The Creighton men’s basketball run in the College Basketball Crown came to an end Saturday afternoon with an 87-70 semifinal loss to West Virginia in Las Vegas.
The loss ended the Bluejays’ season — and Coach Greg McDermott’s Creighton career.
Here are three takeaways from the final loss.
Farewell, Mac
A near 20-point loss wasn’t the way McDermott deserved to go out, but in typical Mac fashion, when asked about his emotions walking off the court for the final time, his answer was about his players rather than himself.
“You’d like it to end with a win, especially for the guys,” McDermott said. “This team has been through a lot this season, and they’ve stayed incredibly close, and they’ve had each other’s back during some really difficult times. On the floor stuff with injuries and off the floor stuff with Josh’s mom’s situation, this group has been — it’s what brotherhood is all about. And sometimes the lesson is bigger than basketball, and that was certainly the case this season.”
McDermott had only started deflecting and deferring, however. The reporters in the press conference room kept asking about him and what he built at Creighton, and he kept talking about everyone else. He began with Bruce Rasmussen, who was in the room for McDermott’s final Creighton presser, and continued to call out Dana Altman, the Omaha community and all those who support the Creighton program and all the assistants who helped him sustain success over the years.
McDermott also shared an emotional moment with radio play-by-play commentator John Bishop, who fought back tears while asking the final question in his final postgame interview with McDermott on 1620 the Zone.
“It’s been a privilege, it really has,” McDermott said. “To think of, as I told the team, the relationships over 16 years, the number of incredible people that I’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with, and people that support our program, they’ve made Omaha feel home to our family from the jump, and we really appreciate it. Creighton, to me, it’s always been about the people. Bruce sold that to me in our interview, and it was not window dressing. That’s the way it’s been from day one on the job, and that’s the way he ran the program, and it’s continued under Marcus [Blossom]’s leadership. Just a lot of wonderful people, and certainly, you’re one of them. The privilege has been mine, my friend.”
That’s who McDermott is. It’s never been about himself. The only words focused on the program’s all-time winningest head coach came from the freshman sitting next to him for the press conference.
“I feel like he just brings a good energy to all the practices, and when we’re off the court, just being a jokester kind of a guy, and just bringing up everyone’s day, then on the court, knowing how to talk to certain guys and things of that nature,” Hudson Greer said. “But overall, I’m just super blessed that I was able to be coached by this guy here.”
Thinking back, Rasmussen accidentally calling McDermott “Doug” in his introductory press conference 16 years ago — the first of many such slips that continued until the very end — was a fitting tribute and foreshadowing of the way the veteran coach would operate as Creighton’s leader.
McDermott has spoken about the reasons he’s choosing to take a step back from college coaching now on multiple occasions, but I found his answer Saturday in response to a question about his view of the current state of college basketball quite illuminating. It was a long answer, but I felt printing the full quote was worth it.
“The level of play in college basketball right now, you could argue, is maybe as good as it’s ever been … so I think that the level of talent is certainly there,” McDermott said. “I wish we could figure out a way to limit the movement a little, and I understand that players should have the same opportunity as coaches. But I also would hate to think about where I’d be today if, for some reason, I bounced around in college and I didn’t get my education. Would this career have ever had an opportunity to happen? And I think part of part of sports and our responsibility as stewards of the game and coaches is to prepare the young people that we’re coaching for the real world, and some of this isn’t necessarily real because it’s not like going and getting a job and doing an eight to five and all the stuff that goes with it.
“So I always prided myself in thinking that the standards that we have for our program are going to help Hudson Greer later in life, and I hope later in life he feels that way. I love building a program, and that’s what I think I was good at. I’m not sure I’m great at building a team year after year after year, a different team. So I think that’s the frustration, probably with us older guys, is that we built programs for so long, and now, what’s my niche if I can’t have Hudson Greer — he’s one that I hope he’s staying forever, because I think he’s got a great future. But the Ryan Kalkbrenners of the world that were there four or five years and just were totally embraced by our fan base, is that going to happen anymore or as much? And to me, that’s a little bit sad.
