The Big East opener can tell a lot about a team. This crucial first matchup becomes a definitive measure of a team’s readiness for high-stakes competition, reveals a team’s mental toughness, sets the tone for the remainder of Big East play and determines whether confidence will be solidified or weaknesses exposed. In this case, it told Head Coach Greg McDermott and the rest of the Creighton community that the Bluejays are not ready to challenge the storied programs that define the Big East Conference or the nation’s top talent.

Outscored, outrebounded and thoroughly outplayed, the Creighton Bluejays’ 81-57 loss to the Georgetown Hoyas left McDermott with little choice but to deliver a blunt and honest assessment in just a few words: “We got dominated in every phase of the game.”

Here are three key shortcomings that caused the Bluejays to collapse in their conference opener.

#1- Creighton didn’t just commit routine turnovers; the giveaways were a defining factor in the result of the game.

The Bluejays turned over the ball 16 times. Nearly half (7) were stolen by Georgetown’s Micah Peavy, and four of Peavy’s steals occurred almost consecutively in under five minutes. 

Creighton is a team known to turn over the ball, especially this season. With all 12 of their games racking up 10 or more turnovers by the end of the 40 minutes and six of those games raising the bar to 15 or more takeaways per game, the 16 turnovers against Georgetown weren’t necessarily surprising. 

But what proved most surprising and detrimental for the Bluejays came in their response to the takeaways. When Peavy started his rampage of stealing and dunking four times down the stretch, it was almost as if Creighton became a deer in headlights, completely unable to adapt and increase ball security or even fight off Georgetown’s one consistent stealing machine. 

It has been a while since the Bluejays have looked this lost for such an extended period of time, but it was almost as if every time Peavy jammed it into the basket on the other end, a little bit more of the fight and court vision was taken away.

The Bluejays gave away 20 points off turnovers when all was said and done. That’s not going to cut it, especially when playing on the road in a Georgetown atmosphere that will energize the home team with fervor. 

As McDermott said in the post-game press conference: “When they’re scoring baskets without your defense set, the crowd’s getting into the game, [and] those [turnover and dunk sequences] are plays that energize a home crowd. We provided plenty of material to get the crowd energized.” 

The only way the Bluejays are going to be able to hold their own, let alone win a game, is if they find a player somewhere on their roster, other than Ashworth, who can take care of the ball. Every player who stepped on the floor against the Hoyas with the exception of Frederick King turned over the ball at least once. The way the players performed on Wednesday is not going to cut it– they all need to step up and display the much-needed court vision and ability to dictate play. Otherwise, expect the results to largely remain the same.

#2- It took 26 minutes for a fourth scorer to contribute points to the Bluejay offense. That type of one-dimensional shooting and scoring is not going to win games.

Throughout the first half, the only players on the Creighton roster who saw shots go into the basket were Steven Ashworth (12), Jackson McAndrew (10) and Ryan Kalkbrenner (6). In contrast, the Hoyas saw 11 bench points contribute to their 34-28 lead at the half. 

Heading into the latter 20 minutes of play, it was evident that if Creighton had a shot at tying the game and slowing the momentum that fueled the Hoyas, other scorers were going to need to get involved. 

Instead, Creighton didn’t see another scorer step up until six minutes into the second half when Jamiya Neal hit a jumper. Throughout the entire 40 minutes, no other player, other than those who scored in the first half, was able to amass anything above five points. 

Creighton’s inability to find weapons outside of Ashworth, McAndrew and Kalkbrenner proved, unsurprisingly, to be the Bluejays’ kryptonite and the Hoyas’ saving grace. The Georgetown defense, instead of having to scramble to neutralize a plethora of successful shooters on all parts of the floor, only needed to focus their efforts on Creighton’s point guard, freshman shooter and 7’ 1” center. Not an easy task by any means, but a doable one considering no other Bluejay was either willing to shoot, or making any shots. And the Hoyas did it to near perfection. They came out in the second half going 8-11 from the field for a 22-10 run, and continued to run away with it the rest of the game.

It’s unsustainable for the Bluejays to rely on three shooters to carry the entire team. It makes it that much easier for the opponent to 1) quickly detect the three consistent shooters and their habits from the field, whether that be three-pointers or paint points, and 2) slow them down enough for their offense on the other end to convert and win a game. 

We saw the very execution of that on Wednesday. Georgetown determined who Creighton’s scorers were and largely shut them down. While Ashworth had 21 points on 7-17 from the field, Kalkbrenner scored just four points throughout the entire second half and just 8 shot attempts throughout the game, and McAndrew saw just three more points in the second 20 minutes. 

The only solution for the Bluejays is going to be to find more shooters who can cause defensive breakdowns, open up the field and consistently make shots. It sounds simple, but it’s true. Creighton’s offense can’t run on three shooters because sooner or later (or sooner it seems) three scorers aren’t going to win games.

#3- Creighton’s defense didn’t do nearly enough to hold the Hoyas at bay when the Bluejay offense wasn’t converting.

A consistent storyline for the Bluejays this season has been their lackluster defense. It’s caused them trouble in many of their early matchups, and their Big East conference opener was no exception. 

But the turning point in this matchup for the Bluejays came after the 2:42 mark in the first half. After five straight points from McAndrew put Creighton up 28-26, its first lead since a 14-13 edge, Georgetown countered with an 8-0 run going into halftime. They proceeded to add that to a dominant second half performance that saw the Bluejays outscored 55-29. 

It’s true that the 55% field goal shooting and 62.5% three-point performance from the Hoyas, thanks in part to the roster-leading 21-point performance from Jayden Epps and 20-point performance from Micah Peavy, came as a result of a strong game plan and execution on all cylinders. But the Hoyas’ dominance, in large part, came from Creighton’s inability to adequately challenge them. It always comes down to the little things. No, a strong defense is not going to be able to completely shut down Epps, a strong and talented guard, from converting. However, to counteract the impact of Epps and other impact players like Peavy, and Curtis Williams Jr. (12 pts), it comes down to the little things, such as rebounding.

In the first half alone, the Bluejays were outrebounded 22-16 in total rebounds and 18-13 in defensive rebounds. Then, to add insult to injury, the final stats saw Creighton outrebounded 39-26, with 11 second-chance points in favor of the Hoyas, compared to the Bluejays’ five. 

In order to build momentum for an offense that is struggling from the field, a team needs to find ways to give their shooters more chances, and finding offensive rebounds is the only way to prevent the opponent from capitalizing off of missed shots. Getting just one more offensive rebound can prove to be the difference between a cold offense and a hot offense, but between a lack of flow from an offensive standpoint and an inability to keep possession in their favor, the Bluejays set themselves up for failure. Pair that with the fact that Creighton could not find second-chance points thanks to a lack of offensive rebounds, and the Bluejays’ odds of finding their way back into the game plummeted. 

Creighton’s offense might not always find their flow from beyond the arc or in the paint; that’s just the nature of basketball. But in order to make up for a lackluster shooting performance, the best teams find a way to make the little things count– and those little things don’t come in the form of making a three from the logo or trying to make a low percentage pass that could set a teammate up for a shot. The little things are blocking out to get rebounds, both offensive and defensive, giving your teammates a chance to fight for their offensive momentum. A team is never going to win a game by just shooting until a shot falls and forgetting about the fundamental and arguably most important aspects of the game.

If the Bluejays have any hope of rebuilding offensive momentum, they are going to have to start back at the basics; they must refocus on the fundamentals—limiting turnovers, diversifying their scoring options and building up a reliable defense. Without these adjustments, the road ahead will be a steep climb, and their struggles will only deepen.