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Previewing Creighton

Alpha at Creighton

Looking for terrific coverage of Creighton’s program? Look no further than White & Blue Review. Their work was highlighted on our site earlier this week, and they provided a very solid preview of Wednesday’s Providence/Creighton game at the Dunk.

From their preview: “In that first game, the Friars turned 19 offensive rebounds into 25 second-chance points. They earned a second chance opportunity on 49% of their missed shots, which is unacceptable. It’s a big reason why the Friars were able to dictate tempo — you can’t run in transition when you don’t clear the glass. But despite Providence forcing the Jays to match their bullish style of play, and despite the Friars leading 74-69 with 1:41 to play, Creighton continued to fight. They’ll have to do that again, for 40 minutes, to win on Wednesday night.”

The Providence Journal’s Kevin McNamara wrote about the free throw shooting prowess of Luwane Pipkins. Pipkins is shooting 97.9% from the free throw line, after making 10-10 against Butler on Saturday afternoon.

Ed Cooley spoke with the local media earlier this week, and addressed Alpha Diallo’s recent struggles.

Diallo watched the final 13 minutes of the Villanova game a week and a half ago, before coming off of the bench in Saturday’s win over Butler.

Diallo scored only three points versus Butler, but had a critical block of Kamar Baldwin with just over two minutes to play to help ensure the victory. If Providence is to beat Creighton tomorrow night, they’ll need Diallo hitting the glass hard against the undersized Jays. Despite his offensive struggles, Diallo has seven double doubles this year and has had success against Creighton in the past.

As a sophomore, Diallo had three very good games against the Jays:

10 points, eight rebounds, six assists in Omaha

21 points, 10 boards, four assists at the Dunk

19 points, nine rebounds, three assists in the Big East Tournament

Against them a season ago, Diallo went for 18 points and 10 rebounds at home, and 13 points and 12 rebounds at Creighton.

Creighton enters Wednesday’s game ranked 21st in the country following a convincing win at #8 Villanova on Saturday. The Jays are tied for fourth in the nation in Quad 1 wins with six, and they are currently alone in third place in the Big East. Creighton has won three straight games in its series with Providence, using a 9-0 run over the final 90 seconds in Omaha last month to pick up a victory. They swept PC a year ago.

Of course, no one will have to remind Friar fans how the last meeting between these two ended.

Creighton is 3-2 on the road in Big East play, with all three of their wins coming by 15 points or more (Xavier, DePaul, and Villanova). The Jays have flown up the NET rankings over the past month and a half. They were ranked 56 in the initial NET rankings in mid-December, but now sit an an enviable 14.

This is both a must-win and a terrific opportunity for Providence. The Friars cracked the top 70 of the NET rankings with their road win at Butler, but still aren’t close to the bubble yet. If they can take out Creighton, it will mark PC’s second top 15 NET win in two games.

One Comment

  1. rayi

    February 5, 2020 at 11:49 am

    Still hard to believe this team is 12- 10. Another big game tonight at home. Fans deserve a real good home win.

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