Men's Basketball Seeks BIG EAST Tourney Title vs. #2 Villanova

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Game #34: Creighton vs. #2 Villanova • Saturday, March 11, 2017 • 4:30 p.m. CST
Madison Square Garden (19,979) • New York, N.Y.
Radio: KOZN 1620 AM; www.1620thezone.com (John Bishop, Nick Bahe)
Television: FOX (Gus Johnson, Jim Jackson, Lisa Byington)
Series History: Villanova leads, 9-2
Last Meeting: #2 Villanova 79, #23 Creighton 63 on Feb. 25, 2017 in Villanova, Pa.

- Sixth-seeded Creighton (25-8) takes on top-seeded and second-ranked Villanova (30-3) on Saturday night at 4:30 p.m. Central in the title game of the 2017 BIG EAST Tournament, presented by Jeep.
   Gus Johnson, Jim Jackson and Lisa Byington will announce the game on FOX.
   John Bishop and Nick Bahe will have the radio call on KOZN (1620 AM) in Omaha.
   Kevin Kugler and Austin Croshere will have the radio call on Westwood One Sports.

- Villanova won both regular-season meetings against Creighton this season. The Wildcats won a New Year's Eve showdown in Omaha, 80-70, in a game that was tied with 4:06 to play. Villanova won 79-63 on Feb. 25th on Senior Day and the final game of The Pavilion before renovations, clinching a fourth straight outright league title.
   Villanova leads the all-time series, 9-2, but the teams have never met on a neutral floor or in a conference tournament. Creighton hammered the Wildcats in a pair of 2013-14 meetings, but Villanova has won all six meetings since then.

- Creighton is making its second BIG EAST Tournament finals appearance in history, having lost 65-58 to Providence in the 2014 final.
   Villanova (3) and Creighton (2) are the only teams in the BIG EAST to appear in multiple title games over the past four seasons since the BIG EAST reorganized.

- Creighton is 12-2 all-time in conference tournament championship games, but 0-1 in the BIG EAST after losing the 2014 title tilt to Providence. Creighton went 12-1 in MVC Tournament finals, winning its last 10 title games. Creighton won the league tournament in 1978, 1981, 1989, 1991, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2012 and 2013. The program's only runner-up finish in the MVC came in 1984, a 70-68 overtime loss at No. 12 Tulsa.

- Each of the last three BIG EAST Tournaments have been won by a coach who had never previously won one, as Ed Cooley (2014), Jay Wright (2015) and Kevin Willard (2016) all brought home hardware. Greg McDermott has never won a BIG EAST Tournament title, while his counterpart on Saturday, Villanova's Jay Wright, won the 2015 crown.

- Greg McDermott is 2-6 all-time against Villanova and Jay Wright, while Wright is 6-2 against Creighton.

- Across all sports, Creighton has played in 11 BIG EAST Tournament championship games, but only the volleyball program has won a title.
   The volleyball team is 3-1 in the title match, with victories in 2014 (over Seton Hall), 2015 (Villanova) and 2016 (Xavier). Creighton's other teams to reach the finals include its baseball team is (0-3), the men's soccer team (0-2), the men's basketball team (0-1) and the women's basketball team (0-1).

- Creighton has won its last 12 conference tournament games decided by four points or less, including Friday's 75-72 win over Xavier.
   Before last night, Creighton's last league tourney win by four points or less was a 68-65 win over Wichita State (also on March 10th) in the 2013 Missouri Valley Conference title game.
   Creighton's last go-ahead basket in the final 10 seconds of a league tournament game also came against Wichita State, as Booker Woodfox caught an inbounds pass with 1.9 seconds left, took two dribbles, and buried a game-winner at the buzzer on March 6, 2009.

- Creighton improved to 5-3 all-time in the BIG EAST Tournament with last night's win, including a 2-0 all-time mark in the semifinal round. That improved Creighton to 14-7 all-time in the semifinal round action of conference tournaments when you include its play in the Missouri Valley Conference.
   Greg McDermott's 5-3 record at the BIG EAST Tournament gives him a .625 winning percentage, best among all active BIG EAST coaches and eighth-best in league history behind Ben Howland (.727), John Thompson Sr. (.717), Rick Pitino (.667), Jim Calhoun (.648), Bob Huggins (.636), Mike Jarvis (.636) and Jim Boeheim (.633).

- Creighton has won eight league tournament titles in the previous 18 seasons, which trails only Gonzaga (15, including 2016-17), Duke (10) and Winthrop (9, including 2016-17) nationally. In that time, Creighton won MVC titles in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2012 and 2013.

