Game Day Essentials: Game #9 at #7 Creighton

Creighton Info

Head Coach: Greg McDermott

Location: Omaha, NE

Conference: Big East

Nickname: Blue Jays

Mascot: Billy Blue Jay

Last time out: Lost to Texas
Opening Line: Creighton by 14.5

Famous Alumni: Bob Gibson, Porter Moser

Other:  

• Assistant coach Ernie Zeigler's son Trey is a grad assistant for the Jays

KenPom Analysis: Don't expect the Husker to shoot many FTs. Jays aren't pressuring on defense. Will they change strategy against Nebraska?

Player to watch: Arthur Kaluma

The Soph. forward is talented but he tends to dominate the shots while on the court while being the least efficient starter for the Jays. 

Player to watch: Baylor Scheierman

The Aurora native and South Dakota St transfer is known for his shooting range and accuracy, shooting 46.2% from 3 last year. What might surprise you though is that he leads Creighton in rebounds

KenPom most used lineup

Others to watch

• Ryan Kalkbrenner is fairly unstoppable when he gets the ball in the paint. Currently shooting 81.5% from 2
• Former Big East Freshman of the year Ryan Nembhard has been putting up elite ass/to numbers
• Alexander is a situation shooter hitting over 40% from 3 and one of the Jays' better individual defenders
• TCU transfer Francisco Farabello has struggled this season from the outside though the veteran is the Jays' most used sub
• Shereef Mitchell is the backup pg, long ranger shooter Mason Miller is backup at the 4, and Fredrick King is backup at the 5

Probable starters for Nebraska
5    Sam Griesel    G    6-7
25  Emmanuel Bandoumel    G    6-4

0   C.J. Wilcher    G    6-5

4   Juwan Gary  F  6-6

13  Derrick Walker    F    6-9

Bench

15   Blaise Keita C   6-11

30  Keisei Tominaga    G    6-2

32  Wilhelm Breidenbach    F    6-10

10  Jamarques Lawrence - G  6-3

12  Denim Dawson - F  6-6

33  Oleg Kojenets    F    7-0
12   Sam Hoiberg    G    6-0

31  Cale Jacobsen  G  6-4

35  Henry Burt  F  6-6

24  Jeffrey Grace III  G  6-3

Injured

3   Quaran McPherson   G   6-3 - Out for the Year

The Skinny: 

The Blue Jays have quite the starting 5 this year that came together after landing Baylor Scheierman. There is a drop-off when they get into the bench but between the Jays' reasonable pace and their ability to play without fouling, their starters seldom leave the court. Fouls happen sometime so things could get interesting with the right ref crew.

While the home court will certainly goad Nebraska into speeding up at points, the defense of Creighton hasn't been geared to do so. The Jays tend to focus on running teams off the 3 towards shot blockers. They also have been known to change things up when they play Nebraska. Can the Huskers exploit Kalkbrenner's lack of mobility with Derrick Walker?  Creighton's offense will be problematic for a Nebraska team that will overcommit to drivers at the expense of giving up wide open 3s. Nebraska is playing with fire if the Jays get open looks at home.

It would be one hell of a win if the Huskers could figure out how to knock off the Jays in Omaha but this might be a little tighter than recent years just because Nebraska has been playing remarkably slow this season under Hoiberg. Prior to this year Nebraska consistently had an adjusted tempo of over 70 which is good for at least top 35.  This season as they patiently bring the ball up the court and swing through the offense, Nebraska currently ranks #309 at an adjusted tempo of 64.7. It becomes harder for either team to run up the score when you limit the shots.

Nebraska with Derrick Walker has steadied themselves against a couple of low end P5 schools.  How does this newfound poise hole up in Omaha?

Prediction: Creighton 78 - Nebraska 67