Seth Fowler graduated from Texas in 1998. Since 2004, he has been helping home buyers and sellers in the DFW Metroplex. Whether new construction, existing homes, investment property, or land, he is your Real Estate Sherpa - guiding you through the process, making it an enjoyable experience. Based in Tarrant County, however, he will help connect you with a quality Realtor anywhere in Texas, the United States, or in the world. When looking to purchase or sell real estate in this new market, call Seth at 817.980.6636.
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Creighton is in Austin tonight as part of the Big 12/Big East challenge – and a challenge it will be. The seventh-ranked Bluejays' lone loss on the season was to a high-powered Arizona team in the championship of the Maui Invitational. Creighton had an impressive run in this tournament, beating then-21st ranked Texas Tech 76-65 and then-ninth ranked Arkansas 90-87 before eventually succumbing to the Wildcats.
Here is Creighton's starting lineup.
Here's what Creighton does on both sides of the ball, and what Texas can do to deal with their strategies.
Creighton's Offense
The Creighton offense involves a ton of ball movement and screening. They use the pick-and-roll some but mostly rely on off-ball screens to get guys open. It's a bit like watching an NBA team operate on this side of the floor. They also push the pace generally, though this season, the numbers don't exactly reflect that. This may be due in part to playing against Texas Tech, who definitely diluted the sample by playing their grind-it-out style. The Bluejays haven't seen a defense as good as Texas' yet, though they have faced the no-middle D when they played the Red Raiders.
Here are some examples of how Texas Tech slowed down this frenetic offense.
Watch here how Texas Tech forces a turnover in the no-middle set, where Pop Isaacs is guarding Trey Alexander. Note how Isaacs is parallel to the sideline to stop the dribble penetration, forcing Alexander to pick up his dribble in an awkward spot. He attempts to spin inside after a jump stop, but in doing so, drags his pivot foot. The official calls the travel, and Texas Tech gains possession of the ball. He had nowhere to go with the ball; even the weak side is shut off by Obanor, who would have easily been able to close out on the shooter should the ball have gone to #24 Arthur Kaluma.
Another key piece of the no-middle defense that gave Creighton trouble early on was the icing of ball screens. Watch here how De'Vion Harmon handles being put in a ball screen with Kalkbrenner: he recovers and immediately regains inside and parallel positioning against Nembhard, Creighton's primary ball handler. Nembhard slips after trying to take such an extreme angle to the basket, and barely gets the pass off to Kaluma.
Watch here how the Texas Tech defense forces Arthur Kaluma into an awkward turnaround jumper. Creighton's Trey Alexander (#23) tries to drive the lane but is denied by Daniel Batcho (#12). Alexander kicks out to Arthur Kaluma, who is guarded by Jaylon Tyson. Kaluma then tries to drive the lane, but realizes he's surrounded by multiple defenders, so he can't continue to attack the basket. Since the rest of his teammates are either covered or in a position to be closed out upon on a shot, Kaluma is forced into a bad turnaround jumper that clanks off the rim.
Eventually, Creighton began to figure out Texas Tech's scheme, and they began to beat it with outside shooting. Check the clip below to see what I mean. The best way to confront the no middle is to have guys who can launch from deep. Here is an example of the price you pay when you sell out to stop the drive to the basket. As part of the scheme, the Red Raiders funnel Nembhard towards the base line on his dribble, but Jaylon Tyson (#20) doesn't follow Creighton's Baylor Scheierman (#55) to the three-point line. Scheierman is one of the best three-point shooters in the country, so even if he's shooting from 35 feet, he's still lethal. Tyson misses the assignment and Scheierman puts it in from beyond the arc.
Creighton's Defense
Arizona beat Creighton by attacking the paint and going directly at center Ryan Kalkbrenner with Oumar Ballo and Azuoulas Tubelis. They had 48 points in the paint in their two-point win against the Bluejays, and Ballo finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds on 14/17 from the field.
The issue here is that Texas doesn't have a guy like Ballo on the roster, a big bruiser that can score at the rim at will. Since Arizona used personnel that Texas doesn't have, I found it more helpful to look at the ways Arkansas was able to score against their defense.
Defensively, Creighton plays drop coverage. They're more conservative in general than attacking, trying to funnel everything to center Ryan Kalkbrenner. Coach McDermott is very good about getting his centers to not chase blocks and always stay straight up/not foul, which can be seen in the fact that Kalkbrenner did not foul out of a single game last year despite playing rim protector.
They will occasionally get aggressive on trapping the ball handler beyond the three-point line, but other than that, they never play press or pickup full court, and don’t really chase steals.
