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Physical Pirates dominate on boards as Jays lose second straight
BRENDAN SULLIVAN/THE WORLD-HERALD
Posted: Saturday, January 30, 2016 8:56 pm | Updated: 12:30 am, Sun Jan 31, 2016.
Physical Pirates dominate on boards as Jays lose second straight By Steven Pivovar / World-Herald staff writer The Omaha World-Herald
Seton Hall left Creighton with red faces all around after Saturday’s annual “Pink-Out” game.
The Pirates put on a dominating performance in posting a 75-65 victory that sucked the life out a sellout crowd of 17,924 at the CenturyLink Center in the Bluejays’ annual game to promote cancer awareness.
“We haven’t had many games this season where we just haven’t had it from start to finish,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “Tonight was certainly one of those.
“I didn’t feel like we were hooked up mentally as well as we have been, especially for the second time through. That’s disappointing.”
Physically, the Pirates beat up Creighton on the boards, finishing with a 46-27 advantage in rebounding. That led to a 17-4 edge in second-chance points as well as 38 points in the paint.
“We’ve been doing a decent job of rebounding recently,” said Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard in understating one of the key factors in the outcome. “On the road, you have to rebound the ball and you have to give yourself second shots.
“I thought if we could get some second shots that would be huge.”
Willard’s team also excelled at patiently attacking Creighton, getting shots it wanted to take as opposed to the ones the Bluejays wanted the Pirates to attempt.
“They controlled tempo,” McDermott said. “They didn’t want this thing to get up and down. They did a good job of picking their spots of when they wanted to attack.
“I thought we did a good job on Isaiah Whitehead and (Khadeen) Carrington in the first half but they got points from other places. The second half, we had a hard time containing Whitehead. He hit a couple of back-breakers.”
A 6-foot-4 sophomore with NBA potential, Whitehead led Seton Hall with 22 points. He hit 9 of 17 shots from the field, including 4 of 6 3-point attempts, and finished with six assists.
None of his baskets from beyond the arc was bigger than the one he buried with 4:47 to play. Creighton, which trailed by 22 points early in the second half, cut its deficit to 67-57 when Maurice Watson converted a three-point play with 5:42 to play.
Twenty-five seconds later, Carrington missed a shot but Whitehead corralled the long rebound. Whitehead then stuck a dagger in the Bluejays’ comeback hopes with a 3-point basket with two seconds on the shot clock.
A big shot, but the Pirates had countless others during their decisive surge at the end of the first half and the start of the second.
In spite of a molasses-like flow on offense, Creighton was still within 23-21 when Toby Hegner banked a 3-point shot with 6:13 left in the first half. The Pirates then closed the first 20 minutes by outscoring the Jays 17-4.
Creighton missed five of its last seven shots from the field, misfired on three free-throw attempts and committed a turnover.
The Pirates blew to a 54-32 lead with 16:50 left in the game by hitting Creighton with a 14-5 spurt to begin the second half.
“Seton Hall is good,” McDermott said. “When we won at Seton Hall I knew what a great win that was because I knew how talented they are. We found out how good they are tonight.”
The win, which left Seton Hall 15-6 and 5-4 in the Big East, also avenged an 82-67 licking the Bluejays put on the Pirates three weeks ago in Newark, New Jersey.
Seton Hall supported Whitehead’s shot-making and playmaking skills by also getting 14 points from Desi Rodriguez, 13 from Angel Delgado and 12 from Ismael Sanogo. Delgado registered his 10th double-double of the season — the Pirates are unbeaten when he achieves that mark.
Rodriguez also grabbed 10 rebounds and Sanogo eight in helping Pirates dominate that phase of the game.
James Milliken led Creighton with a season-high 21 points. He made 7 of 15 shots, including 4 of 9 from beyond the arc. His teammates made just two other 3-point attempts, including the one Hegner banked in the first half.
Watson added 14 points but missed 10 of 16 shots and had three turnovers to go along with six assists. In the earlier meeting with the Pirates, Watson recorded 14 assists.
“I felt we were stagnant on offense,” Watson said of Saturday’s game. “We were standing around, and then our shots weren’t falling.
“But we’ve talked about being able to play when the shots aren’t falling. We didn’t tonight.”
Coming on the heels of the late collapse in the 74-73 loss to Georgetown, Creighton dropped to 14-8 and finished the first half of Big East play with a 5-4 record.
Next up for the Bluejays is a Wednesday game at league-leading Villanova.
“Going to ‘Nova is probably not a great way to start the second half,” McDermott said. “It will be a heck of challenge but it also will be a great opportunity.”
