“Once they [the Nebraska men’s basketball team] got ahead, it was like there was blood in the water and we were in trouble,” Creighton men’s basketball head coach Greg McDermott said following the instate rivalry matchup between the undefeated Cornhuskers and 5-3 Bluejays.
The “blood in the water” happening on the floor perfectly matched the surrounding scene: 15,256 red-clad Cornhusker fans flooding Pinnacle Arena on Dec. 7, eager to watch as two Nebraska basketball programs fought for instate glory. But instead of a tightly contested matchup, fans watched Nebraska pounce early and never ease up, turning that first sign of weakness into a 71–50 rout.
Both teams started slow offensively, though Nebraska’s Rienk Mast struck first for the home team, driving to lay in a shot for a 2-0 lead. Not even 30 seconds later, junior forward Jasen Green laid in a shot of his own to tie up the score.
Unfortunately for the Bluejays, that was the last time that the game would be tied. Following the 2-2 early score, Nebraska scored 13 unanswered points, building a 15-2 lead by the time 12:28 scored on the board. In the time that the Cornhuskers tallied 13 points, Creighton had taken the same number of shots and watched only one fall.
Creighton’s poor shooting start continued to worsen, as with nearly eight minutes gone in the first half, the Bluejays were shooting just 8% shooting from the field.
“I don’t know if it was a confidence thing [for] why the shots weren’t falling, or if it was the environment, but we just couldn’t get shots to fall,” Green said.
The Bluejays’ shooting woes were far from over — and they weren’t making up for it on the defensive end, either. With 4:25 left in the half, Creighton hit a make-or-break stretch: a chance to trim the deficit before the break and give themselves a realistic shot at clawing back in the second half.
By this time, the visiting Bluejays had cut Nebraska’s lead to just six with four minutes remaining. From there, the assignment was simple, in theory: four minutes of lockdown defense, secure the rebounds and control possession.
Instead, in that defining sequence, Creighton’s defense cracked. One missed three. Offensive rebound by Nebraska’s Rienk Mast. Another missed three. Another Mast offensive board. A third attempt from a relatively quiet Jamarques Lawrence — this time, it dropped
Now, Creighton went from putting all the work to get the score within six to facing a near-ten point deficit once again.
“That [offensive rebounding sequence and three point shot] can’t happen. … That was a critical one, I thought, because we had gained some of the momentum back.” McDermott said.
In that final four minute stretch before the break, Nebraska tightened its hold on the momentum once again, going on a 10-5 run, during which time Creighton made just one shot — a three from Swartz.
The dichotomy between how the last four minutes of the half started versus ended made it clear the hold Nebraska had over the game. Creighton was down just six heading into the final five minutes and entered halftime down 14.
The score showed 33-19 at half, with the Bluejays shooting a season-low 18.8% from the field and 14% from three. Three players from the starting five (Josh Dix, Blake Harper and Owen Freeman) were scoreless, and Creighton’s leading scorers — Graves and Swartz — had just seven and five points, respectively.
With a double-digit deficit facing them, the Bluejays would have much work to do if they were going to challenge Nebraska. The first three minutes, however, showed none of the elements that Creighton needed coming out of the break.
Striking like they had never left the floor at halftime, Nebraska opened the latter 20 minutes shooting a perfect 3-for-3 from the field and quickly building a 20–point lead in just three minutes.
Meanwhile, the Bluejays struggled to contain Nebraska’s offense, which went from 37% field goal shooting in the first half to 50% in the second.
The Huskers’ lead grew to as large as 27 points, 71-44, with 2:29 remaining, and the Bluejays struggled to find any answer on either end.
While for most of the night Nebraska’s stifling defense left Creighton’s starters frustrated and scoreless, Swartz managed to generate point production for a lifeless offense.
The sophomore transfer scored a team-high 16 points in 23 minutes on the floor, corralling five rebounds and dishing an assist in that time. In McDermott’s eyes, Swartz was one of the only Bluejays to understand Nebraska’s defense.
“He did a good job of finding holes in their defense. I thought some of the other guys didn’t read the situation and flash to the right spot, and Austin’s got a feel for the game that way … He was the best today in terms of understanding what needed to be done and how to do it,” he said.
Shooting from Swartz and a collective improvement of 50% (10-of-20) from the field was an improvement from the 18.75% shooting in the first half, but aside from the brief spark from Creighton’s reserve transfer, the Bluejays couldn’t manage any serious challenge to Nebraska’s game plan.
Thus, the Bluejays fell to 5-4 on the season with the 20-point loss, while Nebraska improved its undefeated record to 9-0.
Though not the result Creighton hoped to leave Lincoln with, Kansas State’s arrival in Omaha on Saturday leaves Creighton with little room to dwell. Instead, embracing a ‘next-game’ mentality and sharpening their preparation will put Creighton in the best position to take on the Wildcats.
“There’s going to be times that stuff like this happens and we have to be able to rally with each other and help each other through these times because it’s one game — it’s not the end of the world for us,” Green said. “There’s still a lot of season left for us to improve, to learn off of our mistakes from this game and we just have to have the ‘next game’ mentality.”
The Jays look to defend home court on Saturday, Dec. 13 at 2 p.m.