Here are some examples of Arkansas' game plan offensively.
Watch here how Arkansas runs a simple PNR with Anthony Black and Mekhi Mitchell. You can see here what Creighton is trying to do: force the ball handler towards Kalkbrenner to create a tough shot. However, Kalkbrenner overplays the dribble penetration and and tries to help, leaving Mitchell wide open under the basket for a lay-in. A Tyrese Hunter/Dillon Mitchell PNR could work the same way in Texas' case.
In this example, watch how #2 Trevon Brazile sets an off-ball ghost screen for Ricky Council IV (#1) to set him up for a free-throw-line jumper. It might even be generous to call it a ghost screen, but he gets in Baylor Scheierman's way just enough to spring Council IV free. Anthony Black (#0) uses another screen from Trevon Brazile earlier in the possession to get some room outside of the three-point line. Once he sees Council IV with no one on him, he hits him at the top of the key, and Scheierman doesn't have time to close out on the shooter. Two points for Arkansas.
They key for Texas on offense is going to be getting Kalkbrenner out of the post and into playing dribble penetration to allow for shots near the hoop. Watch here how Anthony Black plays this possession. Brazile sets a screen for him at the three-point line, but instead of taking it outside, he goes inside and drives to the rack. Kalkbrenner cheats up, not realizing Mitchell is behind him in good position to receive the pass. Since Nembhard is tied up with Brazile, he can't stay in front of Black. A defensive breakdown due to good vision from Arkansas' primary ball handler leads to the two points.
Here's another good PNR set from Arkansas here involving Trevon Brazile and Anthony Black. This one doesn't take a ton of explanation: Brazile sets the screen on Trey Alexander for Black, who drives the lane. As Alexander leaves Brazile to chase Black into the lane, Brazile simply cuts to the basket on the weak side. Kalkbrenner plays it incorrectly, looking to stop the dribble penetration, and by the time he realizes that Brazile has cut, it's too late.
As I said earlier, the key is going to be scoring around the basket by getting Kalkbrenner out of position. At 7'1, he dwarfs Texas' bigs in the height category, but as was also seen, he can be beaten with good athleticism (looking at you, Dillon Mitchell). Dylan Disu can also be a help here with his ability to space the floor with shots from both the midrange and from deep, which will force Creighton's bigs to close out and defend outside of the paint. If they can open up lanes for Tyrese Hunter to get to the rim, and especially if they get hot from deep and can rely on drive-and-kick sets, they have a chance to maintain their top-two ranking in the country and take down the best team they've seen yet.
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Creighton is in Austin tonight as part of the Big 12/Big East challenge – and a challenge it will be. The seventh-ranked Bluejays' lone loss on the season was to a high-powered Arizona team in the championship of the Maui Invitational. Creighton had an impressive run in this tournament, beating then-21st ranked Texas Tech 76-65 and then-ninth ranked Arkansas 90-87 before eventually succumbing to the Wildcats.
Here is Creighton's starting lineup.
Here's what Creighton does on both sides of the ball, and what Texas can do to deal with their strategies.
Creighton's Offense
The Creighton offense involves a ton of ball movement and screening. They use the pick-and-roll some but mostly rely on off-ball screens to get guys open. It's a bit like watching an NBA team operate on this side of the floor. They also push the pace generally, though this season, the numbers don't exactly reflect that. This may be due in part to playing against Texas Tech, who definitely diluted the sample by playing their grind-it-out style. The Bluejays haven't seen a defense as good as Texas' yet, though they have faced the no-middle D when they played the Red Raiders.
Here are some examples of how Texas Tech slowed down this frenetic offense.
Watch here how Texas Tech forces a turnover in the no-middle set, where Pop Isaacs is guarding Trey Alexander. Note how Isaacs is parallel to the sideline to stop the dribble penetration, forcing Alexander to pick up his dribble in an awkward spot. He attempts to spin inside after a jump stop, but in doing so, drags his pivot foot. The official calls the travel, and Texas Tech gains possession of the ball. He had nowhere to go with the ball; even the weak side is shut off by Obanor, who would have easily been able to close out on the shooter should the ball have gone to #24 Arthur Kaluma.
Another key piece of the no-middle defense that gave Creighton trouble early on was the icing of ball screens. Watch here how De'Vion Harmon handles being put in a ball screen with Kalkbrenner: he recovers and immediately regains inside and parallel positioning against Nembhard, Creighton's primary ball handler. Nembhard slips after trying to take such an extreme angle to the basket, and barely gets the pass off to Kaluma.
