LINKS: Georgetown Goes to Omaha for Finale with No. RV/23 Creighton

With a strong finish, the Hoyas can end up 11th

On Wednesday, your Georgetown Hoyas (7-23, 2-17) will travel to Omaha, Nebraska to face the No. RV/23 Creighton Bluejays (18-11, 12-6) at the CHI Health Center Omaha for their BIG EAST season finale. Tipoff is set for 8:30 PM ET (FS1). The Hoyas recently suffered a 88-68 defeat to Providence in their home finale on Sunday, while Creighton’s last game was a 79-67 loss to Villanova at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.

While the Hoyas are stuck as the 11th seed in the BIG EAST Tournament, Creighton, with a game at DePaul this weekend, is still fighting for the 3-seed. The Bluejays have lost 3 of their last 4 games, starting with a 2OT loss at Providence, but they won the 8 games before that, including home wins against #13 Xavier and #21 UConn. They certainly need a get-right game for their senior night to change the momentum ahead of the BIG EAST Tournament.

Meanwhile, Georgetown is closing another dismal season ahead of facing the 6th-seeded, surging Villanova in one week at Madison Square Garden.

Since Patrick Ewing has been coaching his alma mater Georgetown, the team has gone 75-107 over the last six seasons—15-15, 19-14, 15-17, 13-13, 6-25, and 7-23 (so far).

In these last two seasons, the Hoyas have a record of 2-36 in BIG EAST games and 13-48 overall. Two more losses are expected.

Here are the links:

Slumping Creighton ready to break out against last-place Georgetown | FLM

“We’ve got one of the elite defensive players in the country at the rim (Ryan Kalkbrenner), and Villanova was able to turn our defense inside out with Dixon’s ability to stretch the floor,” McDermott told reporters. “Then once he hit some, I think we got caught in between some (switches). ‘Should we go, should we stay?’ And now we’re giving up threes and we’re giving up layups.” …

“Creighton, they play much faster than Providence does,” Ewing said. “They’ve got guys that can shoot at pretty much every position, so we have to do a great job of guarding the paint but also get to them at the 3-point line. Kalkbrenner is one of the best bigs in our conference.

Hoyas Travel to Omaha For Regular Season Finale | GUHOYAS

Creighton (18-11, 12-6 BE) is coming off a 79-67 loss to Villanova in Philadelphia on Saturday.

Three players finished in double figures in Arthur Kaluma (19), Ryan Kalkbrenner (18), and Baylor Scheierman (10). Kaluma led the way on the glass with six boards, while Scheierman recorded three assists and Kalkbrenner posted two blocks.

Kalkbrenner is the team’s leading scorer with 14.8 ppg, followed by Trey Alexander (13.0), Scheierman (13.0), Kaluma (12.1) and Ryan Nembhard (11.8) contributing double digits on the offensive end.

Scheierman leads the way on the glass with 8.3 rpg while Nembhard paces the offense with 5.0 apg.

Men’s Basketball Hosts Senior Day Wednesday vs. Georgetown | Go Creighton

Prior to the game Creighton will honor Ryan Kalkbrenner in recognition of the junior center surpassing 1,000 career points last Saturday.

Following the game, Creighton will honor managers Drew Gibbons and Jack McGrath, in addition to guard Baylor Scheierman, as part of Senior Day festivities.

The game is also a White Out. The first 10,000 fans will get a white t-shirt, courtesy of Kelly’s Carpet of Omaha and Lawlor’s, but all fans are encouraged to wear white…

Creighton can still be the third, fourth or fifth seed depending on how it (and others) perform in the final week of the season.

… Preview: Creighton Bluejays | VUHoops

It is not a surprise that Ryan Kalkbrenner is having a huge season. The 7-foot-1 junior is the reigning Big East Defensive Player of the Year and probably the toughest player Villanova has had to defend in Big East play this season.

Due to Villanova’s small-ball playstyle, they have historically struggled guarding seven-footers. The past few years, Wildcat fans have been extremely blessed to have Jermaine Samuels Jr. who could guard seven footers, like Kalkbrenner and Hunter Dickinson, better than most seven-footers around the country.

Kalbrenner is clearly Creighton’s most important player this season. A team that once used to run teams out of the building offensively now has a strong defensive presence with Kalkbrenner clogging up the paint and Arthur Kaluma locking down opposing wings. Kalkbrenner is averaging 14.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and a whopping 2.3 blocks per game.

Creighton is a completely different team with a healthy Kalbrenner. Creighton coach Greg McDermott confirmed Kalkbrenner was dealing with mono and the Bluejays proceeded to lose six straight games after starting off the season 6-0.

Georgetown at Creighton odds, picks and predictions | Sportsbookwire at USA Today

GEORGETOWN +18.5 (-115) has been surprisingly effective against the spread lately, going 6-0 ATS in the past 6 road games and 9-3 ATS in the last 12 games overall. It is also 8-2 ATS in the past 10 games after a straight-up loss.

Creighton has struggled to cover big numbers, as mentioned above and the Bluejays have had trouble covering anything at all lately, going 1-4 ATS in the past 5 games overall and cashing in just 2 of the last 9 games against losing teams.

Make no mistake, Creighton will win this one outright, but a spread of nearly 20 is a little much.

MBB Minute: BIG EAST Crowds Have Risen in 2022-23 | BIG EAST

Led nationally by Creighton (17,172, 6th) and Marquette (14,098, 16th), seven BIG EAST schools rank among top-50 in overall attendance in 2022-23. Overall, nine of 11 BIG EAST schools’ attendance number have increased this season, with BIG EAST teams combining for 53 sellout home games.

Powered by the boisterous crowds, BIG EAST programs are 123-45 on their home courts, collectively winning 73.2 percent of games. In addition, the top five seeds in the 2023 BIG EAST Men’s Basketball Tournament, presented by JEEP boast an astounding 70-7 home mark, winning 90.9 percent of contests in front of their respective fan bases.

As a league, average attendance has risen to 10,322 fans per game, up 6.87 percent from a season ago. The attendance across the league currently ranks second since realignment, with an average of 10,371 fans per game set in 2018.