Creighton Game

[Piratz]

They’re back to form and have been for some time. Elite team. Man do they get generate good looks fast. They struggled from 3 against Nova, which we need to force too.

They’re also the top rated defensive team in league games with Kalkbrenner back and roaring. Seton Hall is 2nd, BTW.

And now they’re back in the rankings.

 

[Hall Is Life]

We’ve got to get on them early. We can’t afford a slow start. It starts with defense. Defend like hell and the points will come. Sha needs to find an answer for Kalkbrenner, both offensively and defensively. He is a game-changing machine. If anyone can find an answer for him, it’s Sha. Let’s all show up and do our part. Wednesday night is going to be a good one.

 

[shu09]

It's a big game. I like that they're now ranked, it will get our guys' attention if they aren't focused already. Seems to me that they are, as it appeared they were looking ahead yesterday.

Interested to see what the line opens at. The analytical sites suggest Creighton will be a small favorite (2 to 4 points).

 

[Seton75]

I think CU is very good. 4 seed or better good. But i was unimpressed with their offense vs nova. Kalc for a dunk. A 3 ptr. But i didnt think they created good shots like they usually do. Maybe nova deserves the credit. Maybe they are holding those shots for Wed. Five good scorers for them. We need a major effort and some guys at the top of their game.

 

[SOpirate]

Might put this as another “must win” game. It will come down to how well Creighton shoots / SHU defends the 3 point line. We’ve already seen what happens when you let their shooters get hot.

 

[shu09]

It's not a must win, but it would be massive if we do win it.

 

[HallBall'n]

Big East with 5 teams in the top 23

 

[NYC Pirate]

It’s that first 5 or 10 minutes that will be important.,This is good team that may have been top 10-15 without injuries. When they are comfortable it’s trouble. They play better at home usually. They did not look as good hosting Nova as they did when they ran SHU out of the building. So maybe it will be more if a competitive game.

 

[LBP43]

It’s that first 5 or 10 minutes that will be important.,This is good team that may have been top 10-15 without injuries. When they are comfortable it’s trouble. They play better at home usually. They did not look as good hosting Nova as they did when they ran SHU out of the building. So maybe it will be more if a competitive game.

For whatever reason , the "match-up" with Creighton is not in favor of the Hall. If Femi plays well ( he can not be worse than he was v. DePaul ) and if Dre can get back ( he is a prob for Bluejays) SHU has more than a punchers chance-especially if the Crowd brings it. Lots of "ifs" but hopefully , Hall can get Bluejays to play from behind and make it a physical game.

 

[ivyhillparkk1963]

Creighton is a finesse team who we can get physical with if refs let us play...
its gonna come down to whether we can put the ball in the basket..

 

[NYC Pirate]

Its sometimes hard for many of our fans to be there at
Tip-off time for these early games coming from work.. Then it fills up. So the rest of us and the students have to pick up the slack. More important the players have to understand that we can’t keep getting behind.. Creighton players are no different than any other team. SHU players must swarm them and fans make it uncomfortable. Sooner or later they’ll hit their shots, but you must exhaust them in n the process.

 

[Piratz]

Its sometimes hard for many of our fans to be there at
Tip-off time for these early games coming from work.. Then it fills up. So the rest of us and the students have to pick up the slack. More important the players have to understand that we can’t keep getting behind.. Creighton players are no different than any other team. SHU players must swarm them and fans make it uncomfortable. Sooner or later they’ll hit their shots, but you must exhaust them in n the process.

Yeah anything that starts at 630 is tough in the area but hopefully students at least show.

 

[HALL85]

Amazing thing about CU is that in their last six games, five different players have led the team in scoring. Need to make it a rock fight (does SHU know any other way to play?) AND stay out of foul trouble - especially Richmond and Ty. Remember in the first game Richmond went out early with two fouls and the game was over before they knew it. One of the fouls was a really bad one on Kadary's part. Having Jackson and Tae dialed in like they have will be a big help as well. Everyone in the pool on defense!!!

Be physical from the start but avoid the reach-in fouls. Can Sha mix in zone at the right time as well.

 

[Piratz]

Creighton is a finesse team who we can get physical with if refs let us play...
its gonna come down to whether we can put the ball in the basket..

Creighton hasn’t shot as well as it usually does in their past two games, at Georgetown and against Villanova. In neither game did they break 30% from 3PT range or 50% from 2PT range, which is very, very unlike them especially when you consider the venues. Heck, they were 40%/60% against us the first time, LOL. The slower tempo seemed to help both teams.

Against Nova they got to the line a ton as their FT rate was the highest of any conference game this season and, conversely, they turned Nova over at a rate higher than they have all conference season. They needed that to pull that game out in the final minute. They've also allowed 50%+ from 2PT range defensively in 2 of the past 3 games. They only did that twice in the first 9 games. Some interesting trends.

