On Wednesday night in Omaha, the #11 Creighton Bluejays made it rain from beyond the arc. After jumping on Georgetown early, the Bluejays never looked back, cruising to a 91-76 win. There’s not a lot to be optimistic about as a Hoyas fan, as the Blue and Gray have now lost five in a row to fall to 5-12 in conference play.
Despite shooting just making just four of 27 three-point attempts in Sunday’s loss to St. John’s, Creighton showed no signs of continuing their cold shooting. Ty-shon Alexander made back-to-back threes on Creighton’s first two possessions to get things going. The rest of the Bluejays followed suit, taking advantage of their hot start to jump out to a 14-5 lead.
Despite their struggles on the defensive end, Georgetown managed to stick around, largely thanks to the contributions of Jamorko Pickett and Qudus Wahab. In the first few minutes, Pickett showed flashes of brilliance, including this dunk off of lob from Terrell Allen.
Getting another start in place of the injured Omer Yurtseven, Wahab had perhaps his best game of the year. In the first half, the freshman center showed off some nifty footwork in the post, something he certainly did not have at the beginning of the year. Wahab finished the game with a career-high 14 points and 12 rebounds, tallying his first career double-double.
WIth Pickett and Wahab playing well, and Jahvon Blair making some shots, the Hoyas cut the Bluejays’ lead to one with 9:37 to play in the half. This was the high point for Georgetown. Maybe I should have known that things could only go downhill from there.
Seeing their lead dwindling, Creighton woke up. Over the course of the next five minutes, the Bluejays went on a 19-3 run, scoring at will both inside and out. With Georgetown’s lack of depth, a 15-point halftime deficit seemed pretty much insurmountable for the worn-down Hoyas.
Even if the Hoyas had been able to stage a second half comeback, Creighton made sure to shut the door thanks to their lights-out shooting. Mitch Ballock led the way for the Bluejays with six made threes, finishing the game with 20-points. Marcus Zegarowski matched that number, as he poured in four three pointers of his own. In total, Creighton shot an improbable 17 of 36 from beyond the arc. It is tough to beat any team that shoots that well, much less the 11th-ranked team in the country.
I’ll spare you the details of the second half, but all you need to know is that Georgetown was unable to keep pace with Creighton’s high-powered offense. The Hoyas shot 40% from the field and made just eight three pointers on the night. Three of those came from Blair, who led all scorers with 22 points, while also dishing out a career-high seven assists.
Coming into the game as 13-point underdogs on the road, the Hoyas would’ve needed something big to pull off the upset. Instead it was Creighton who brought down the house with their three-point shooting. It is hard to be upset with the loss the way things have been going, but that doesn’t make this five-game losing streak hurt any less.
The Hoyas have one last chance to end the regular season on a positive note as they host #14 Villanova on Saturday. It will be a tall task to upset the Wildcats, who are coming off a thrilling victory over conference-leading Seton Hall. Regardless, Georgetown’s seniors deserve all the support they can get for their last career home game.
