|
 Bluejays guard Maurice Watson, Jr., tortured the Musketeers defense
all night to lead Creighton to a 70-56 upset over No. 5-ranked
Xavier.
The 5-foot-10 junior transfer from Boston University scored a
career-high 32 points, making 11 of his 21 field-goal attempts and
nine of his 10 free throws to lead the 16-9 Bluejays (7-5 Big East)
to one of the biggest upsets in school history.
Watson also had seven rebounds, five assists and two steals in 38
minutes of action. He credited his teammates for not only trusting
him to have that kind of performance but for how they contributed to
make that performance possible.
"They were switching a lot early in the game and I was dribbling a
little too much," Watson said. "Because my teammates are such good
shooters, they don't want to help off those shooters."
It also was a big win for the Bluejays, a signature win that
Bluejays coach Greg McDermott said his team has been searching for
all season.
Watson and senior center Geoffrey Groselle didn't hesitate to put
Creighton on the NCAA tournament bubble with less than a month to go
in the regular season.
"We wanted to be playing meaningful games in February," McDermott
said. "We won a game that mattered and that makes the next few games
matter. We've had opportunities to have signature wins and we've
fallen short several times."
Creighton dominated the game played before a crowd of 17,011 at
CenturyLink Center from start to finish. The Bluejays raced to a
21-4 lead in the opening eight minutes and let the 21-3 Musketeers
(9-3 Big East) only get within five points twice midway through the
second half.
After making just 31.6 percent of their shots in the first half,
Xavier's shooting woes continued early in the second half. The
Musketeers missed their first five shots while Creighton scored the
first eight points after the intermission to take a 45-27 lead.
That became Creighton's biggest lead of the game after the Bluejays
built a 21-4 lead at the start of the game before a spirited crowd
of 17,011 at CenturyLink Center.
"From our end of it I felt like there was no ready to play on our
part," Xavier coach Chris Mack said. "We talked about not giving up
transition three's and not settling for jump shots early in the
game. It's almost as if we didn't talk about it."
Baby hooks and other in-close shots were bouncing off the back and
front of the rim. The Musketeers' 3-point game was virtually
non-existent (1-of-21), and Xavier finished 21-of-70 overall (30
percent).
A big difference came from the free-throw line. With eight minutes
remaining in the game, both teams had committed 17 fouls. While
Xavier had taken six free throws and made five, Creighton had 20
attempts and made 15.
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The Musketeers' slow start allowed Creighton to jump to that early
17-point lead in the opening eight minutes.
While the Bluejays knocked down seven of their first 12 shots,
including four 3-pointers, Xavier made just 2 of 13 from the field
in that same stretch.
Guards James Milliken and Isaiah Zierden led the way for Creighton
with seven and six points, respectively, in that stretch.
Over the next four minutes, Xavier went on an 11-2 run to whittle
the Bluejays' lead to 23-15. The two teams then battled to a draw
over the next five minutes with Creighton's lead only falling by one
point -- to 30-23 -- at the final media timeout of the first half.
Creighton missed six in a row until a 3 from the right side by
Zierden with 2:45 to go before halftime put Creighton up 35-25.
The Bluejays went to the locker room with a 37-27 lead with Watson
setting the pace with 10 points. Creighton finished the first half
making 12 of 29 shots (41.4 percent) while the Musketeers checked in
at 12 of 38 (31.6 percent) but just 1 of 12 from 3-point range.
What mattered most in the end was that Creighton had Mo on its side.
"That was a really special performance by a really good point
guard," McDermott said.
NOTES: The Musketeers have never been ranked higher in either the
Associated Press (No. 5) or USA Today coaches (No. 4) polls than
they are this week. ... Creighton is now 13-2 when leading at
halftime, and the Bluejays have not trailed in their last two home
games. ... The Bluejays now own a record of 2-10 against teams
ranked exactly fifth. Their other win against a team ranked No. 5
was on Jan. 29, 1970 over New Mexico State.
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