Physical Pirates dominate on boards as Jays lose second straight
BRENDAN SULLIVAN/THE WORLD-HERALD
Posted: Saturday, January 30, 2016 8:56 pm | Updated: 12:30 am, Sun Jan 31, 2016.
Physical Pirates dominate on boards as Jays lose second straight By Steven Pivovar / World-Herald staff writer The Omaha World-Herald
Seton Hall left Creighton with red faces all around after Saturday’s annual “Pink-Out” game.
The Pirates put on a dominating performance in posting a 75-65 victory that sucked the life out a sellout crowd of 17,924 at the CenturyLink Center in the Bluejays’ annual game to promote cancer awareness.
“We haven’t had many games this season where we just haven’t had it from start to finish,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “Tonight was certainly one of those.
“I didn’t feel like we were hooked up mentally as well as we have been, especially for the second time through. That’s disappointing.”
Physically, the Pirates beat up Creighton on the boards, finishing with a 46-27 advantage in rebounding. That led to a 17-4 edge in second-chance points as well as 38 points in the paint.
“We’ve been doing a decent job of rebounding recently,” said Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard in understating one of the key factors in the outcome. “On the road, you have to rebound the ball and you have to give yourself second shots.
“I thought if we could get some second shots that would be huge.”
Willard’s team also excelled at patiently attacking Creighton, getting shots it wanted to take as opposed to the ones the Bluejays wanted the Pirates to attempt.
“They controlled tempo,” McDermott said. “They didn’t want this thing to get up and down. They did a good job of picking their spots of when they wanted to attack.
“I thought we did a good job on Isaiah Whitehead and (Khadeen) Carrington in the first half but they got points from other places. The second half, we had a hard time containing Whitehead. He hit a couple of back-breakers.”
A 6-foot-4 sophomore with NBA potential, Whitehead led Seton Hall with 22 points. He hit 9 of 17 shots from the field, including 4 of 6 3-point attempts, and finished with six assists.
None of his baskets from beyond the arc was bigger than the one he buried with 4:47 to play. Creighton, which trailed by 22 points early in the second half, cut its deficit to 67-57 when Maurice Watson converted a three-point play with 5:42 to play.
Twenty-five seconds later, Carrington missed a shot but Whitehead corralled the long rebound. Whitehead then stuck a dagger in the Bluejays’ comeback hopes with a 3-point basket with two seconds on the shot clock.
A big shot, but the Pirates had countless others during their decisive surge at the end of the first half and the start of the second.
In spite of a molasses-like flow on offense, Creighton was still within 23-21 when Toby Hegner banked a 3-point shot with 6:13 left in the first half. The Pirates then closed the first 20 minutes by outscoring the Jays 17-4.
Creighton missed five of its last seven shots from the field, misfired on three free-throw attempts and committed a turnover.
The Pirates blew to a 54-32 lead with 16:50 left in the game by hitting Creighton with a 14-5 spurt to begin the second half.
“Seton Hall is good,” McDermott said. “When we won at Seton Hall I knew what a great win that was because I knew how talented they are. We found out how good they are tonight.”
The win, which left Seton Hall 15-6 and 5-4 in the Big East, also avenged an 82-67 licking the Bluejays put on the Pirates three weeks ago in Newark, New Jersey.
Seton Hall supported Whitehead’s shot-making and playmaking skills by also getting 14 points from Desi Rodriguez, 13 from Angel Delgado and 12 from Ismael Sanogo. Delgado registered his 10th double-double of the season — the Pirates are unbeaten when he achieves that mark.
Rodriguez also grabbed 10 rebounds and Sanogo eight in helping Pirates dominate that phase of the game.
James Milliken led Creighton with a season-high 21 points. He made 7 of 15 shots, including 4 of 9 from beyond the arc. His teammates made just two other 3-point attempts, including the one Hegner banked in the first half.
Watson added 14 points but missed 10 of 16 shots and had three turnovers to go along with six assists. In the earlier meeting with the Pirates, Watson recorded 14 assists.
“I felt we were stagnant on offense,” Watson said of Saturday’s game. “We were standing around, and then our shots weren’t falling.
“But we’ve talked about being able to play when the shots aren’t falling. We didn’t tonight.”
Coming on the heels of the late collapse in the 74-73 loss to Georgetown, Creighton dropped to 14-8 and finished the first half of Big East play with a 5-4 record.
Next up for the Bluejays is a Wednesday game at league-leading Villanova.
“Going to ‘Nova is probably not a great way to start the second half,” McDermott said. “It will be a heck of challenge but it also will be a great opportunity.”
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