Creighton University
21-10,12-7Big East
Marquette
19-12,11-8Big East
Men's Basketball Opens BIG EAST Tourney With 74-63 Win Over Marquette
3/10/2022 3:54:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Creighton plays Providence in Friday's Semifinal
The win advances Creighton to Friday's 5:30 p.m. (CT) semifinal game against top-seeded and No. 11 Providence. The Friars rallied late to upend ninth-seeded Butler, 65-61, in the first quarterfinal of the afternoon.
Making his Madison Square Garden debut, Arthur Kaluma got the Bluejays off to a strong start. The freshman drained a three-pointer from the right wing for the first points of the afternoon, and he later had a pair of dunks to spur the Bluejays to a 14-7 lead. MU tied the game at 21, only to see Ryan Kalkbrenner convert a traditional three-point play and Rati Andronikashvili followed with his first three-pointer of the 2022 calendar year.
The Bluejays brought a 29-26 lead into the half, led by nine from Kaluma and eight points by Kalkbrenner. CU also had seven steals, forcing a total of 10 Marquette turnovers in the opening frame. Justin Lewis led MU with eight points and five rebounds at the break.
Early in the second half the Bluejays pushed their lead to 39-31, on back-to-back hoops by Kalkbrenner, a three-pointer by Ryan Hawkins and a dunk and free throw by Kaluma. The Golden Eagles countered with a three-point play by Olivier-Maxence Prosper that also sent Kaluma to the bench with his third personal foul.
The Bluejays kept thriving without their prized freshman, embarking on a 7-0 run that included back-to-back hoops from Ryan Hawkins before a jumper in the lane by Trey Alexander to make it 46-34 with 13 minutes remaining. KeyShawn Feazell's three-point play moved the Bluejay edge to 51-38 with 11:24 remaining.
MU closed to within 63-58 with under four minutes to play on a corner three-pointer by Tyler Kolek and got within two on Greg Elliot's steal and three-point play with 3:06 to go. Elliot had a chance to tie with 2:10 left but missed at the rim and Hawkins followed with an unguarded trey to push CU's edge to 66-61.
Marquette answered with a driving layup from Lewis to make it a one possession game once more at 66-63. Creighton closed out the Golden Eagles with an 8-0 burst to end the game, getting buckets from Kaluma, senior Alex O'Connell and four points from Alexander.
Hawkins led Creighton with a game-high 18 points, while Kalkbrenner finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. Two other Bluejays closed the contest in double figures as Kaluma delivered 14 points, and Alexander posted 11 points and a career-high eight assists. CU shot 49.1 percent for the game and owned a 13-2 edge in second chance points.
Marquette got a team-high 18 points from Darryl Morsell, including 16 in the second half. Lewis had 17 points and seven rebounds. The Golden Eagles shot 39.7 percent for the game but had 15 turnovers.
NOTES: This was the 95th all-time meeting between Creighton and Marquette in a series that dates 99 years, but first time they met on a neutral floor ... Ryan Hawkins made his 131st consecutive start ... Creighton has made a three-pointer in 944 straight games and a trey before halftime in 315 consecutive contests ... Rati Andronikashvili's three-pointer to give Creighton a 27-21 lead was his first trifecta since Dec. 17, 2021 vs. Villanova ... Creighton defeated Marquette for a fourth straight meeting for the first time since five straight wins in the series from 1932-36 ... Teams with Ryan Hawkins improved to 180-18 at the college level, and 41-1 at neutral sites ... Creighton improved to 8-7 all-time at the BIG EAST Tournament, including a 4-4 mark in the quarterfinals ... Creighton improved to 1-1 all-time at the BIG EAST Tournament as a No. 4 seed, and 7-7 all-time in conference tournament action as a No. 4 seed (including the MVC Tournament) ... Creighton improved to 14-3 this year when leading at halftime, including a 4-0 mark on neutral floors ... Trey Alexander had a career-high with eight assists ... Creighton's last eight BIG EAST Tournament games (including the 2020 game vs. St. John's that was stopped at halftime) have been against eight different opponents ... The win was Creighton's sixth Quad 1 victory of the season ... The 26 points allowed in the first half matched the fewest CU has ever allowed at the BIG EAST Tournament prior to halftime ... Creighton's 10 steals tied its most ever in a BIG EAST Tournament game.
Creighton Bluejays (Greg McDermott, Ryan Hawkins)
Postgame Media Conference
March 10, 2022
Creighton - 74, Marquette - 63
COACH MCDERMOTT: I thought my guys were terrific. Marquette's a heck of a basketball team. And we've played them in two previous games that frankly we were probably lucky to win both of them. But kind of found a way at the end.
