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Defense, three-point shooting result in a solid Big East debut for Creighton

mcdermott

The final game of the night in college basketball featured two teams playing their Big East opener, with Marquette visiting Creighton in a battle of teams expected to contend for the league crown. Ultimately the game would turn into a rout, with the combination of Creighton’s three-point shooting and Marquette’s offensive issues resulting in a 67-49 Bluejay victory.

Doug McDermott led the way with 19 points and seven rebounds, with Jahenns Manigat (16 points, six assists) and Ethan Wragge (12) knocking down four three-pointers apiece. As a team Creighton shot 13-for-35 from beyond the arc, outscoring the Golden Eagles 39-6 on three-pointers. And given Marquette’s shooting issues, as they entered the game shooting 31.1% from deep and scoring just 19% of their points on the three-point shot (per kenpom.com), this proved to be entirely too much to overcome.

Creighton didn’t shoot a high percentage from the field, making just 40% of their shots. But Greg McDermott’s team does a good job of finding shots, with their ability to work the ball around the perimeter via the pass or “drive and kick” approach resulting in quality looks. They’re a very difficult team to defend, but the more important development moving forward for the Bluejays is what they were able to do defensively.

Is Marquette an offensive juggernaut? Absolutely not. But for a program that places such a high value on “paint touches,” the Golden Eagles only scored four more points in the paint than Creighton (28-24). Marquette is still searching for answers offensively, and Creighton didn’t allow them the chances necessary to do so on Tuesday night.

It’s going to be interesting to see how both teams learn from Tuesday’s result, especially a Marquette team whose best win this point in the season came at the expense of George Washington in the semifinals of the Wooden Legacy in November. As for Creighton, in front of a sold-out crowd (outside of shooting a little better from the field overall) they really couldn’t ask for a better start to life in the Big East.

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