 

[halltheway]

We can't do our usual...miss fouls and easy buckets.
We are doing better with limiting turn overs , we can't give second chance to a
the talent of Creighton.

 

[radecicco]

Our offense is predicated on 15 feet and in, heck, maybe even 10 feet and in where we pick up a lot of fouls on the other team. How does that work with Kalkbrenner? Maybe Tray in some pick and pops to get Kalkbrenner away from the basket? Maybe Ty hits one. But this is going to be tough. Creighton and MU are our toughest match ups due to style of play.

 

[Halldan1]

Might put this as another “must win” game. It will come down to how well Creighton shoots / SHU defends the 3 point line. We’ve already seen what happens when you let their shooters get hot.

As I see it group this or Xavier as a must win.

Love to take both but I would clearly be happy with a split. We'll be dogs in both games.

 

[Halldan1]

........... if Dre can get back ( he is a probable for Bluejays)

More likely questionable.

 

[Piratz]

If somehow the team can sweep this week, we’ll be sitting pretty. That’s another big time Q1 win and a Q2 win at Villanova. I have trouble seeing us beating Creighton and Villanova will be a battle down there, but here’s hoping.

 

[bigraym]

Let's hope assistant coach, Ryan Whalen, assists in constructing a game plan, similar to the St Pete vs Purdue '22 NCAA matchup, and we get Creighton in favorable SHU situations!

 

[Bud Boomer]

If somehow the team can sweep this week, we’ll be sitting pretty. That’s another big time Q1 win and a Q2 win at Villanova. I have trouble seeing us beating Creighton and Villanova will be a battle down there, but here’s hoping.

The two Nova games could not come at worse times with Justin Moore rounding into form. I don't feel good about that series. Creighton would buy the team a small margin for error at least.

 

[shu09]

The two Nova games could not come at worse times with Justin Moore rounding into form. I don't feel good about that series. Creighton would buy the team a small margin for error at least.

Agree. Really wish we saw Villanova in December or January, but that's the breaks of the schedule. Even in a round-robin league, there are irregularities. Villanova has already completed its season series with Marquette, Georgetown and St. John's, and will finish up with DePaul tomorrow night. That'll be four series' completed, all before seeing Seton Hall even once.

Looking at the Hall, I'm sure Villanova wishes they saw us early in the schedule too. We'll have already completed our series' with Marquette, St. John's, DePaul, Butler and Creighton before seeing Villanova once.

 

[Hall Is Life]

Agree. Really wish we saw Villanova in December or January, but that's the breaks of the schedule. Even in a round-robin league, there are irregularities. Villanova has already completed its season series with Marquette, Georgetown and St. John's, and will finish up with DePaul tomorrow night. That'll be four series' completed, all before seeing Seton Hall even once.

Looking at the Hall, I'm sure Villanova wishes they saw us early in the schedule too. We'll have already completed our series' with Marquette, St. John's, DePaul, Butler and Creighton before seeing Villanova once.

Definitely a weird dynamic this year. Willard would be up in arms LOL.

But how beautiful would it be to secure a tournament berth by sweeping both games against Villanova or at the very least, sticking it to them on senior night in front of our home crowd? The script is being written as we speak…

 

[mbraue]

We’ve got to get on them early. We can’t afford a slow start. It starts with defense. Defend like hell and the points will come. Sha needs to find an answer for Kalkbrenner, both offensively and defensively. He is a game-changing machine. If anyone can find an answer for him, it’s Sha. Let’s all show up and do our part. Wednesday night is going to be a good one.

We need a much better offense against the elite teams. Other than Dawes and Richmond, we have no one else in the starting 5 who can hit a 3 or shoot from distance. I think the slow offensive starts have really hurt us, but against these lesser teams we were able to dig ourselves out of a hole. Not with Creighton.

I love KC and Femi on D, but neither needs to be guarded from outside. Really hurts the offensive balance and leaves Richmond with very few options to kick the ball out to once he penetrates, if Dawes is the only outside threat in the starting 5.

Jamir, Jackson and Dre are good outside shooters, but they never start so we often are playing catch-up on offense.

 

[statenman]

We need both offense AND defense to show up in the game.

 

[Piratz]

A good crowd would be nice. Not sure we’ll get it but here’s hoping.

 

[mbraue]

We need both offense AND defense to show up in the game.

Defense usually shows up, offense not so much. Let’s hope we get both tomorrow.

 

[silkcitypirate]

Defense usually shows up, offense not so much. Let’s hope we get both tomorrow.

Another plus for us is they are not a real good road team.

 

[silkcitypirate]

7 losses on the road . Most recent ones were at Arizona State ,Marquette , Conn. , and Xavier . Hope the trend continues !!!!!!

 

[shu09]

7 losses on the road . Most recent ones were at Arizona State ,Marquette , Conn. , and Xavier . Hope the trend continues !!!!!!

Creighton is 2-4 on the road. Wins over Butler and Georgetown, losses to Texas, Marquette, UConn and Xavier. All top 25 teams.