And our roster is different than it was in those two games, without Nembhard. And we had to fight through some foul trouble today. But these guys, they've been incredible. I just told them in the locker room, I take timeouts when my team looks unsure, scared or panicked. When I looked out there, even when they made the run, I didn't see that. I saw, let's get to the next play, let's try to execute it a little better. And we did.
We hit some big shots. And obviously that small lineup gave us some fits there for a second that let them get back in the game. But we didn't really have an option. I only have a few guards on my team. So we don't have a choice.
But really proud of our team, what they've done since Nembhard went down, winning three out of five games. And two of those wins are against two teams that are in the NCAA Tournament. Really, really proud of them, and looking forward for another opportunity to play Providence tomorrow.
Q. You talk about Ryan going down. Ryan Hawkins really stepping up big. He hit seven 3s today. Talk about that performance today.
COACH MCDERMOTT: I mean, it's good to see you guys without masks again, too. He's been great all year. And in what you see on the floor is such a small part of what he's done for our program this year.
We've had a lot of growth with our young players. And a big reason we've had that growth is, number one, the coaching staff believes in it. But more importantly, when your senior leader believes in you, that goes a lot farther than what a coach can do. And Ryan took the time to really get to know these guys when they first met in June, even though he's five or six years older.
They were like in sixth grade when he was a senior in high school. And because of that, they really respect what he says and they respect his daily actions. And it's not just talk. He backs it all up with the way he is, with his positive attitude. And he hasn't had a bad day in the time that I've coached him. He hasn't had a bad play. I've never seen him shrug his shoulders or hang his head.
For a coach that's trying to teach young guys how to do it and how to be successful at doing it, couldn't ask for anything more.
So the basketball stuff you see, and it's really, really impressive, but what he's done for our locker room and the growth of our team, has been awesome.
Q. 11-2 run to end the game following the 3-point play by Elliott that cut the lead to two. How impressed were you by your team's response and how strong they finished the game?
COACH MCDERMOTT: You know, we pushed it, I think it was after a made free throw -- no, it was a missed shot. They lost Hawk at the top of the key. But we pushed it up there and the 4 flattened out because of Kalkbrenner down there. And he was able to hit the trail 3. And then Kaluma makes a great job to the drive to the basket through contact, on a day he was fighting foul trouble the whole way.
Our guys didn't quit. And I thought we got better at defending that small lineup as time went on. And it's a hard lineup for us. Justin Lewis is a pro. I've got to put my center on him, Kalkbrenner. And we switched some screens and they took advantage of us getting to the basket, hit a couple of 3s. I thought late in the game we adjusted to that much better.
Q. I think there's perception, maybe you're tired of hearing about it, that Creighton is sort of like this nice little gem out in the Midwest, and you're a top 10 in attendance and all that other stuff. Are you guys tired of hearing that? Do you look forward to this time of the year when you can kind of show people what you are?
COACH MCDERMOTT: We're top five in attendance, not top 10. (Laughter) just a fact. I'm just kidding. We are, but -- I said this my first couple of years at Creighton when we were still in the Missouri Valley. And at that time we had the play-in facility and the crowd was starting to come. But we didn't have the practice facility and the things we have now.
But I told many people at that time, we're a Sweet 16 away from people understanding our story. And we're in a community that's unbelievably supportive. It's a sports town. It's a basketball community. We don't have to deal with professional sports. So we're it. And our guys are rock stars wherever they go around town.
And the Big East did that for us. Once we entered the Big East and certainly Doug having the year he had the first year, I think, accelerated that. And I think the teams in our league that come to our building are really impressed with what we have.
I think it's a great basketball place. And it's okay -- people don't really know about us and think about us, but as long as this time of year our name keeps popping up, that's just fine with me.
RYAN HAWKINS: I think it just has a lot of special people and a lot of support. This is my first year at Creighton, and just the accepting and the love I've gotten from the fan base tells me everything I needed to know. It's kind of like a hidden gem in the middle of America, and I wouldn't change it for anything. The people are what makes it special at Creighton.
Q. Your thoughts on tomorrow? It's come to my attention you're undefeated in semifinal Big East play. Obviously numbers don't really matter. What is the thing you're looking forward to against a tough Providence team?
