Barring the few games where everything goes right for a team, every game has its strengths and weaknesses. The result of the game usually comes down to which team can highlight their strengths and minimize the harm of their weaknesses. For Creighton specifically, head coach Greg McDermott wasn’t afraid to admit that his team has weaknesses, or ‘warts’ as he called them. But the games that the Bluejays have won are the ones where their strengths are on full display and the warts aren’t a deal breaker.
Since beginning Big East play 4-0, the Bluejays have dropped to 5-3, now sitting at No. 5 in the conference after a 93-88 loss to Providence on the road. With an overall 11-8 record, there’s not much room for error in the Bluejays’ schedule for losses. But to identify where the Bluejays have gone right and wrong since the beginning of conference play means breaking down a strength and weakness of each game and seeing which won out when the 40 minutes expired. Would the strength prevail, or would a ‘wart’ show itself and not go away?
#1- Xavier (12/17) — W 98-57
Strength: Defense set the tone, maybe for the first time all season
Visiting Cintas Arena for their Big East opener, the Bluejays needed a spark coming in with a .500 record and tough losses throughout. In each of those five losses leading up to the matchup with the Musketeers, defense and physicality was a point of disappointment nearly every game. But on the road, the Bluejays handed Xavier its worst home loss in Cintas Arena history, and Creighton’s defense was a big part of that.
The Bluejays held the home team to just 36% field goal percentage all game, tallying just 57 points in 40 minutes. In comparison, Xavier averages 77.4 points per game this season. Not only that, but Creighton commanded the turnovers, racking up 11 steals. This season, the Bluejays have managed an average of 5.9 steals per game.
Holding a decisive 36-19 edge in rebounds helped to seal the deal on the 41-point conference opening victory for a Creighton team that desperately needed a spark.
Weakness: Was there one?
Creighton played a pretty solid game against strong opposition. They shot over 50% in field goals and 3-pointers in the first half, 62.5% from the field and 44.4% from beyond the arc in the second. They recorded a 21-11 domination in fast break points, scored 43 bench points and even had a 42-28 edge in points in the paint.
The Creighton team that entered Musketeer territory was nothing like fans or opponents had seen up until this point. This was a team — with a revamped starting five out on the floor for the first time — that had what had been missing.
Verdict: Strength won by far.
#2- Marquette (12/20) — W 84-63
Strength: Bench strength and minutes
Riding the wave of their first conference victory, the biggest strength in Creighton’s 21-point win over Marquette was bench strength and minutes.
Nik Graves, playing just his second game coming off the bench after starting the first 10 games, was electric against the visiting Golden Eagles.
The senior transfer guard scored all of his 17 points in one seven minute stretch in the first half, finishing the game 4-of-4 from beyond the arc and 6-of-7 from the field. He also dished six assists. Graves ended the night with a season-high in points, field goals made and three pointers.
Sophomore Howard transfer Blake Harper also made a splash and helped secure Creighton the win at home. In 18 minutes on the floor, the guard scored nine points and grabbed five rebounds, helping add to the Bluejays’ final 41 bench point tally.
Finally, Owen Freeman, who fans hoped would be their next dominant ‘five’ on the floor, was the third and final player who began the season in the starting five, but whose shift to the bench actually allowed for impact minutes on the floor as a reserve. Against the Golden Eagles, Freeman pulled down six rebounds and scored six points in 11 minutes on the floor. His three offensive rebounds were particularly impactful, as the putback shot became a great formula for the Bluejays in that game.
Weakness: Starting the game slow
Though the Bluejays finished the 40 minutes with a dominant home victory, the biggest weakness was the team’s slow start, which gave Marquette a dangerous chance to build a lead while Creighton struggled on both ends of the floor.
To begin the game, Creighton’s offense fell to the will of Marquette’s defense. On their first trip up the floor, the Bluejays were forced into a shot clock violation. After the Golden Eagles’ defense set the tone, the visitors ripped off seven quick, unanswered points.
The Bluejays trailed by as many as six with 12 minutes remaining, 15-9, before they were finally able to respond. Putting their heads down, Creighton generated enough production in the form of a 25-2 lead to head to the locker room at halftime with a solid 46-32 lead.
