The Creighton men’s basketball team bounced back from its first loss — an 80-71 defeat at the hands of the St. Joseph University Hawks — by picking up two wins in three days in impressive fashion.
After the disappointing letdown on the road against St. Joe’s, the Jays returned home looking to get back to their winning ways. 16,513 fans packed CenturyLink Center Omaha as Creighton played host to the Houston Baptist University Huskies.
Creighton led wire-to-wire and the game was never in doubt as the Bluejays jumped out to a 10-0 lead and never looked back. The Jays controlled the lane, scoring 20 points in the paint, recording 12 second chance points and out-rebounding the Huskies 31-18 in the first half. The Jays lead 46-23 at the break as sophomore forward Doug McDermott and junior center Gregory Echenique combined for 28 points and 16 rebounds.
Houston Baptist guard Anthony Hill came off the bench to score 11 points, but no other Husky made more than one field goal.
The rout continued as Creighton went on a 10-2 run to begin the second half with all 10 points being scored by the duo of McDermott and Echenique.
Creighton led by as many as 39 points and the final margin was 35 as Creighton won 97-62. Creighton dominated in nearly every category outscoring Houston Baptist in the paint 44-26, in turnovers 26-9, in second chance opportunities 22-6, on the break 14-8 and in bench points 45-29.
Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said he was pleased with the ball movement as well.
“27 assists on 31 field goals. That’s unselfishness,” McDermott said.
That unselfishness has been one of Creighton’s biggest strengths all year and the Jays continue to lead the nation in team assists per game.
But it was the defense that Greg McDermott said he was most encouraged by.
The Jays out-rebounded the Huskies 56-26 and held Houston Baptist to 37.3 percent from the field.
Doug McDermott scored a game-high 25 points to go with six rebounds. Junior guard Grant Gibbs dished out eight assists and added four steals. Sophomore forward Ethan Wragge and freshman center Will Artino combined for 19 points and 12 rebounds.
But the player of the game was Echenique. The big man turned in his best performance of the season, finishing with 18 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks in just 19 minutes of play.
“[Echenique playing that well] totally changes our team,” Greg McDermott said. “He impacts the paint defensively. He gives us another guy to throw it to down low on offense.”
The win moved Creighton back up to No. 23 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and No. 21 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll.
After one day off the Jays hit the court again, this time on the road at the University of Tulsa. The Jays kept on rolling as they defeated the Golden Hurricane 83-64.
Creighton did not get off to a fast start, but they were able to build up a 42-34 lead at halftime. Doug McDermott and senior guard Antoine Young both scored in double figures in the first 2o minutes, while Tulsa was led by nine points from guard Tim Peete.
The Jays came out in the second half and grabbed control of the game with nine straight points by Echenique to extend the lead to 17.
The lead would hover around 2o for the rest of the game as Doug McDermott was nearly unstoppable for the Jays. He scored a career-high 35 points on 16-23 from the field. At one point he scored 16 of Creighton’s 20 points during an 11-minute stretch in the second half. McDermott showed off an array of post moves and difficult finishes that Tulsa had no answer for.
Young also bounced back from a scoreless game against Houston Baptist with a stat-line that included 14 points, four assists and a career-high five steals.
Gibbs nearly recorded a triple-double with nine points, seven rebounds and a career-high 10 assists.
Creighton showed it is capable of taking what ever the defense gives them, as the Golden Hurricane did all they could to take away the Jays’ perimeter game. The Bluejays converted three 3-pointers on just six attempts, which is their lowest total in both categories this year. However, Creighton had a 46-26 edge in the paint and shot 58.6 percent from the field, showing it doesn’t need the 3-point shot to win games.
Creighton returns home on Thursday night to play host to Northwestern University. The Wildcats come to Omaha with just one blemish on their record — a 69-41 loss to the sixth-ranked Baylor University Bears — and are led by senior forward John Shurna’s 19.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Tip-off is set for 7:05 at CenturyLink Center Omaha.