This season has been one of constant experimentation and adjustments for Coach Greg McDermott and Creighton men’s basketball.
The latest adjustment, Creighton’s seventh different starting lineup this season, including starting Fedor Žugić on the wing alongside Josh Dix in a 91-84 upset win at No. 5 UConn. It was the first collegiate start for the 6-foot-6 Montenegrin guard, currently in his second season with the Bluejays, and he made the most of it with a career-high 14 points.
Žugić’s role has been shifted throughout the season. He logged single-digit minutes in five of Creighton’s first 12 games and struggled with his perimeter shot significantly early in the season. However, he made a move up the depth chart midseason and has seen more steady playing time as one of the first subs off the bench, playing at least 12 minutes in each of Creighton’s last 12 and hitting the 20-minute mark in nearly half those games.
The reason for the move? Defense, which shocked Žugić himself to a certain degree. The staff identified him as the reserve most capable of handling tough perimeter defensive assignments when Dix needed a break, and Žugić embraced that role.
“It’s been different for me,” he said back on Jan. 26. “I’m not really used to that. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do for the team and Coach said he needed me to be that guy. It took a lot of work. The summer was hard, and obviously the beginning, it gets rough, but you’ve just got to stick with it every day. It’s not always pretty, and you come to a point where you don’t even think about it anymore. You just get in the game, and whoever you’ve got to guard, you guard.”
Žugić said he’s come a long way on the defensive end, laughing as he answered the question. Adjusting to the team-oriented nature of Creighton’s defense and the Bluejays’ preferred ball screen coverages was difficult after playing a completely different style of defense for so long overseas, but things have started to click for him. McDermott cited defensive reasons against the high-powered UConn perimeter attack for giving Žugić his first start.
However, it was his offense that made the biggest impact — and not from the 3-point line. All of his points came at the rim or from the free-throw line as he shot 4-of-7 from the field and 6-of-8 from the stripe. Žugić only attempted one 3-point shot and not until late in the game as he came out determined to get to the basket.
Here’s his first bucket.
He initially caught the ball on the wing in transition and attacked, but Jaylin Stewart cut him off. So Žugić kicked it out and reset.
Isaac Traudt kicked it back to him on the wing and followed to set a ball screen. Stewart turned his head to look at the screen coming, which Žugić recognized and took advantage of by refusing the screen. That gave him half a step on the 6-foot-7, 225-pound Stewart and he showed enough strength to absorb contact from the bigger wing and squeeze by for the inside hand finish.
Strength will be a recurring theme as we continue through the game.
Here’s his second bucket.
Žugić cleared the defensive board then pushed it himself up the right sideline. He sized up the man who picked him up — Alex Karaban, who Dan Hurley said was moving like an aircraft carrier after the game — and decided to attack, crossing over and driving to his left again. He drove to the far side of the rim, again absorbed body contact from Karaban and finished high off the glass with his left hand where neither Karaban nor Tarris Reed Jr. could reach it.
Pushign the pace and attacking before the defense could get set was one of McDermott’s points of emphasis heading into the game, and Žugić took that to heart.
His last bucket of the first half come off a sideline in-bounds play.
Žugić threw it in to Traudt, waited a beat, then when the junior forward pivoted backwards he took off, leaving Malachi Smith, who had turned his head, in his dust. Traudt pitched it to Žugić with a head of steam and he rolled down the lane, attacking the chest of the help defender, Jayden Ross.
Žugić again took the contact but showed the strength and athleticism to hang in the air and kiss it off the glass.
Žugić’s final bucket came during a key stretch late in the second half as the Bluejays build their double-digit lead.
Creighton ran a zoom action, which involves a player running off a down screen immediately into a dribble handoff. Here, it’s Blake Harper setting the screen and Jasen Green handing it off to Žugić. He gave a slight head fake as freshman Braylon Mullins tries to get back in front of him. Instead, Žugić kept him on his hip all the way to the restricted area then gave him a subtle bump as he jump-stopped, nudging the slight rookie (6-foot-6, 196 pounds) out of the way.
He threw another quick fake with Reed on his left then snuck the bunny up and in before the UConn center could swat it.
Žugić drew five fouls in total, second on the team behind only Jasen Green with six. The last two came in the final 65 seconds as UConn looked to stop the clock and extend the game, but he earned the first three.
Here’s one.
Žugić took the handoff from Nik Graves, and there was a slight moment of confusion as his man, Solo Ball, got tangled up with Graves’, Silas Demary Jr. Žugić saw the opening and put his head down, driving down the lane with ball on his hip. Reed accidentally took out Demary, who then fell down and tripped Ball, who also fell down and took Žugić with him.
One thing Creighton did better against UConn than it has most of the season is taking advantage of slight cracks in the defense (a moment of hesitation, briefly looking away, getting caught up on a screen) and aggressively punching the gap. Žugić did it as well as anyone, using his functional strength and athleticism to force the issue. Whether the 3-point shot is falling or not, if Žugić can consistently make plays like he did against the Huskies (which hasn’t been the case thus far in his Creighton career), the minutes will be there for him.
The other two fouls he drew were important as they saddled Ball with foul trouble, handing him his third late in the first half and his fourth with six minutes to play.
Both times, Žugić simply ripped through on the catch and was strong enough to hold his line on his drive and force the whistle.
In addition to the offensive contributions, Žugić also hit the deck twice to scrap for loose balls, which is always going to score points with a coach.
Žugić played a career-high 31 minutes, and the Bluejays (14-13, 8-8 Big East) will need more plays like the one above as they continue their road trip to Madison Square Garden to take on No. 17 St. John’s (21-5, 14-1), who has won 12 straight games.
The Red Storm beat the Bluejays 90-73 in Omaha on Jan. 31, dominating the offensive glass and holding Creighton to 24 points in the paint while also raining 3s (12 of them on only 23 attempts).
Žugić and Blake Harper, two of the heroes in the UConn win, could be in line for more playing time again depending on the status of freshman Hudson Greer, who only played six minutes against the Huskies while dealing with an ankle tweak.
St. John’s has its own injury to deal with as Ian Jackson will miss Saturday’s game, according to Coach Rick Pitino. Jackson had 12 points in the first meeting, one of six Johnnies in double figures.
The Red Storm have been clicking on all cylinders since losing to Providence during the first week of league play. In Big East contests alone, St. John’s is second in adjusted offensive efficiency largely thanks to the lowest turnover rate and the highest free-throw rate in the conference, and the Johnnies are first in adjusted defensive efficiency as well. They’re first in defensive rebounding rate, second in 2-point field goal percentage allowed and third in turnover rate forced.
Preseason Big East Player of the Year Zuby Ejiofor and former Providence Friar Bryce Cotton average 30 points, 13.2 rebounds and 5.7 assists between them, presenting a formidable challenge for Creighton’s frontcourt. Oziyah Sellers is the top backcourt scorer for St. John’s at 11.0 points per game and 35.8% from 3.
Taking care of the ball, surviving on the defensive glass and playing without fouling will be paramount for the Jays to have any hope at pulling off another upset.
Tipoff is set for 11 a.m. CT on FOX with Alex Faust and Donny Marshall on the call.
