SIU gets to face an old MVC rival in Creighton in a battle for 3rd place at the Paradise Jam.
The Bluejays are 4-1 in 2021 with a win on the road at in-state rival Nebraska and a loss to Colorado State on Sunday in the Paradise Jam.
The Bluejays are coached by Greg McDermott in his 12th year with the program. McDermott's head coaching career has spanned 21 years now starting at Northern Iowa before landing at Iowa State before catching back on in the Missouri Valley at Creighton taking over when Dana Altman left for Oregon. McDermott is 253-124 all-time at Creighton and has led the Bluejays to the NCAA Tournament 6 times as head coach. Overall, McDermott is 533-319 as a head coach and has been to the NCAA Tournament 9 times. Last season, McDermott guided Creighton to its first Sweet 16 since 1974.
Meet the Bluejays:
Despite some controversy last year involving McDermott which cost them one of the top recruits in the country in TyTy Washington, Creighton was finally able to break a long program drought and make their first Sweet 16 appearance since 1974. Creighton lost 4 of their most important players on that team to professional basketball or transfer but get to reload with some of their best recruits in program history. Four of their top recruits since 247 has been tracking came in the Class of 2021 and that was supposed to include Washington before he decided to de-commit and commit to Kentucky. Because of the amount of turnaround and the uncertainty of how the pieces would fit together, Creighton was picked 8th of 11 in the Big East Preseason Poll.
What Creighton has done well so far this season is they're very good at getting to the basket and scoring and they're very good at protecting the basket. The Bluejays are currently 3rd in the country in 2 point % (63.2%) and 33rd in the country in 2 point % against (40.6%). The Blue Jays get 64.7% of their points from 2, good for 7th in the country. Creighton is 37th in the country in effective field goal % as well. The Blue Jays have also been one of the best defensive rebounding teams in the country as they're 63rd in the country in offensive rebounding % against (23.7%). Free throw shooting has been a big problem for Creighton so far this season. The Bluejays are 338th in the country in free throw shooting (58.9% as a team) and are 337th in the country in % of points from the free throw line (11.4% of their points are FT's). The Bluejays have also struggled a bunch with turnovers this year (268th in the country in turnover %) as well as forcing turnovers from opposing teams (327th in the country in turnover % against).
Creighton's leading scorer so far this season is 6'0 Canadian Freshman guard Ryan Nembhard. Nembhard was a 4 star recruit out of Monteverde Academy in Monteverde, FL and chose Creighton over offers from Stanford, Florida, Ohio State, and Seton Hall among others. He was the 69th rated overall recruit by 247 in the 2021 class and the 12th ranked point guard. Despite being a Freshman, Creighton hasn't been shy about play Nembhard this season as he's 71st in the country in % of minutes played (88.5% and 35 minutes per game) and he's taken full advantage of the minutes averaging 14.6 points per game on 53.8% shooting along with 4.2 rebounds per game and 5.2 assists per game. Nembhard has been good at getting to the rim this season but he's also been making his 3's. He's 95th in the country in 3 point shooting % (8-15, 53%).
The Bluejays' leading rebounder so far this season is 6'7 Senior forward Ryan Hawkins with 7.2 rebounds per game. Hawkins spent 5 years at Division II Northwest Missouri State including a redshirt year before transferring to Creighton this offseason. Last season at Northwest Missouri State, Hawkins guided the team to the Division II National Championship averaging 22.6 PPG and 8.8 RPG. His transition so far to Division 1 has been smooth as he's averaging 13 points per game on 46.35 shooting.
One player that's likely going to give SIU problems is 7'1 Sophomore center Ryan Kalkbrenner. Kalkbrenner was a 4 star recruit out of St. Louis and chose Creighton over offers from Purdue, Stanford, Cincinnati, and Georgia Tech. Last season, Kalkbrenner averaged 5.9 points per game in 13.8 minutes per game and added 1.2 blocks per game. This season with increased minutes, Kalkbrenner is averaging 12 points per game. Kalkbrenner is 40th in the country in offensive rebounding % (16.2%) and 158th in the country in block % (6.4%). He's also been very impressive near the basket as he's 73rd in the country in 2 point % (26-35, 74.3%).