- Creighton has won the league tournament nine of the last 15 times it won its first game in a conference tournament, as it did this season.

- Sixth-seeded Creighton is 10-4 in its last 14 conference tournament games when playing an opponent with a better seed than the Bluejays. Top-seeded Villanova is seeded better than the Bluejays.

- No sixth seed has won the BIG EAST Tournament since 1981, when Syracuse took the title inside the Carrier Dome.

- More than 1,000 Creighton fans made the trip from Omaha to "Blue" York City for this weekend's tournament. Creighton's fan base has long been a point of pride for the program, which has now led its conference in home attendance each of the last 14 seasons. Creighton averaged 17,413 fans per home game this season, fifth-best nationally (trailing only Kentucky, Syracuse, Louisville and North Carolina). Thursday's New York Post referred to Creighton's travelling contingent to NYC as "Omaha East".
   Thursday night's crowd of 16,003 was the largest for a conference tournament game involving Creighton since a 2013 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title game win over Wichita State (16,659).
   Friday night's sellout crowd of 19,812 was the largest for a conference tournament game involving Creighton since a March 4, 2007 win over No. 11 Southern Illinois in front of a building record 22,612 fans at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo. That 2007 win over Southern Illinois is also Creighton's last win over a No. 1 seed in a league tournament.

- Creighton's 25 victories this season are sixth-most in program history for a single season. Four of those seasons have come under seventh-year coach Greg McDermott (29 wins in 2011-12, 28 wins in 2012-13, 27 wins in 2013-14, 25 wins so far in 2016-17).

- Last night's win was the 166th on the Creighton sideline for Greg McDermott (166-80), moving him into sole possession of second place on Creighton's all-time wins list and past Arthur A. Schabinger (165-66 from 1922-35). The all-time wins leader is Dana Altman, who went 327-176 from 1994-2010.
   Not only was it win number 166, but it came on a basket with 6.6 seconds left, to help the No. 6 seed win, as the Bluejays improved to 6-0 this year in games attended by former BEDN correspondent Kim Adams. Adams spent the winter travelling around the league as part of the BIG EAST Trophy Tour, which Creighton is trying to win on Saturday.

- Creighton's BIG EAST Tournament run has turned into a revenge tour of sorts. The Bluejays opened its week with a win over Providence, avenging a Feb. 22 home loss to the Friars. Last night, Creighton topped Xavier, reversing a Feb. 4 home loss against the Musketeers. On Saturday, Creighton will try to flip the script from a pair of Villanova losses this season, including one in Omaha on Dec. 31 that was CU's first setback this season.

- Greg McDermott is 3-1 all-time in conference tournament title games at the Division I level, but all four games have gone down to the wire. His 2004 Northern Iowa squad defeated Missouri State in double-overtime, his 2012 Creighton team topped Illinois State in one overtime, and his 2013 Bluejay team topped Wichita State 68-65 when the Shockers missed a three-pointer in the closing seconds. In 2014, Creighton dropped a 65-58 game to Providence.
    McDermott is 12-4 as Creighton's coach in league tournament action. Saturday will mark his fourth conference tournament title game in the last six years, and seven seasons overall, with the Bluejays.

- Creighton has plenty of championship pedigree on its bench, with its current coaching staff and players combining for 15 postseason championship titles. Isaiah Zierden redshirted on Creighton's 2012-13 team that won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. Assistant coach Darian DeVries has won eight titles (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2012, 2013) as a Bluejay assistant, Greg McDermott has won three titles (one at UNI, two at Creighton), Steve Lutz has won two at Creighton (2012, 2013) and Preston Murphy won an Atlantic-10 Tournament as a student-athlete at Rhode Island in 1999.

-With a win on Saturday, Creighton would clinch its 20th all-time NCAA Tournament bid, and 11th since the 1998-99 season. Creighton is 12-20 all-time in NCAA Tournament action, and has gone 1-1 in its last three appearances in the Big Dance. Greg McDermott has coached his teams to six NCAA Tournament appearances at the Division I level (three at Northern Iowa, three at Creighton).

- Creighton improved to 15-0 this season in non-conference games with last night's win, including a 5-0 record on neutral floors. Creighton (15-0) is one of four teams in the country that are unbeaten in non-conference games, joining Gonzaga (15-0) and Villanova (15-0).
   It's only fitting that Creighton and Villanova are meeting with the unbeaten non-conference mark on the line. The teams met in Omaha on Dec. 31st with both teams sporting identical 13-0 marks at the time. At the time, it was the second time in league history that two unbeaten league teams met, joining a Jan. 3, 1989 showdown between Seton Hall (12-0) and Georgetown (9-0).

