Georgetown @ Creighton 2/3/21 Discussion

[FrazierFanatic]

Always a tough assignment of course. They did not look invincible against DePaul last night. The usual formula - limit turnovers, hit the boards, DEFEND.

[RockawayHoya]

A game where we must take advantage of our size and length. Creighton only has 1 guy in their rotation taller than 6'7 (Kalkbrenner, 14.9 mpg), so if we don't punish them on the glass, we're not going to get it done.

Agree with FF on the turnovers. Creighton is really tough to turn over (19th nationally), but doesn't force many of their own (238th). If we can keep the turnover differential to even or something reasonable, it'll come down to our offensive rebounding vs. their outside shooting. We're probably still at a disadvantage there, but we need to put ourselves in position to take advantage of an off-shooting night by them.

A split against them in the home-and-home would be a great result. Hopeful we can steal one of two and continue to build some positive momentum going into the 2nd half of the season.

[hoyas212]

The personnel, especially on the Georgetown side, is different from last year but the template in this matchup remains the same: rebound and defend the 3.  In the win over Creighton with a very shorthanded roster last year, GU was +12 in rebounding margin and Creighton shot 40.6% from 3 (would've been higher had Alexander not shot 2-10).  In the loss, GU was only +6 in rebounding margin and Creighton shot 47.2% from 3.  Most everyone has been clamoring for improved defensive schemes and tactics from the staff, and this game will be a good litmus test for that.  Would like to see everyone on the court being cognizant that Zegarowski, Ballock, and Mahoney want to shoot a lot of 3s and are pretty proficient at doing so.  Assuming GU is playing man: run those guys off the 3 point line, and don't help off of them i.e. trust the rim protection of Wahab or Ighoefe.  

[Deleted]

My advice, defense needs to fly all over the place to distract the three point shooters!

The only inside game players that they have is Mahoney and the kid Jefferson.

We need Bile, Carey and Jarmorko to be assigned to these guys at all times and we need Q and Tim to stay inside to protect the interior.

Coach it might not be a bad idea to play Sibley a lot in this game to help with defending the three line especially against Mitch Blalock.

Sibley can really play d and he can rebound and get you a few baskets. We need him to play a lot in this game. We need him to play at least 10 to 12 minutes in this game.

[jester]

Some interesting stats through the conference games:

Pickett, who we had high hopes for, has as many points as our freshman point guard, who is shooting 38% from the field, aka, its not b/c our freshman is playing super well.

Pickett is shooting 37% (!!) from 2 point land, (missed layups/long two pointers no doubt) while shooting 28% from 3 pt range.

Blair is shooting 30% from 3 point range.

Our freshmen combined have scored 20 points, ex Harris.

Ewing minute choices or not, the seniors have struggled, the freshmen have struggled.

That being said, looking forward to next game/rest of conference, to build on, we won a game with usual suspects not contributing scoring, and Harris, Carey, Bile playing more to their strengths last game.

I think we all are most interested, who other than Harris from freshmen gets chance to contribute this conference season, and who will seize that and produce? its always better going into next year knowing who you have - the incoming class is on paper a step up, but freshman too, and for now, we have to see what they look like at next level.

[EasyEd]

Bombs away by Creighton from the three. Hard to see how we win either of next two games. Hope I'm wrong.

[rhw485]

I think Creighton offers the coaching staff the most opportunities to be creative with rotations given their roster make up.  Some key issues:

• I did predict we'd see more Tim than Malcolm against Provy....well don't be surprised if Tim doesn't play at all against Creighton.  It definitely seems more like a Malcolm matchup.  Again I think Wahab is a tier above and Ewing can debate matchups of Tim vs. Malcolm but we'll see.  That being said...
• If there was ever a matchup that called for the small ball lineup to get minutes, this is it.  I'll take my chances size-wise with Bile, Pickett, Sibley vs. Bishop, Mahoney, Jefferson.  That lineup with 2 of Blair, Carey, Harris could even switch every screen and probably still win the rebounding matchup.
• For the minutes Wahab plays, he has to dominate like he did 1st half Villanova.  Otherwise, I fear it's going to be too much of a liability on defense.  They are going to put him in a constant series of pick and rolls.  Now Creighton centers are not pick and pop threats so you can maybe blitz them a little more but I personally don't like it.  The only game we went back to the hard hedge was Nova so dont be surprised if we see it even though I'm not a fan
• When we play our more "drop" coverage, the help defenders cannot dig in too much.  It's the most consistent mistake we make in coverage and Creighton will absolutely kill it.  Concede a 15-20 foot long 2 instead of a 3 off ball rotation
• The zone had its moments against Provy but I don't think you can roll it out here.  Just asking for trouble
• I should've mentioned it in the Provy thread but my post was getting too long, but Blair deserves some major credit for his defense vs. Duke.  He also did a great job against Carton.  Do we see Blair on Zegarowski and Harris uses his speed to just chase Ballock around?  Blair does much better in ball screen action so I don't think it's that crazy

Creighton actually has fans at games I believe so will be interesting to see how the guys respond.

[Bigs"R"Us]

Road wins are difficult. We are going to have to make shots, limit turnovers and rebound.

[aleutianhoya]

Feb 2, 2021 7:42:49 GMT -5 rhw485 said:

I think Creighton offers the coaching staff the most opportunities to be creative with rotations given their roster make up.  Some key issues:

• I did predict we'd see more Tim than Malcolm against Provy....well don't be surprised if Tim doesn't play at all against Creighton.  It definitely seems more like a Malcolm matchup.  Again I think Wahab is a tier above and Ewing can debate matchups of Tim vs. Malcolm but we'll see.  That being said...
• If there was ever a matchup that called for the small ball lineup to get minutes, this is it.  I'll take my chances size-wise with Bile, Pickett, Sibley vs. Bishop, Mahoney, Jefferson.  That lineup with 2 of Blair, Carey, Harris could even switch every screen and probably still win the rebounding matchup.
• For the minutes Wahab plays, he has to dominate like he did 1st half Villanova.  Otherwise, I fear it's going to be too much of a liability on defense.  They are going to put him in a constant series of pick and rolls.  Now Creighton centers are not pick and pop threats so you can maybe blitz them a little more but I personally don't like it.  The only game we went back to the hard hedge was Nova so dont be surprised if we see it even though I'm not a fan
• When we play our more "drop" coverage, the help defenders cannot dig in too much.  It's the most consistent mistake we make in coverage and Creighton will absolutely kill it.  Concede a 15-20 foot long 2 instead of a 3 off ball rotation
• The zone had its moments against Provy but I don't think you can roll it out here.  Just asking for trouble
• I should've mentioned it in the Provy thread but my post was getting too long, but Blair deserves some major credit for his defense vs. Duke.  He also did a great job against Carton.  Do we see Blair on Zegarowski and Harris uses his speed to just chase Ballock around?  Blair does much better in ball screen action so I don't think it's that crazy

Creighton actually has fans at games I believe so will be interesting to see how the guys respond.

Agreed on going small and trying to switch everything. You give up some mismatches in the post with Dante and a few times a big has to stay in front of a guard, so be it. I'd rather that than wide open corner three after corner three.

[professorhoya]

Rebound!

[McBricks]

For what it's worth, ESPN gives the Hoyas a 7.3% of winning.

[bostonfan]

Feb 2, 2021 16:25:48 GMT -5 McBricks said:

For what it's worth, ESPN gives the Hoyas a 7.3% of winning.

So your saying there is a chance!!!!