COACH MCDERMOTT: We played them on a night when I'm not sure the Golden State Warriors could have went in there and won that night. That place was electric. And the town was rocking. And they kind of pounced on us late in that first half. We weren't really able to get our footing.
But we're just excited about the opportunity to play again. And we're excited what this win does for our postseason resumé.
And I told Hawk earlier, yesterday, that we've been to the final three times, just haven't been able to kick the door down and win a Big East championship. Obviously we've got the best team in our league standing in front of that.
So we didn't play very well at Providence. Didn't get a chance to play them at home because of COVID. They're the league champs. Our guys have a lot of pride, and we look forward to another opportunity to play.
Marquette Golden Eagles (Shaka Smart, Justin Lewis)
Postgame Media Conference
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Marquette.COACH SMART: Congratulations to Creighton. I thought they played with really good aggressiveness and togetherness. Our guys did a really good fighting to come back, cut the lead down to two.
I think we had an offensive possession where we could have tied it. But we didn't do a good enough job with the attention to the details that it took to beat Creighton on both ends of the floor.
Our guys, again, showed a lot of fight down the stretch. But Creighton's a good team. They made a lot of good plays. Made some back-breaking shots when we cut the lead down. Gotta give them a lot of credit.
Q. Once you got it to two on breaks, three-point play, I think you lost track of Hawkins, he hit that 3, is that emblematic of the little details you're talking about?
COACH SMART: Yes, he's a guy, he's as good as there is at making you pay, when you're not where you need to be. And I think our guys have done a phenomenal job all year long of supporting each other, being connected, moving on to the next play. And I think today, for whatever reason, we're in the Big East Tournament, our guys really, really wanted to win.
And some things didn't go our way early. I think we unfortunately kind of allowed that to affect us a little bit. But as a team you have to find a way to stop those type of plays. But certainly Hawkins, that was a big 3. They made some big shots to kind of counter back when we made runs.
Q. Justin, you guys didn't seem to find your rhythm until right in the second half. Why do you think it took so long for you guys to figure things out, and then what happened after that?
JUSTIN LEWIS: I felt like that's, in our theme, we got lost in the fight more. That's kind of why we went on a run. We let things go and that's what helped us on the run.
Q. Creighton had four players finish in double figures. What was the challenge of that today, that they just didn't allow you guys to hone in on one player; they had a couple others that they fed the ball to?
COACH SMART: Those are four really good players, and you add O'Connell. He had nine points. I thought Trey Alexander played well for Creighton, not only having double figures but having eight assists. Since Nembhard went out he's really done a great job at the point guard spot. Just hurt us in different ways.
I thought Kalkbrenner, in a strange way, he's 7'1" but he's just kind of quicker to the ball on some of those plays. They shot one, like, off the bottom of the backboard. He was just quicker, got it, was able to either score or draw a foul. He's played really, really well against us. Kaluma gives them a different element with him being back.
But I think if you take away some of the plays they had in transition and then some of the drives we gave up from the top, I thought our guys did a nice job on defense. We just, too many times got beat on penetration, and in transition we lost them too many times.
Q. Creighton started the second half 8-for-9. How worried were you about the defense? We talked about defensive issues the last couple of weeks. How worried about the defense for heading into the NCAA Tournament?
COACH SMART: We'll watch the tape and we'll look at things that we can do better. I tend to focus on, okay, are we connected? Are we playing for each other? Are we responding when things don't go our way? If we do those things we can be a really good defensive team. We've shown that all year. So we're going to focus on being better in those areas.
We'll certainly talk about, whether it's rotations or whether it's moving our feet to guard the ball or closing out, but I mean we've practiced 100 and some times this year. We're going to keep working on those things. Our guys are good in those areas when we're at our best.
Q. What were some of your impressions about the conference, about the league this year?
COACH SMART: It's been great. It's a first-class operation from Val on down. I think terrific teams, terrific coaches and most importantly, great players.
I think it's a testament to Justin being named most improved, being named to the first team. To be one of a handful of the best players in the league, in this league. There's a lot of great players that didn't get named anything.
And, so, it's a lot of fun to be part of the league. We really wanted to win this tournament. We came up here to win. And that's why it really stings that we didn't.
But you've got to give Creighton credit. And I really appreciate the fact that our guys have put us in position where we still have meaningful basketball to play even after losing today.
Q. Justin, you had 10 turnovers in the first half. Do you think it was just nerves, adrenaline? What do you think contributed to that?
JUSTIN LEWIS: I feel like, based on our play, it was kind of like nervousness, not wanting to mess up, wanting to play a perfect game.
