The Creighton Bluejays were a popular pick to get to the Sweet 16, or even further. They had the MVC's best player in Doug McDermott and one of the best offenses in the nation. Unfortunately, their offense dried up at the wrong time, and the Duke Blue Devils escaped with a win.
Duke vs. Creighton: Blue Devils handily dismiss Bluejays, bloggers react
Duke blew away Creighton in a game many expected to be much closer than it was. Let’s look at how our bloggers reacted.
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The Blue Devils didn’t play a particularly sharp game themselves, and their star players ran into foul trouble early, but Creighton couldn’t capitalize on those opportunities. The Bluejays shot a miserable 30.2 percent from the floor. Of McDermott’s 21 points, 12 of them came on free throws, and he only made 4-of-16 field goals. Meanwhile, freshman Rasheed Sulaimon stepped up big for Duke, scoring 21 points to lead the team.
Bart Matthews at Blue Vs. Blue was, as expected, happy about the big victory, but he was particularly happy about Rasheed Sulaimon's big game:
I can’t say enough about this guy’s play. With every single other Duke player struggling for one reason or another, Rasheed stepped in and manned the hell up. He was in attack mode from the opening tip ,much like the Maryland game, but unlike that game ( or any game since the UVA loss in February) he looked for his jump shot. He hit more 3-pointers in this game than he had in his previous 6 games combined. Just an awesome performance by a freshman in a huge game. If he’s got his mojo back it makes Duke an incredibly dangerous team.
Creighton is second in the country in shooting at 50% from the floor, so to say this was an off-night would be a bit of an understatement, but a lot of that credit goes to the Blue Devil defense. The Blue Jays played a stellar defensive game in their own right, but Duke, with Rasheed in early season form, simply has too many weapons. The we-can-stop-you-better-than-you-can-stop-us formula is one I approve of. Now,bring on the Spartans...
Over at Mid-Major Madness, Nicolas Lesis lamented the Bluejays’ missed opportunities and uncharacteristically poor shooting performance:
The following will tell you everything you need to know about where it all went wrong for Creighton.
Ryan Kelly, the stud scorer who helped lead the Blue Devils all season, recorded his third foul with 3:19 left in the first half. He did not foul out.
Mason Plumlee, who was the Devils leading scorer all season, recorded his fourth foul with 17:48 to play in the game. He didn't foul out until the last two minutes.
Doug McDermott made the Jays' first three-point shot with 13:53 left in the first half to cut the score to 11-7. They did not make another three until there was 1:24 left, finishing 2-for-19 from long range.
Creighton succeeded this season because they were a great three-point shooting team, and the fact that they were playing excellent defense (much, much better defense that I had seen them play all season) was rendered null and void by their inability to make a shot on offense.
Duke will go on to play Michigan State in the Sweet 16 on Friday. As for Creighton, the McDermott Watch begins, as the junior must make a decision on whether to jump to the NBA or stay one more year.
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