Maryland-Eastern Shore @ Creighton preview

Creighton's explosive offense was anything but in its last time out, but Marcus Foster bailed out his struggling teammates with a second half to remember in a grind-it-out slugfest like the ones it is sure to see in the Big East beginning later in December. The 25th-ranked Bluejays look to get back to their high-scoring ways at home Friday when they host struggling Maryland-Eastern Shore.

"Three weeks ago when we were in Kansas City, we couldn’t grind that game out (a 65-59 loss to Baylor). … This week we figured out how to grind it out. It’s just that time of the year where you’re trying to get better because conference play is coming up," Foster said after scoring 17 of his 19 points in the second half in Saturday's 75-65 win against Nebraska. The Big East's top returning scorer tallied 10 of his team's last 18 points, including a long 3-pointer with 43 seconds left to give Creighton a six-point edge. "We won a grind-it-out game and they slowed down the pace, which we’re going to see some. We have to be able to adjust. We won a quarter-court game, which you don’t do often,” Bluejays coach Greg McDermott said. The eighth-highest scoring team in college basketball doesn't figure to struggle for offense nearly as much against the Hawks, who rank 321st in Division I in scoring defense (81.8 points) and have dropped each of their seven true road contests by an average of 38 points.

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ABOUT MARYLAND-EASTERN SHORE (3-8): In addition to their leaky defense, the Hawks also average only 57.9 points (fourth-worst in Division I) on 36.7 percent shooting from the field (fourth-worst) and 26.5 percent beyond the arc (seventh-worst). UMES was forced to play in Sunday's 93-40 setback at Virginia Tech without injured forward Colen Gaynor (6.0 points, 4.3 rebounds per game), but fellow freshman Cameron Bacote (8.3 points) took advantage of a spot start with 12 points -- his best effort since tallying 28 and 18 in his first two games, respectively. Freshman forward Miryne Thomas (11.3 points, 5.4 boards) and sophomore forward Tyler Jones (10.8, 5.5) are the only Hawks averaging at least 10 points, although sophomore Ahmad Frost (9.8) and senior Logan McIntosh (9.5) aren't too far off.

ABOUT CREIGHTON (7-2): Foster (team-high 19 points per game) has reached double figures in 27 consecutive contests -- the 12th-longest active streak in Division I -- and his 1,684 career points ranks fifth among all active Division I players. Martin Krampelj (12.6 points, 8.1 rebounds) has posted double-doubles in consecutive outings after failing to record one over the first 43 games of his career; the 6-10 sophomore also has reached double figures in scoring in five straight contests and seven times this season after doing so only three times previously. Mitch Ballock (8.7 points) was named Big East Freshman of the Week for the second time this season Monday as the Kansas native produced 13 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals in 31 minutes off the bench Saturday.

TIP-INS

1. Even after Saturday's 75-point effort, Creighton is still averaging 98 points in its five home games (all wins).

2. UMES has been held below 50 points five times.

3. Saturday marked the first time the Bluejays trailed at halftime all season.

PREDICTION: Creighton 105, Maryland-Eastern Shore 62