- Creighton is 4-2 this season against top-25 teams, with both losses coming against Villanova.
   The four wins over top-25 clubs (No. 9 Wisconsin, No. 12 Butler, No. 16 Butler, No. 22 Xavier) mark the first time the program has ever won more than two games against the top-25 in the same year.
   Creighton is 27-134 all-time against teams ranked in the top-25. Greg McDermott's 9-19 record agains top-25 teams give him the most victories in school history against the top-25. McDermott's 4-9 record against top-10 clubs at Creighton is impressive when you consider that his predecessors were 5-51 versus top-10 foes all-time. Two of those four top-10 victories came against Villanova in 2013-14.
   Creighton is 5-26 all-time on neutral floors against top-25 competition, including an 0-4 mark under Greg McDermott. Creighton's last top-25 neutral site victory came on March 4, 2007, when it beat No. 11 Southern Illinois in the Missouri Valley Conference title game under the direction of Dana Altman.
   Fourth-ranked Arizona State (12/13/1963) and Villanova (1/20/2014) are the highest-ranked teams that Creighton has ever beaten, so a win on Saturday over the second-ranked Wildcats would also establish a program best. Creighton enters Saturday 0-13 all-time against teams ranked in the top-three nationally.

- Creighton's bench has come up big this weekend, producing 21 points and 14 rebounds in two wins. CU's bench has played 112 minutes this weekend, while Villanova has used its bench for 139 total minutes this week.

- Creighton is 1-8 all-time in nine games against a defending national champion, with the lone win coming on Feb. 8, 1947, with a victory over 1946 champion Oklahoma State.

- Creighton set BIG EAST and school-records that still stand with 21 three-point baskets in a 28-point win at No. 4 Villanova in 2014. The Bluejays made a three-pointer on each of their first nine possessions in that win. The Bluejays started 7-for-7 from deep, missed a two pointer, but turned an offensive rebound into another trey and then sank a trifecta on its ninth trip, as well. Saturday's play-by-play announcer for FOX, Gus Johnson, called that game.
    Creighton's previous mark was 20, done vs. Chattanooga in 2005. The previous BIG EAST mark was 20, done by West Virginia vs. Marquette in 2006 and matched by Notre Dame vs. Villanova in 2011.
   Creighton broke the Wells Fargo Center record for three-pointers by a Villanova opponent late in the first half (the old mark was 12), and also set a mark for most points against 'Nova at the Wells Fargo Center with 96, passing the old mark of 90.

- During the past five years (when Isaiah Zierden enrolled), Creighton has gone 114-58. The team has been to the NCAA Tournament two times, winning a game each trip, in addition to last year's run to the NIT quarterfinals. The 114 victories trail only Villanova among current BIG EAST schools.
   Creighton is 5-0 with five double-digit victories against in-state rival Nebraska since Zierden arrived on campus and 9-3 in conference tournament play. The trio have combined for 1,982 points, 791 rebounds and 208 assists in a collective 287 games and 108 starts in a Bluejay uniform.

- Creighton improved to 12-1 this season on FS1, and 47-22 all-time on the network, with last night's win.
   Saturday's title game will air on FOX, a network that Creighton is 0-3 on this season, and winless in four appearances under Greg McDermott all-time.

- Five of the seven teams to own a halftime lead at the 2017 BIG EAST Tournament have lost the game, with Creighton responsible for two of those comebacks.
   Last night, Creighton trailed 37-31 at the half before posting a 75-72 win over Xavier.
   On Thursday, Creighton trailed 30-27 at half to Providence before pulling out a 70-58 win.
   Creighton's only other win this season when trailing at half came on Nov. 21 vs. Ole Miss in the title game of the Paradise Jam.
   Coincidentally, those games account for Creighton's last three neutral site contests.

- Creighton has made 1,028 field goals this season, breaking a school-record of 1,024 (in 29 games) that had dated back to 1963-64. The mark was broken on a three-pointer by walk-on Tyler Clement, who drained a corner trey with 3:44 left. It was just his seventh trifecta of the season, and the only points he scored last night.
   One other mark that could fall on Saturday is the school record for points in a season. Creighton has scored 2,732 points this year, just 55 behind the record of 2,787 points set in 35 games last season.