 

[Piratz]

Defense usually shows up, offense not so much. Let’s hope we get both tomorrow.

It didn’t in Omaha. That led to bad offense,

Creighton shot 60% from 2 on us, 40% from 3. Woof.

Starts on that end defensively. We’ll see.

 

[NYC Pirate]

So this can be an interesting game if SHU come out with intensity and are not too tight on the offensive end. Creighton has 5 excellent players and not much after that. The strategy should be to get one of those guys in foul trouble and also and also have a plan to shut down one of the 5 for the entire game. You can’t stop all of them and you live with it. The good news is that Creighton has zero bench points in the last two games.. So maybe the starters are trending down just a tad from stress.

The bottom line is everyone needs to hit their numbers from an offensive standpoint for SHU and the bench has to push them over the top. A confident Harris could be a difference. One starter had to be better than average in point production. Richmond or Dawes most likely. Seton Hall has to be desperate for this Resume Builder.

 

[donnie_baseball]

Not at all a must win.

These are the teams we're eventually going to have to beat if we are going to make the NCAA. We have to be quicker on the close-outs -- that has been the one defensive area where we've struggled, even against the poorer teams (who miss more often). We also need for Dawes and/or Harris to hit threes. When they do, we don't struggle as much on offense, and are able to set up the half court defense. Hoping CU has another off night from the arc!

 

[Piratz]

We’ve been in a funk to start games. I can’t see how we overcome the same tonight.

If The Hall isn’t fired up and locked in with so much on the line against a team that’s ranked and embarrassed them earlier in the year, then I’ll be shocked. Sustaining it for 40 minutes to beat a team like this another story but I would expect some juice early, like in the home game against Iowa. But hopefully with a better ending as we should be more cohesive now.

 

[Piratz]

Creighton is 2-4 on the road. Wins over Butler and Georgetown, losses to Texas, Marquette, UConn and Xavier. All top 25 teams.

Got me thinking of recent Creighton games. They’ve been a thorn.

We beat them handedly at home last year, but the prior two years were heartbreakers. We blew a huge lead in 2021 with the Aiken/Mamu team, maybe like 15 points midway through the second half, and then the game in 2020 where we lost in the final minute… Then of course their celebration after beating us in the finale out there the same after we spit up the outright since they swept us. Sigh.

EDIT: We led by 16 with 11:30 to play in 2021. Yikes. 🤯

 

[STLPirate12]

We could use a big game from Tray Jackson today. He's defending at a much higher level than he was last time we played Creighton - can he do anything to slow down Kalkbrenner? It would be huge, because on the offensive end he offers what Samuel doesn't - the ability to draw Kalkbrenner away from the rim with his shooting.

If that doesn't happen, we just need to attack him and try to get him in foul trouble.

 

[Hall Is Life]

We could use a big game from Tray Jackson today. He's defending at a much higher level than he was last time we played Creighton - can he do anything to slow down Kalkbrenner? It would be huge, because on the offensive end he offers what Samuel doesn't - the ability to draw Kalkbrenner away from the rim with his shooting.

If that doesn't happen, we just need to attack him and try to get him in foul trouble.

Kalkbrenner doesn’t often get into foul trouble. He averages 1.6 fouls per game. Only three times this year has he gotten hit with four fouls. However, last game against Nova he had 4 fouls so maybe we can do the same.

 

[Piratz]

We could use a big game from Tray Jackson today. He's defending at a much higher level than he was last time we played Creighton - can he do anything to slow down Kalkbrenner? It would be huge, because on the offensive end he offers what Samuel doesn't - the ability to draw Kalkbrenner away from the rim with his shooting.

If that doesn't happen, we just need to attack him and try to get him in foul trouble.

We can use Samuel’s athleticism for this too. We have to get Kalkbrenner out of there more and beat them off the ball behind him quickly. We’ve got the personnel to do that. Well, theoretically. 🙃

Let’s see what Sha cooks up. Ndefo’s passing could also be big tonight.

 

[HallOnTheHill]

We’ve been in a funk to start games. I can’t see how we overcome the same tonight.

If The Hall isn’t fired up and locked in with so much on the line against a team that’s ranked and embarrassed them earlier in the year, then I’ll be shocked. Sustaining it for 40 minutes to beat a team like this another story but I would expect some juice early, like in the home game against Iowa. But hopefully with a better ending as we should be more cohesive now.

I think we’ll throw our best punch. Everyone knows the importance of the game, we’re at home and Sha doesn’t try to downplay anything.

I don’t know if the refs will let us play physical, if we can drive into Kalkbrenner, etc., but I’d be really surprised if the team came out flat.

 

[The Crows Nest]

It's not a must win, but it would be massive if we do win it.

I think winning at least 1 of tonight and Saturday VS Nova on the road is a very-near “must”; if we don’t, looking at having to win 4 of 5 remaining…Which would be tough.