However, against strong teams and especially in the Big East, a shooting-heavy team like Creighton can’t afford to start out that slow. As other Big East contests after this game have shown, these types of deficits, bad shots and halted ball movement can be detrimental, especially when it becomes clear that those first moments of the game could have changed the course of the result had the start been faster.
Verdict: Strength won, but not without the first 10 minutes giving Creighton pause.
#3- Butler (12/30) — W 89-85
Strength: Shooters shoot, and score
In their first close scoring game of conference play, the most dominant strength for the Bluejays came down to the identity of this team as a shooting team. At home once again, Josh Dix, Austin Swartz and Jasen Green — arguably some of Creighton’s best point generators — did what they were recruited and put in the starting lineup to do: make shots.
Swartz ended the night with 22 points on 8-of-16 from the field and Green scored a then-career high 23 points, paired with six rebounds and five assists. Dix ended with nine points, but also reeled in seven rebounds and four assists.
In a game where the margin was as small as four points when time expired, Creighton’s shooters generating offensive production gave the Bluejays some leeway even as Butler closed in on the lead a couple times throughout the game.
Not only that, but while pull-up jumpers, layups and 3-pointers are critical aspects of the game, part of Creighton’s biggest shooting production came at the free throw line, and ended up tipping the scale of the game. Even as the Bulldogs closed in and put the Bluejays at the stripe in hopes of getting a break and a chance, Creighton didn’t bat an eye, going 14-of-15 from the line and helping seal victory.
Weakness: Old rebounding habits were back
Hearing the word ‘rebounding’ as a Bluejay men’s basketball fan this season is usually followed by a series of comments that rip into Creighton for its generally low physicality on the glass.
While this game of getting beat on the glass didn’t prove the detriment to the Bluejays — this time — it was certainly one of their biggest flaws during this game.
Over 40 minutes, Butler heavily controlled the offensive glass, holding a dominating 21-10 advantage. In the first half alone, the Bluejays gave up five offensive rebounds in just a four minute span, allowing the Bulldogs to cut their deficit down to 19-14. By the end of the first half alone, Butler collected 12 offensive rebounds.
Creighton did win the overall rebounding battle 25-21, but with such a vicious margin between offensive rebounds, it wouldn’t have been surprising if the Bluejays had lost that game. Thus, what won the game was certainly not on the glass.
Verdict: Strength won, but a lucky break from the consequences of poor offensive rebounding allowed the win to happen.
#4- Seton Hall (1/4) — L 54-56
Strength: Rebounding (except for one critical one at the very end of the game)
Creighton obviously took notes from the smackdown they took on the glass against Butler. In sharp contrast to their work on the glass less than a week before, Creighton held a 41-34 edge in rebounding on the road against the Pirates.
This is, in part, what helped the Bluejays hold their lead for all but three minutes of the game.
Weakness: Inbounding and crunch time decisions
A lack of smart inbounding and poor crunch time decisions decisively offset Creighton’s rebounding skills in the final moments of the game.
Inbounding, in particular, was a major aid to Seton Hall’s game plan and major detriment to Creighton’s. With 22.6 seconds left in the game, Seton Hall got within one point, 54-53, and the sequence that followed was the epitome of Creighton beating itself.
At 13.4 seconds, Seton Hall forced a tie up, though the possession stayed in favor of the visiting Bluejays. By this point, Creighton should have understood that the Pirates needed to get the ball back and would try to tie it up again.
But with a lack of judgement on the inbound from Creighton, the Pirates did exactly that, getting a jump ball call and retaining possession with 10.8 seconds remaining.
That next play, a result of Creighton’s poor crunch time decision, ending with a putback shot and foul call, sending the Pirates to the line.
With 1.3 seconds remaining, Creighton’s long inbound pass couldn’t make it to a teammate and the Pirates pulled off a nailbiting comeback, the result of decisions in crunch time that lost the Bluejays the game.