[kbones17]

If we can keep them under 80 I’ll be satisfied

[calhoya]

Accept that this could get ugly and McDermott is a good coach and has his teams well prepared. However, the Hoyas should know by now the keys to success. Need to play at least decent (not great) perimeter defense, move the ball on offense, and avoid stupid TOs. Big ask but it's February and these kids have been together a while now. Hoping that Pickett and Bile continue to drive aggressively without trying to win the game themselves; Dante can remain under control; Blair can find his shot; the team can get the ball to an open Carey; and the posts can hit more than 50% of their shots and kick out the ball when doubled. Seems like too much to hope for but maybe Providence taught them something. Need Ewing switching things up as McDermott will make in-game adjustments and most importantly anyone going rogue and trying to force shots or making careless TOs should sit and calm down. Shorten the leash. Watch Jefferson for the Blue Jays--completely different player than we saw in the Mountain West at New Mexico.

[bostonfan]

The Hoyas actually have some match up advantages against Creighton. The Blue Jays really don't have the size to rebound with Georgetown or stop them when the Hoyas get the ball into the post, so there are things that Georgetown can try to do to leverage those positive matchups. The issue is that Creighton has a bunch of guys who just make shots and I am not sure if the Hoyas can score with them, unless Creighton has a bad shooting night, which doesn't happen often when they play at home. If the game is in the high 60's or low 70's the Hoyas have a chance, but if you let Creighton get into the 80's or higher it won't be close.

[DudeSlade]

I'd love to see the team bring an old Pat Ewing Knicks attitude to this game -- get super physical with them, make them earn everything, and hope we have someone go John Starks on them and completely outplay their talent level (don't at me Knicks fans, Starks was a consummate overachiever due to effort - and should be applauded for it. he was great to watch and root on).

Creighton has more skill and shooting and seemingly should score a bunch. So let's make them feel it every step and have to earn it. We have no one who is irreplaceable, so why be worried about fouling out? Just don't let them score easy, make it difficult, rebound like crazy, and make them pay inside for being small.

We can let one guy patrol the middle and let our length and quickness compensate on the perimeter to contest shots. Don't let them break. Get out and break ourselves and don't settle for outside contested shots -- if it's going to be contested, we should be able to get it close to the basket. Then crash the offensive boards, because we miss a lot, but our size advantage should allow us to get 2nd chance points. Have no idea if we could win this, but I'd love to see if we could use physicality and size against a small ball team.

Pickett, Bile, even Wilson all have enough size, length, and lateral quickness to make it hard defensively on Creighton inside. We just need Qudus to be a focal point for 20 or so minutes to make them pay for having no one his size. His shoot every time he touches it approach might actually be the best offense we can get if they are putting 6'7" dudes on him and his trying to block everything in the paint might be good too to force them to take hard shots, but then whoever had the man who got in the paint needs to crash the boards instead of worrying about their guy when Qudus goes to block them. Qudus could be the difference maker if used right, but I'd be surprised if he goes for more than 25 mins in the game, as the mismatch works both ways if overplayed.

Honestly, who am I kidding like I know whats up? In the end, I just want to see the kids play super hard and see some development in the players and the tactics. Great to have Gtown basketball back after 3 weeks without.

[Deleted]

Yeah, this should be the game where we put the freshmen in so that they can grow up.

Sibley is a good defender and we could use his long arms to help defend the three line. He needs to play some minutes in each half helping chase around Blalock.

Malcolm (soph) is good at blocking shots. We need him down on the blocks with Q and Tim tonight to help out when the Creighton guards try penetrating for layups.

Time to see if Berger can get us a couple of threes tonight. He is supposedly a sharp shooter so we are going to need six points from him tonight.

Dante just need to do what he did against Providence and that is just be efficient and get your teammates in spots to score. He needs to take his time and process the situation before he makes his moves to avoid too many mistakes. If we can get at least a 2 to 1 assist to turnover ratio from him tonight, we have a chance.

If Kobe and Collin get in tonight, we just need them to play d.

This is a great time to bring in the freshmen since we are picked to lose. It will give them the experience that they need to get for next season while putting them in the fire against a talented Creighton team.

[HometownHoya]

Wait, the game is at 9pm ET?! Hope the guys got their rest last night, gonna be a late one.

[SSHoya]

Creighton -13.5. Gulp!

[hoyaduck]

Upsetting a ranked Creighton in Omaha sure would be nice! Let's go Hoyas!