Creighton @ Marquette preview
Fiserv Forum
Last Meeting ( Feb 21, 2023 ) Marquette 73, Creighton 71
No. 22 Creighton and No. 10 Marquette, both off to uneven starts in Big East play, will aim to get back on track when they meet Saturday in Milwaukee.
The Golden Eagles (10-3, 1-1 Big East) dropped their conference opener at Providence on Dec. 19, but turned things around with a dominant 81-51 blowout of visiting Georgetown on Dec. 22.
The Bluejays (9-3, 0-1) had their lone conference game end in disappointment, falling in overtime at home to Villanova 68-66 on Dec. 20.
In Marquette's latest contest, David Joplin led the charge with 20 points. He hit four 3-pointers and grabbed nine boards. Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro each added 13 points, and Kolek dished out 10 assists.
Golden Eagles coach Shaka Smart said postgame, "We have high expectations. When we don't reach those expectations in a given game, we're going to address that. The ability to respond is critical. Hopefully we can continue to learn lessons through wins like tonight, and if we do lose a game, internalize that."
Smart challenged Joplin, who is averaging nine points and 3.5 rebounds per game on the season, before the contest, particularly in terms of rebounding.
"I was proud of David Joplin," Smart said. "I just feel like he could do more than he had done on the glass through 12 games. It's amazing how (setting a season high with nine rebounds) carries over to other aspects of your game. It was poetic justice for him to have 20 points as well."
The fates didn't favor Creighton in the game against Villanova. The Bluejays led by 14 points in the second half but couldn't close it out. Creighton's Trey Alexander missed a shot at the regulation buzzer that would have won it, and the Bluejays missed three opportunities to tie or win the contest in the final seconds of overtime.
"A disappointing loss for a game that we controlled a good portion of," Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said. "As I told our guys in the locker room, I'm not disappointed in our effort. I think we failed to make some intelligent plays when we had opportunities to. At the end of the day, they made one more play."
Alexander finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds while teammate Baylor Scheierman had 16 points and 11 boards. Ryan Kalkbrenner added 14 points and eight rebounds.
The Bluejays committed 16 turnovers that led to 13 Villanova points. Creighton also shot a combined 1-for-12 from beyond the arc in the second half and overtime.
"We did a pretty good job of handling their physicality, it just comes down to not turning the ball over, that was the difference in the game," Alexander said. "On the players' part, we need to do a better job of playing the way we know how."
Scheierman leads the Bluejays in scoring, rebounding and assists on the season with 18.2, 7.5 and 4.4 per game, respectively. Kalkbrenner is blocking 2.3 shots per game, and Alexander averages just under one steal per contest.
Marquette is led by Kolek with 15.3 points, 6.2 assists and 1.6 steals per contest. Ighodaro is the force down low, averaging six boards and just shy of a block per game.
Marquette swept two games against Creighton last season after the Bluejays won seven of the previous eight matchups. The Golden Eagles hold a 58-39 advantage in a series that dates back 100 years.
--Field Level Media