Verdict: Weakness took a lead for 37 minutes of the game and turned it into Creighton’s first loss in Big East play
#5- Villanova (1/7) — W 76-72
Strength- A fourth shooter in Harper
Coming off a loss to Seton Hall, another road game at Villanova gave the Bluejays a chance to bounce back. The win that followed was directly powered by a pattern in Creighton’s wins versus losses: the presence or absence of a fourth shooter.
Harper’s contributions at Villanova helped seal the game. Harper tallied seven points for the Bluejays in the first half, but took off in the second.
The sophomore gave Creighton its first, and long-awaited, lead of the game on a mid-range jumper with 10 minutes remaining, putting the Bluejays up 55-53. He also extended Creighton’s lead just following a triple from Swartz, putting up a shot of his own to put the Bluejays ahead 64-57.
Harper put together a 17 point performance, going 6-of-9 from the field and 1-of-2 from three. His versatility helped create a more dynamic offense.
Creihgton’s consistent scorers in Swartz (20 points, 9-15 from the field), Dix (17, 7-14 from the field) and Green (10, 3-8 from the field), helped secure the game, but that was in part helped by Harper’s presence and energy.
Weakness: Slow start (once again)
Another slow start plagued the first half of the opening 20 minutes for the Bluejays, putting them in a tough spot to play catch up before the half arrived.
The Wildcats led throughout the beginning of the game, getting so far as a double-figure lead at 25-15 with 7:44 remaining in the half. Creighton’s offense was cold for over two minutes after trailing 18-13, before they scored once again with 8:33 remaining and got the deficit down to 21-15. Villanova, though, countered once again and brought the lead back up to over 10.
It wasn’t until under five minutes left in the first half that the Bluejays began to truly chip at the lead. They headed into halftime in a four-point deficit, 34-30.
In the second half, the Bluejays were able to outscore Villanova 46-38, but working to tie the game and then build a lead is tough, and Creighton can’t keep putting itself in that position week in and week out.
Verdict: Strength won, though another slow start kept the game interesting for Villanova.
#6- St. John’s (1/10) — L 73-90
Strength: Starting to see an identity forming
The Red Storm played lights out in CHI Health Center that day, and the Bluejays weren’t able to stop them. But while it isn’t a full strength on the floor (just yet), a glimmer of Creighton’s identity shone through in this game. They may have had a poor shooting night, but the Bluejays have also started to find the foundational players. No, Green (9 points), Dix (7 points) and Swartz (5 points), didn’t have their best offensive production, but Creighton has those players who have shown throughout the season how consistent they are. Every player has bad games, and Creighton just happened to see a couple guys have bad games while St. John’s had one of their best.
But McDermott emphasized post-game that this Bluejay squad is finding its rhythm and gelling together. The trick, he said, will be learning to win despite their shortcomings, ‘warts’ which had their way with the Bluejays this game.
Weakness: Inability to get the deficit within 10 at halftime
By this point, it’s clear that a pattern of slow starts leading to losses is emerging for the Bluejays. But while the last two slow starts have been overshadowed by Creighton’s other strengths, the contest with St. John’s at CHI Health Center demonstrated the not-so-sunny side of what digging too deep of a hole can do for a team’s second half chances.
To begin the game, the visiting Red Storm took an early 7-0 lead just two minutes into the game. Now, Creighton had to work even harder from the onset to even the score. They did, and even took a 23-18 point lead with 10:53 remaining, but when St. John’s fell into their groove and evened the score at 25 apiece with 8:31 remaining, shots rained down against a cold Bluejay team.
Just three minutes after the tying score, the Red Storm had a 10 point lead, a lead that got progressively worse into halftime. Creighotn couldn’t stop the St. John’s offense and trailed by 18 at the break.
Had Creighton not had to work so hard to come back and then try to sustain a lead, maybe it wouldn’t have found itself in a nearly 20-point deficit at the break, which turned out to be a comfortable cushion for St. John’s in the second half and nail in the coffin for Creighton, even as the Bluejays outscored their opponent, 39-38, in the second half.
Verdict: Weakness won by far, but strength has potential to lead to long-term success.