6'7 Freshman Arthur Kaluma was Creighton's highest ranked recruit since 247 started keeping tabs. Kaluma was a 4 star recruit out of Glendale, AZ and chose Creighton over offers from UNLV, Arizona, Arizona State, and Arkansas. Kaluma was the 49th ranked player in the 2021 class and 11th ranked power forward. Creighton has given Kaluma playing time this year and he leads the team in % of possessions going through him (26.3%, 285th in the country) and is 176th in the country in block % (6.1%).
KenPom has #64 Creighton winning this game 70-64
Links:
SIU Game Notes
The Bluejay Underground Message Board
Brendan Mullins with Rodney Watson
This is like hooking up with an old girlfriend, but she's now a doctor and you're still playing Xbox in your Mom's basement.
Saluki Insider? I barely know her!
Vegas has Creighton at -5.5 right now. I would have thought 6-7pts myself. Might be worth a bet. Go Dawgs !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Vegas has Creighton at -5.5 right now. I would have thought 6-7pts myself. Might be worth a bet. Go Dawgs !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm pretty sure Creighton will cover that spread.
Creighton can score, but they're not a great D team. Picked 8th in their league!!
I do not assume we will lose, but Jones, Domask, and Verp have played a lot of minutes and playing tough D like we did is really tiring. That could be a factor. We will shoot a lot better today.
Looks like a tough one. One paper, Creighton looks much better. After yesterday's debacle, maybe the Dawgs can find some redemption with a good showing and maybe even a win. Not starting the game with a big deficit will be one of the keys. We should be able to get more looks at 3 pointers than we did against NEastern. Hopefully Domask gets out of his funk and Coupet gets the start over Banks. Another key is how Filewich, Mulia and D'Avanzo contain their 7-footer (Ryan Kalkbrenner) who is just an average FT shooter at best (61%). Looking forward to seeing what kind of magic Lance Jones will show us. Hard to believe he was only picked 3rd team pre-season MVC.
Looks like a tough one. One paper, Creighton looks much better. After yesterday's debacle, maybe the Dawgs can find some redemption with a good showing and maybe even a win. Not starting the game with a big deficit will be one of the keys. We should be able to get more looks at 3 pointers than we did against NEastern. Hopefully Domask gets out of his funk and Coupet gets the start over Banks. Another key is how Filewich, Mulia and D'Avanzo contain their 7-footer (Ryan Kalkbrenner) who is just an average FT shooter at best (61%). Looking forward to seeing what kind of magic Lance Jones will show us. Hard to believe he was only picked 3rd team pre-season MVC.
I don't think D'Avanzo should be playing any minutes at the 5. I would like to see all his minutes at the 4. We should be able to cover 40 minutes with Muila and Filewich at the 5. Foul trouble for both Muila and Filewich should be the only reason D'Avanzo gets any minutes at the 5. I don't quite understand Mullins playing D'Avanzo at the 5, he is a big liability at that spot.
It will be a very nice surprise to me if we keep this one close. I never bet against the Dawgs, but that would be where the smart money would be if the line is 8 or less. Our depth is thin due to injury and we are tired. Fully rested and with a full bench I think this matchup would be a good game. I very much hope I'm wrong!
I just looked at my site and the line is indeed SIU +5.5 right now. Money line is +185. The good news is Vegas is giving SIU mad respect. Line seems way off, but again I do not bet against SIU.
Colorado State is -8 against Northeastern.
We are going to have tough sledding against any team with size and scoring inside. Someone said we should work the ball inside. Unfortunately, we don't really have any inside scoring. Muila's a good rebounder but needs to work on his offensive game, Filewich better on offense but not a great rebounder at this point. Relying on the three ensures a loss when the shots aren't falling, like yesterday.
I still hate Creighton.
This will be another tough one, obviously, but if we can take down the #50 KenPom team in Colorado we can theoretically do the same against Creighton which sits at #64.
Little Rock and particularly Northeastern were extremely frustrating to watch; that 5 point lead like others have noted felt like a 10-15 point lead, and our offense really needs some work. If our shots aren't falling tonight then I'm not sure our defense can keep us in the game.
Bryan Mullins pregame:
https://siusalukis.com/watch/?Archive=5910&type=Archive
Brendan Mullins with Rodney Watson:
New starting lineup:
Jones
Coupet
Verplancken
Domask
Muila
Maybe we can be the ones to get a big early lead tonight.
Maybe Creighton won’t have any “legs” instead of SIU.
