4 Thoughts: Creighton runs away late, tops Seton Hall

With Tyrese Samuel in foul trouble, Tray Jackson stepped in admirably for Seton Hall against Creighton. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

NEWARK, N.J. — Wednesday night's game at Prudential Center between Seton Hall and Creighton was kind of a weird one statistically. The Bluejays shot the heck out of the ball, but also turned the ball over at a high rate, and the Pirates used that production to stay right in the contest despite foul trouble galore.

But down the stretch, Creighton finished the game on a sizzling 22-7 run and ended up running away with a 75-62 win.

Here are 4 Thoughts:

1. Creigh-zy Shooting

The Bluejays are an excellent shooting team to begin with, a really tough guard for any team, including the defensively-minded Pirates. But what took place tonight was an impressive display, as Creighton shot close to 60 percent in the first half and ended up over 60 percent in the second. A lot of the threes were open, but there were others in pressure situations, either with the shot clock winding down, someone defending the shot well, or from an unexpected source (Mason Miller, for example, was just 2-for-14 on the season before going 2-for-3 tonight from deep for the Bluejays).

All told, it was a 12-for-20 night from beyond the arc, including 6-of-8 in the second half with many of those coming down the stretch. Baylor Scheierman nailed 5-of-10 on his own and ended up with 19 points to lead four players in double figures. 

Sometimes, it's just one of those days at the office.

2. Tray-ding Places

Shaheen Holloway would probably prefer to be able to play Tyrese Samuel more and not have him on the bench in foul trouble like he's been a lot in recent games, but his backup Tray Jackson, also playing out of position as a power forward (and really, more of a stretch forward), has made the defensive dropoff less severe recently. 

Tonight, Samuel picked up three fouls in the first half (two in the first four minutes), and sat with his fourth with still about 11 minutes to play. Jackson battled well against Ryan Kalkbrenner in his stead tonight, about as well as you could ask him to, and his head coach has noticed.

“I think he’s starting to understand what’s going to get him on the court and keep him on the court, and that’s just battling and playing defense,” Holloway said. “I thought the last four games, he’s been doing that and I think he’s playing better because of it. And we need him. I keep telling him he’s playing out of position, but this is our team, this is what we have.”

3. Focus Wanes Late

Despite the Bluejays’ shooting prowess, the Pirates were still right in the game, and were down only one point at the under-8 minute media timeout. What transpired next was, according to the players and Holloway, a lack of focus. 

“I thought we played well for 34 minutes,” Holloway said. “I thought the last six minutes, we just lost our minds not playing disciplined. We didn’t play disciplined and it cost us. It’s frustrating because it’s a game that I thought we had, a game that we needed at home.”

“I just don't think we were in the right headspace the last seven minutes,” said Al-Amir Dawes, who led the Pirates with 19 points on the night. “Our urgency just has to be top-notch. We just have to be together through it all. We just have to close it out.”

“We just have to finish games, stay locked in,” Tyrese Samuel said. “Especially at the end of the game. (In the) Big East, a lot of the games (are decided) at the end. We have to fix that, and I think we'll be fine, because the first 32 minutes were pretty good, and the last eight-minute stretch we had a lot of mental lapses.”

4. Battling 'Brenner

Creighton came in ranked 23rd in the nation, but had the Bluejays had center Ryan Kalkbrenner healthy this entire season, it would have been a much different story. Creighton has now won seven games in a row and 10 of 12 since the big man returned from injury. Without him, the Bluejays sputtered badly. With him, they've been one of the best teams in the nation, and it certainly showed tonight.

“He's a big guy, good at standing his ground, good at walling up,” Samuel said. “He's good at altering shots, just like Ike (Obiagu) was for us. A lot of teams second-guess coming into the paint because he's just so big. On their offense, he takes up a lot of space in the paint. It’s hard to guard a guy that's 7'1". He’s big, he's agile, and has good hands.”

The Pirates won't see Creighton anymore in the regular season, which is probably a good thing considering the Bluejays are now rolling close to the top of the Big East standings. All Seton Hall can do is try and refocus, and try to go down to Philadelphia and beat a Villanova team that also has gotten healthier in recent times.

Never an easy day in the Big East Conference.