#7- Georgetown (1/13) — W 86-83 OT
Strength: Austin Swartz’s shooting
In a thriller with Georgetown, the sophomore Miami transfer eclipsed his previous career-high 27 point night at Xavier with a career-high 33 points against Georgetown.
The sophomore’s success was more than crucial for the Bluejays to win this game. Whatever shot he threw up simply went in. For example, with less than a minute remaining in regular time, Swartz got free for a game-tying triple with 17.8 seconds left. Then, in overtime, Swartz had seven of Creighton’s 10 points.
In that stretch, Swartz stole the opening tip and executed a dagger three, then hit a pull-up jumper with 30 seconds remaining in the game for the winning shot.
In a game where Creighton’s weakness kept Georgetown in the fight, Swartz was a large reason why the Bluejays got out of CHI Health Center with a win.
Weakness: A lack of lockdown defense
Yes, Georgetown’s shooting allowed them to stay right in the race with Creighton’s throughout the first 40 minutes of the game, but Creighton’s inability to stifle any shotmaking is not a sustainable practice as the season progresses.
In the overtime victory, Georgetown’s tried-and-true method of ensuring points was to drive to the rim, and it worked. Georgetown scored nearly 50% more in the paint than the home team, holding a 50-28 advantage. The Bluejays also lost the rebounding battle 32-24 and, unsurprisingly, it was a potential offensive rebound and putback — that was later overturned — that could have given the Bluejays a loss.
Not only that, but Georgetown shot a collective 56.9% from the field (33-of-58) and 43.8% from three (7-of-16), a high shooting night for even the Bluejays to give up, as the team generally allows 43.8% shooting from the field and 33.3% from three.
However, credit where credit is due, Creighton’s last defensive stand at the end of overtime, with five seconds remaining, was the savior of the game.
Verdict: Strength won, but lights-out shooting isn’t realistic to expect in every game.
#8- Providence (1/16) — L 88-93
Strength: Not giving up on the game until the whistle blew
It looked like Providence was going to run away with the game as the clock ticked down on the second half. But credit to Creighton’s culture, the Bluejays refused to go away even until the last second of the game, their biggest strength in this faceoff at Providence.
Creighton was down by as many as 14 points with more than 10 minutes gone in the second half, but refused to give up.
Even when down by six in the final minute, Creighton looked for a quick comeback, coming up with a three from Dix with seven seconds remaining that got Creighton within three, 91-88. But clutch shooting at the free throw line from Providence sealed the game.
That type of tenacity is admirable for this Creighton team, and they will need to keep it up in the gauntlet that is Big East play.
Weakness: Getting the lead and getting “casual”, as McDermott said
Creighton wasn’t always trailing and trying to find a way back into the game. In fact, Creighton found itself on a 10-2 run five minutes into the game that gave them a quick 14-10 lead. The Bluejays even pushed the lead up to 24-14 with 11:36 left in the first half with help from Graves and two free throws from Green.
Even when Providence got back within four points three different times in the first half, Creighton was able to push its lead back up to double-figures, 38-28 with 6:23 remaining.
Just before halftime, though, glimpses of Creighton getting “casual” began to show, as Providence surged from behind and headed to the locker room at the break trailing 46-45.
The beginning part of the second half saw Creighton continue to maintain the lead, but with 10:11 remaining, the Bluejays became inconsistent and a 14-0 Friar run helped the home team build a 71-57 lead. Providence ended up outscoring Creighton 48-42 in the second half.
The reason for Creighton’s loss? Ball movement stopped, shots came off faster and the Bluejays seemed to become complacent with their lead. Creighton went from shooting 45.16% from the field and 41.67% from three in the first half to just 37.14% from the field and 27.78% from three in the second half.
Verdict: Weakness won and proved detrimental, even with shotmaking to end the game.
Now, with patterns established, strengths and weaknesses fleshed out and more grueling Big East matchups on the horizon, Creighton will need to make their strengths undeniable if they want to climb to the top of the Big East standings and make themselves a tournament-ready team.
Another test of Creighton’s strength is set for Jan. 21, as the Bluejays rematch Xavier at CHI Health Center at 6 p.m.