attempting five shots, including three 3s. He bounced back in a big way against Oregon, scoring a team-high 18 points on 6-of-12 from the field and 6-of-8 from the line. He made a concerted effort to get downhill and also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
“I feel like during the Iowa State game, I think we as a team were letting Iowa State dictate the pace of the game,” Harper said. “We went back that night in the hotel, had a players meeting, talked it over, and really just made an emphasis that we had to make sure that we started demonstrating how we play and being more aggressive and making sure teams can respond to us more. For me personally, I think it was just kind of making sure my presence was felt out there on the court. Iowa State wasn’t the best game at all for me, but I was making sure I bounced back, because it’s a long season.”
The Bluejays have had a few days in the practice gym since returning from Vegas to work on everything that goes into dictating the terms of play, and McDermott said they still have a lot of work to do on that front, regardless of who happens to be on the schedule. He’s not worried about anybody looking ahead to the Huskers on Sunday because this week is all about the Bluejays.
“Our problems are in our own practice gym, and that’s what we have to fix,” McDermott said. “While preparing for an opponent is important, it pales in comparison with the areas we have to grow. So still, a lot of our focus is on ourselves and obviously doing as good a job with the scouting report as we possibly can. There are so many things we have to fix, and that’s really our focus.”
Creighton is back at CHI Health Center Omaha for another buy game before heading down the road to Lincoln on Sunday. A winless Nicholls team is visiting Omaha Tuesday night for a late tipoff.
“They’re really athletic, and they played Oklahoma State, I thought, relatively tough, went to Tulane, played a close game,” McDermott said. “I think they’re very well coached. I know Coach [Tevon] Sadler is the youngest coach in division one, but I think he’s done a great job … They’re going to change defenses, couple different zones, some switching and some pressing, some trapping, and a lot of guys who can take you off the dribble, which hasn’t exactly been our strong suit to this point.”
The Colonels have four players averaging double figures in scoring, with senior 6-foot guard Trae English leading the way at 13.5 points per game. Senior Jaylen Searles, a 6-foot-8 wing, isn’t far behind at 13.4 points per game, and he’s the team’s top shooter, connecting on 41.9% of his 6.2 3-point attempts per game. Jalik Dunkley, a 6-foot-7 wing, is leading the team in rebounding at 7.7 per game while adding 12.0 points per game. Sincere Malone, a 6-foot-8 forward, rounds out the double-digit scorers at 11.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.
The Bluejays will also see a familiar face on the Nicholls bench in former grad assistant Jovan Coleman, who spent the 2023-24 season with the Creighton program. He joined the Nicholls staff as an assistant last season and Sadler promoted him to associate head coach during the offseason.
“I’m really proud of him,” McDermott said. “He took a leap of faith with that job, went to work and learned some areas of the game that he probably wasn’t quite as familiar with, specifically on the recruiting front. I know he’s recruited a fair amount of this team, so I’m just really proud of him, to see him go out there and kind of blaze his own trail.”
Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT on TruTV with J.B. Long, Steve Smith and Nabil Karim on the broadcast.