Watch here how the Texas Tech defense forces Arthur Kaluma into an awkward turnaround jumper. Creighton's Trey Alexander (#23) tries to drive the lane but is denied by Daniel Batcho (#12). Alexander kicks out to Arthur Kaluma, who is guarded by Jaylon Tyson. Kaluma then tries to drive the lane, but realizes he's surrounded by multiple defenders, so he can't continue to attack the basket. Since the rest of his teammates are either covered or in a position to be closed out upon on a shot, Kaluma is forced into a bad turnaround jumper that clanks off the rim.
Eventually, Creighton began to figure out Texas Tech's scheme, and they began to beat it with outside shooting. Check the clip below to see what I mean. The best way to confront the no middle is to have guys who can launch from deep. Here is an example of the price you pay when you sell out to stop the drive to the basket. As part of the scheme, the Red Raiders funnel Nembhard towards the base line on his dribble, but Jaylon Tyson (#20) doesn't follow Creighton's Baylor Scheierman (#55) to the three-point line. Scheierman is one of the best three-point shooters in the country, so even if he's shooting from 35 feet, he's still lethal. Tyson misses the assignment and Scheierman puts it in from beyond the arc.
Creighton's Defense
Arizona beat Creighton by attacking the paint and going directly at center Ryan Kalkbrenner with Oumar Ballo and Azuoulas Tubelis. They had 48 points in the paint in their two-point win against the Bluejays, and Ballo finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds on 14/17 from the field.
The issue here is that Texas doesn't have a guy like Ballo on the roster, a big bruiser that can score at the rim at will. Since Arizona used personnel that Texas doesn't have, I found it more helpful to look at the ways Arkansas was able to score against their defense.
Defensively, Creighton plays drop coverage. They're more conservative in general than attacking, trying to funnel everything to center Ryan Kalkbrenner. Coach McDermott is very good about getting his centers to not chase blocks and always stay straight up/not foul, which can be seen in the fact that Kalkbrenner did not foul out of a single game last year despite playing rim protector.
They will occasionally get aggressive on trapping the ball handler beyond the three-point line, but other than that, they never play press or pickup full court, and don’t really chase steals.
Here are some examples of Arkansas' game plan offensively.
Watch here how Arkansas runs a simple PNR with Anthony Black and Mekhi Mitchell. You can see here what Creighton is trying to do: force the ball handler towards Kalkbrenner to create a tough shot. However, Kalkbrenner overplays the dribble penetration and and tries to help, leaving Mitchell wide open under the basket for a lay-in. A Tyrese Hunter/Dillon Mitchell PNR could work the same way in Texas' case.
In this example, watch how #2 Trevon Brazile sets an off-ball ghost screen for Ricky Council IV (#1) to set him up for a free-throw-line jumper. It might even be generous to call it a ghost screen, but he gets in Baylor Scheierman's way just enough to spring Council IV free. Anthony Black (#0) uses another screen from Trevon Brazile earlier in the possession to get some room outside of the three-point line. Once he sees Council IV with no one on him, he hits him at the top of the key, and Scheierman doesn't have time to close out on the shooter. Two points for Arkansas.
They key for Texas on offense is going to be getting Kalkbrenner out of the post and into playing dribble penetration to allow for shots near the hoop. Watch here how Anthony Black plays this possession. Brazile sets a screen for him at the three-point line, but instead of taking it outside, he goes inside and drives to the rack. Kalkbrenner cheats up, not realizing Mitchell is behind him in good position to receive the pass. Since Nembhard is tied up with Brazile, he can't stay in front of Black. A defensive breakdown due to good vision from Arkansas' primary ball handler leads to the two points.
Here's another good PNR set from Arkansas here involving Trevon Brazile and Anthony Black. This one doesn't take a ton of explanation: Brazile sets the screen on Trey Alexander for Black, who drives the lane. As Alexander leaves Brazile to chase Black into the lane, Brazile simply cuts to the basket on the weak side. Kalkbrenner plays it incorrectly, looking to stop the dribble penetration, and by the time he realizes that Brazile has cut, it's too late.
As I said earlier, the key is going to be scoring around the basket by getting Kalkbrenner out of position. At 7'1, he dwarfs Texas' bigs in the height category, but as was also seen, he can be beaten with good athleticism (looking at you, Dillon Mitchell). Dylan Disu can also be a help here with his ability to space the floor with shots from both the midrange and from deep, which will force Creighton's bigs to close out and defend outside of the paint. If they can open up lanes for Tyrese Hunter to get to the rim, and especially if they get hot from deep and can rely on drive-and-kick sets, they have a chance to maintain their top-two ranking in the country and take down the best team they've seen yet.