“Having said that, I’m all about the guys getting compensated and having the ability to make choices that they want to make. I just hope it isn’t at the expense of some real-world preparation.”
McDermott’s coaching style has produced unprecedented success throughout his career, but he and his staff have done their best work when they’ve had players in the system for multiple years. Even with transfers, that second-year leap for so many has been massive. Those transfers have also found the most success when they’ve joined an already established core. With nine newcomers and only one true returning starter (factoring in Jackson McAndrew’s injury), this year was a true exercise in building a team, one that never truly came together.
Lessons Learned?
In order to send McDermott out in victorious fashion, Creighton would have had to do something it hadn’t done all calendar year: win consecutive games. That the Jays weren’t suddenly able to find the key to sustaining success in game 34 is no surprise, and thus this season ends with a 16-18 record.
We knew going in West Virginia’s defense would be a tough nut to crack, ranking 17th nationally in adjusted efficiency heading in. Considering how strong West Virginia’s interior defense particularly is, McDermott said Creighton needed to win the 3-point battle. Instead, they lost it decisively, shooting 6-for-25 compared to the Mountaineers’ 12-for-30. That’s an 18-point difference in a 17-point loss.
However, that leads us to the bigger problem: West Virginia — a mediocre offensive team — poured in 87 points on 53% from the field and 40% from 3.
Creighton finished the season ranked 101st in defensive efficiency, the lowest mark for the team since the last losing season, 2014-15 (that team ranked 138th). Heading into next season, Creighton must find a way to take significant strides on that side of the ball. The coaches tried anything and everything they could think of schematically this season, but none of it worked for a prolonged stretch. This year’s roster simply had too many players who struggled on that end to form a competent defense.
Rim protection and perimeter on-ball defense (particularly with Josh Dix’s departure) will likely be among the priorities when the transfer portal opens on Tuesday. However, it’s important that the players who will return make significant strides on that end to form a connected, competent team defense that gives the Jays a chance to compete next season.
Hope for the Future
If there was one redeeming part of Saturday’s loss, it was no doubt the performance of Greer. The freshman wing was quiet in the first game in Vegas but made a big impact in game two, finishing second on the team with 15 points in 28 minutes off the bench while shooting 4-for-6 from the field (3-for-4 from 3) and 4-for-6 from the foul line.
Saturday was his third double-digit scoring performance of the season. The previous two also came against Big 12 opponents in Las Vegas (16 against Baylor and 12 against Iowa State in the Players Era).
Greer had a bumpy first year of college, pulling his redshirt midseason then suffering an injury that sidelined him for an extended stretch, but the flashes he showed when healthy and in rhythm are certainly enticing, and I’m sure Alan Huss shares his predecessor’s view of the 6-foot-7 wing from Texas as a cornerstone of the program moving forward. For all the ups and downs, Greer ended his freshman season on a high note.
“I think it just keeps me humble, because you just never know what’s guaranteed or not,” Greer said of his first season. “I’m just super grateful for this year to have the opportunity to have a coach that really trusted me during parts of the year, with me coming off a redshirt and then being able to prove myself, and then slowly making my way back into the rotation after being hurt. It means a lot, just going through those times, just staying true to God and figuring that out.”
Saturday was Dix’s final game as a Bluejay (it’s a shame he didn’t get a second season in Omaha like Baylor Scheierman and Steven Ashworth did), and he finished with 18 points on 50% shooting, even though his recent stretch of hot 3-point shooting didn’t continue. However, Creighton’s third double-digit scorer does have eligibility remaining.
Jasen Green finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and two blocks, recording his first career double-double. He had come up one rebound shy of hitting that mark four different times, including against Rutgers on Thursday. He finally got there in the final game of his junior season, another small silver lining from the game.
Green has filled so many roles and contributed in so many ways throughout his Creighton career. At this stage, I have no idea what his role will look like in 2026-27, but he’s shown his value over the past two seasons no matter where you ask him to play. The hometown kid’s steady development as both an offensive player and as a vocal leader is one storyline from this disappointing season that fans can reflect on with a smile on their faces and pride in their minds.
