The road to the championship game was anything but easy. Creighton fought through two grueling rounds, outlasting DePaul and then UConn to earn a spot in the final against St. John’s—the program’s fifth appearance in a Big East Tournament final. But when all was said and done, the Bluejays came up short, falling 82-66.
While the loss stung, the tournament served its purpose. For a team that had already secured its NCAA Tournament bid, each game was an opportunity to fine-tune the details, sharpen their execution, and prepare for the high-stakes battles ahead. Winning the Big East Tournament was always the goal, but for Head Coach Greg McDermott, the bigger picture was clear—March Madness was the ultimate prize.
With their first round as the No. 9-seed against Louisville just on the horizon, here are three lessons that the Bluejays can learn from their championship matchup with the Red Storm and the tournament as a whole, experiences that will aid them in the one-and-done atmosphere of March Madness.
#1- Managing the home atmosphere advantage going against them
Madison Square Garden is not an easy place to play, especially when the home team is playing dominant basketball and winning big games for the first time in over 20 years. In fact, the last time that the Red Storm won the Big East Tournament title game was in 2000.
Thus, the home crowd was rearing to see their ‘Johnnies’ take home the trophy, a dangerous combination for the visiting opponents. The Bluejays knew it was going to be loud, raucous and if the crowd got into the game, it was going to be difficult to quell a St. John’s team fueled by the over 19,000 people supporting them in the building.
But the Bluejays did a great job of largely keeping the Red Storm faithful quiet in the first half. A mixture of sharp defense and enough made-shots on the other end to maintain a lead throughout the opening 20 minutes proved just the recipe for making sure Madison Square Garden didn’t start rocking.
St. John’s was held to just 25 points in the first half and the Red Storm’s usual power players (Zuby Ejiofor and RJ Luis Jr.), who generate the most buzz for the home team, were held to a collective nine points.
However, once these two power players, paired with Kadary Richmond and company, began to evade Creighton’s defense in the second half, Madison Square Garden began to hum.
Once the Red Storm took the lead for the first time in the game, at 63-61 with eight minutes gone in the second half, the stadium erupted. St. John’s, fueled by shot-making and 19,000 faithful behind them, never looked back.
Simply put, playing on the road is never easy. Home teams feed off the energy of their crowd, using every cheer and momentum swing to their advantage. For visitors, the key is minimizing those surges—controlling what they can by keeping the crowd from becoming a factor. That’s far easier said than done, as the Big East Tournament final made clear.
But the Bluejays are about to face another largely skewed home crowd, as they head to Lexington, KY to face off with the No. 8-seed Louisville Cardinals on Thursday. Louisville is only 1 hour and 15 minutes away from Lexington, which means the likelihood that the arena will be filled with another sea of red, this time rooting for Louisville, is very likely.
To take down Louisville in another hostile environment, Creighton will need to stay composed, play at their own pace and avoid (if at all possible) letting the home crowd dictate sustained momentum.
#2- Locking down defense for the full 40 minutes
Creighton’s showdown with St. John’s was a tale of two halves—a first marked by locked-in, high-energy defense and a second that exposed the costly consequences of letting that intensity fade.
This locked-in defense paid dividends in the opening 20 minutes, as St. John’s shot just 33.3% from the field and 37.5% from three. Pair that with the fact that Luis Jr., Ejiofor and Richmond weren’t able to heat up from the field, and the Bluejays had put themselves in a favorable position at halftime, even if the score only showed them having a 28-25 edge.
Unfortunately for the Bluejays, their second half defense broke down, giving the Red Storm the perfect opening to see some of their hot shooters get started from the field.
Luis Jr., who had a quiet four point start in the first half, got the Red Storm offense started with nine of the team’s 13 points to start the latter 20 minutes, before turning his shots loose and hitting a major three to tie the game at 38-apiece just five minutes into the half.
“They got hot, and like Mac [McDermott] said, our focus in the second half wasn’t as good on defense, so it was harder for us to kind of keep them from getting what they wanted,” Ryan Kalkbrenner said following the matchup. “Obviously, they scored 57 points.”
St. John’s would go on to make three consecutive layups in just 46 seconds to give them an eight point lead, 58-50. The layup spark soon became a flame, as the Red Storm, powered by a rising efficiency from Richmond, Ejiofor and Luis Jr., would make 14 straight shots in their offensive surge.
The home crowd also fanned the flames of the Red Storm’s energy, letting out raucous cheers as shot after shot found home, all while witnessing Creighton’s own offensive efficiency plummet in the face of an smothering St. John’s defense.
The second half saw the Red Storm’s shoot a masterclass 71.9% from the field and 66.7% from beyond the arc, both a result of an efficient second half St. John’s offense and the way that Creighton’s defensive grip loosened as the game wore on.
“They were executing their offensive stuff better than we were executing our defensive stuff. They had a little more energy to what they were doing,” Kalkbrenner said.
One silver lining in Creighton’s loss to a strong St. John’s team was that their season wasn’t over. Instead, it became a pivotal lesson—one that could shape their success in March Madness.
A locked-in defense fuels a strong offense, and sustaining that intensity for the full 40 minutes is essential—especially against the elite talent every team brings to the tournament.
Success starts with controlling the controllables, forcing opponents into tough, low-percentage shots instead of letting them dictate the game. If Creighton hopes to make a deep tournament run, it all begins with defensive discipline from start to finish—taking lessons from their battle with St. John’s and applying them against Louisville.
#3- Tournament two-cents: The power of others to spark Creighton’s offense other than the Big Three (Neal, Kalkbrenner and Ashworth)
Beyond Creighton’s impressive run to their fifth Big East Tournament title game in program history, one of the biggest takeaways was the sheer talent on this roster—players who consistently delivered in high-pressure moments.
The most encouraging part about the impact players in each game was that it wasn’t all about Creighton’s most consistent scorers in Kalkbrenner, Ashworth and Neal. In each of Creighton’s three matchups, another of Creighton’s young talents demonstrated the type of player he could be.
Ty Davis stepped up in the DePaul game when Steven Ashworth fouled out, scoring seven crucial points in 11 minutes, including 5-6 free throws. His performance was key in Creighton’s victory. Alongside him, Fedor Zugic’s 13 points were vital in securing the win.
Omaha native Jasen Green had a standout game against UConn, surpassing his career-high 14 points with 15 in the first half alone. His offensive versatility, from triples to layups, was critical for Creighton in the tournament.
Jackson McAndrew, with 14 points against St. John’s, proved his shooting prowess once again. His performance, including three more triples, brings his season total to 62, ranking him among the top freshmen in program history. The freshman continues to show why he deserves a starting role.
Although the job isn’t finished and the tournament wasn’t won, the fearless confidence and belief in their abilities displayed by these young players will be vital for a successful run. Creighton has the talent and depth to diversify their scoring and leave a lasting impact on teams across every part of the floor.
These performances not only underscore the depth of Creighton’s roster but also emphasize that March Madness success will depend on more than just the Big Three—it’s the ability of these emerging talents to rise to the occasion when it matters most.
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As Creighton prepares for the challenges of March Madness, these lessons learned from the Big East Tournament—managing hostile crowds, maintaining defensive intensity, and tapping into the depth of their roster—will be crucial in their quest for a deep tournament run.