“The reality of it is, you get to play college basketball once, and if somebody tells you you get to play a few more games, then you play a few more games. … If they’re going to give us a chance to play, we’ll keep playing,” Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said.
That was the tenured head coach’s message to his team and to the media after the No. 5 seed Bluejays dropped an 11-point decision to fourth-seed Seton Hall in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament. With a March Madness bid out of reach following the loss, the veteran coach and his Bluejay squad would take as much basketball as they were given.
That opportunity comes in the form of the College Basketball Crown, a post-season men’s basketball tournament hosted by Fox. The tournament, in just its second year, will take place in Las Vegas from April 1-5.
Designed to give teams outside of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and National Invitation Tournament (NIT) the chance to compete in the post-season, the tournament features eight teams — cut in half from 16 in its first year — competing for a $300,000 NIL package deal.
As part of the Big East Conference, the Bluejays claim one of the automatic bids to the tournament. The other five automatic bid spots can go to one other Big East team, two teams from the Big Ten and two teams from the Big 12, all of whom didn’t make March Madness.
The Bluejays’ competition in the second-ever College Basketball Crown include Baylor, West Virginia, Colorado, Minnesota, Rutgers, Oklahoma and Stanford.
First to face McDermott’s squad is Rutgers, a Big 10 team that finished the season 14-19. The Scarlet Nights’ regular season came to an end in the second round of the Big 10 Tournament where, after defeating Minnesota, they fell to UCLA, 72-59.
Meanwhile, the Bluejays’ post-season March Madness hopes came to a halt in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament. There they lost to the Pirates, 72-61, a result which ultimately landed them in the College Basketball Crown field.
In the defeat, Creighton couldn’t find its footing in the first half. Five shots went awry before the first ball fell through the hoop for the Bluejays on a layup from Nik Graves with 16:13 left in the opening half.
The first successful shot attempt didn’t spark the Bluejays offense in the way that the team hoped, as Creighton went just 9-of-31 from the field and 5-of-18 from beyond the arc over the first 20 minutes.
Seton Hall didn’t start the game hot from the field either, but a solid defensive core kept Creighton from breaking away. It wasn’t until the 10-minute mark that the Pirates began to create separation.
With 10:32 left, Mike Williams III hit a three to make the score 15-10 in favor of the Pirates. The Bluejays answered with two more points, but a jumper from Najai Hines two minutes later kept the edge at five points, 17-12.
The Bluejays countered with a triple from sophomore guard Austin Swartz to put the score within two on the next play, but from the 7:25 minute mark to 4:41 minutes, the Bluejays wouldn’t score again. This allowed Seton Hall to accumulate a 10-point, unanswered run and hold a 27-18 lead at the under-five mark.
By the break, Seton Hall’s 43.3% field goal shooting (13-of-30) and 40% 3-point shooting (2-of-5) helped the fourth-seeded Pirates take a 33-26 lead.
Out of halftime, Creighton regained control and struck from the opening possession. Accumulating a 10-2 run — half of those points courtesy of Graves — the Bluejays overtook the Pirates, 36-35 two and a half minutes out of the break.
“I loved the way we started the second half. I thought we grabbed the momentum in the game, and we didn’t have much of that [in] the first half,” McDermott said. “Unfortunately, we just wouldn’t finish the job.”
The Bluejays were able to claim the double-digit run but couldn’t sustain momentum on either end, as the Pirates racked up a 9-0 run of their own to get out in front 47-42 with 12 minutes remaining.
Creighton never relented, keeping the score within striking distance for most of the half. With 5:19 remaining, and trailing 54-52, the Bluejays even had a chance to retake the lead. Yet, senior guard Josh Dix couldn’t convert on the triple, and Seton Hall’s Adam ‘Bud’ Clark buried a jumper on the other end to make it a two-possession game.
Despite Clark’s timely bucket, it wasn’t him or Tajaun Simpkins or AJ Staton-McCray who delivered the final blow as the Bluejays may have planned for. It was Seton Hall’s Jacob Dar who sealed Creighton’s fate, pushing the Pirates to victory.
“If you would have told me Budd was going to be 6-of-15 and AJ was going to be 2-of-9, Simkins 2-of-8, I would have guessed we would have had a great chance to win the game. Jacob Dar was certainly the difference in the second half,” McDermott said.
An Omaha native, Dar put on a clinic against his home state team, serving up a season-high 15 points in 15 minutes. The senior guard went 5-of-6 from the field and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc after not scoring for the first 25 minutes of the matchup.
Dar’s contributions certainly turned the tide, but it didn’t help that Creighton shot a collective — slightly improved but not sharp enough — 37.9% from the field and lower 18.8% from three. Not to mention, some of Creighton’s normally consistent shooters were rhythmless for much of the matchup.
“We just had some really out-of-body shooting nights. Fedor [Zugic went] 1-for-9, Austin [Swartz shot] 2-for-11. Those guys have been making shots for us all year long,” McDermott said.
It was Dix, Graves and Green who tried to pick up the slack but, at the end of 40 minutes, 15 points and five assists from Graves, a career-high three blocks and tied career-high 11 rebounds from Green and a matched season-high 22 points from Dix couldn’t get the job done.
The Bluejays ultimately fell 72–61, closing the door on their March Madness hopes. Now, Creighton turns its attention to the College Basketball Crown, where a new postseason opportunity awaits.
Creighton plays its first game against Rutgers. If the Bluejays defeat the Scarlett Nights, they are set to face the winner of Stanford and West Virginia on April 4 in the semifinals. Tipoff set for 9:30 CT.