- Creighton's Justin Patton was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Year on Wednesday. He's the first Creighton player named league Freshman of the Year since Doug McDermott won Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year in 2010-11.
   Patton owns 435 points this season, second-most in program history by a freshman and trailing only McDermott (581 in 2010-11). Patton's 21 points helped him pass former MVC Freshmen of the Year Rodney Buford (421 in 1995-96) and P'Allen Stinnett (416 in 2007-08) for second on the list.

- Justin Patton is shooting 69.6 percent from the field this season, which keeps him on pace to break the NCAA record for field goal percentage in a season by a freshman that is currently owned by Hampton's Michael Freeman (67.8 percent in 2006-07). The best mark by a 'major conference' freshman are Arkansas' Sidney Moncrief (65.6 percent in 1975-76) and Duke's Jahlil Okafor (66.4 percent in 2014-15).
   Patton's 69.6 percent shooting ranks sixth-best in NCAA history among players with 192 field goals or more.
   Patton has shot 54 percent or better in every game this year except one.

- Creighton had two dunks on Thursday and one more on Friday, all by Justin Patton. Patton now owns 68 of his team's 137 dunks this season.

- Zach Hanson became the first Bluejay in program history to appear in four different BIG EAST Tournaments with Thursday's appearance. Hanson has also played in five wins and seven games, also program records for the BIG EAST Tournament.

- Creighton has made at least one three-pointer in 781 straight games, a streak that dates back to February of 1993. Khyri Thomas has made at least one three-pointer in each of Creighton's last 12 contests.

- Sophomore Khyri Thomas was a notable omission on the All-Conference Team despite a season that has seen him average 12.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game while also earning BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year acclaim. Thomas led Creighton with 19 points on Thursday night, then dished a career-high eight assists on Friday night.
   One year ago, Thomas played just two minutes in a BIG EAST Tournament quarterfinal loss vs. Seton Hall.
   In the last five games, Thomas is averaging 16.6 points per game and leads the team in rebounds (6.4 rpg.), assists (5.4 apg.) and steals (1.6 spg.) per game.

- Marcus Foster had 21 points in Friday's win over Xavier, including the game-winning three-pointer with 6.6 seconds left. He now owns a team-best 610 points this year, the most in history by a Bluejay newcomer. That figure is 29 more than the 581 points by Doug McDermott in 2010-11.
   On Friday Foster also became the the 11th different Creighton player to reach 600 or more points in a season. His 610 points this season rank 12th-most in program history, and with 11 points on Saturday he can move into the top-10.
   Foster has now scored in double-figures in each of his last 16 games, the first Bluejay with a streak that long since Doug McDermott's streak of 28 straight games to close his career from Dec. 3, 2013 to March 23, 2014. Foster's streak trails only Villanova's Josh Hart (38) for the longest active streak in the BIG EAST.

- Speaking of Villanova's Josh Hart and Creighton's Marcus Foster, both men were unanimous First Team All-BIG EAST selections and rank 1-2 in the BIG EAST in scoring. Hart owns 614 points and 18.6 points per game, while Foster is on his heels with 610 points and 18.5 points per contest.
   In league play this season, Hart led the BIG EAST with 327 points (18.2 ppg.), while Foster had 324 points (18.0 ppg.) to rank second.
   Both Hart and Foster made game-winning baskets in the final seconds of Friday's semifinals.

- Marcus Foster's game-winning shot on Friday shouldn't have come as a huge surprise, as he's shown a knack for it in his college career. Foster twice hit game-winning three-pointers to beat nationally-ranked Oklahoma in the final five seconds in 2014-15, hitting a shot with 4.1 seconds left in overtime to beat the No. 16 Sooners on Jan. 10, then doing it again to win with 4.3 seconds left in regulation against the No. 17 Sooners in Manhattan, Kan., on Feb. 14th.

- Cole Huff has played at Madison Square Garden three times, and is averaging 18.7 points per game in those contests after Friday's 11 point performance against Xavier.
   Huff has now played eight career games on neutral floors since joining the CU program, with his team winning seven of those. In those games, he has averaged 17.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while shooting 43-for-80 from the field (.538), 29-of-52 from three-point range (.558) and 24-of-27 at the line (.900).

- Regardless of Saturday's result, Creighton Basketball fans are invited to join the student-athletes and coaches at D.J. Sokol Arena on Sunday night to watch the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament selection show which will be televised live nationally on CBS starting at 4:30 p.m., Central time. Doors to D.J. Sokol Arena will open at 3:30 p.m. Central.

Men's Basketball Seeks BIG EAST Tourney Title vs. #2 Villanova

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Players Mentioned

Tyler Clement

Marcus Foster

Zach Hanson

Cole Huff

Justin Patton

Khyri Thomas

Isaiah Zierden