STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM: Creighton Closes Georgetown’s Regular Season, 99-59

Biggest deficit for a loss during the Ewing Era, fittingly

Your Georgetown Hoyas (7-24, 2-18) lost yet another game in their conference season finale to the Creighton Bluejays (19-11, 13-6) in Omaha on Wednesday night. They did so in spectacular fashion, losing by 40 points and giving up 19 three pointers.

It’s pretty clear that the “changes” to the roster and staff last April were indeed like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. This ugly road loss, capping off an arguably worse season, was like shooting fireworks while Leo does a somersault dive from the bow of the gigantic, sinking ship.

The start of this final game could not have better typified how poorly things have gone during the season. It was another awful shooting experience for the Hoyas over the first 10+ minutes. They also allowed a struggling Creighton perimeter game to heat up beyond belief. The Bluejays scored 51 points in the half, while Georgetown didn’t crack double-digits until there was 7:45 left.

The Hoyas started 0-10 from the field before Brandon Murray made one of two free throw attempts with 13 minutes left in the first period. Creighton led 19-1. Georgetown went on to miss two more shots before a jumper at the top of the key by Primo Spears was the first field goal. Spears had missed two shots, Murray missed three, Qudus Wahab and Jay Heath missed two each, and Akok missed one. The Bluejays, shooting 6-12 and 3-7 from three, was up 19-3 at the 12-minute media timeout.

Ezewiro hit two free throws and Murray hit a jumper, but the Hoyas were down 32-7 with 9:23 left. Georgetown only made 2 of 17 field goals at this point. Why charter a plane to Nebraska just to do this?

Spears made a jumper out of the timeout. Trey Alexander hit two three pointers. Spears hit another jumper. Wahab made a layup on a roll. Alexander hit another three. He was 6-7 from three at this point and Creighton was 8-12 from deep with 6:26 left, leading 43-13.

The pace was fast and furious, and it was killing GU. Bad Georgetown shot selection turned to bad transition defense, which turned to good Creighton looks. Perimeter defense was porous, to say the least.

Both teams went pretty cold for few minutes but Wahab made some free throws and Spears made another jumper. Baylor Sheierman and Ryan Nembhard each found their second threes to make it 49-17 with under 2 minutes left. Hoyas were 6-29 from the field, including missing 8 three-point attempts. Heath hit some free throws and Bryson Mozone made their first three pointer. Arthur Kaluma finally joined the hit parade with a layup. A couple missed layups by each team ended the half, 51-24.

Georgetown was 8-32 in the half (1-9 3PT) while Creighton was 17-32 from the field (10-17 3PT). Alexander led with 18 points (6-8 3PT). Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 12 points in 8 minutes, shooting 3-4 and going 6-6 from the charity stripe. Nembhard was 3-6 FG (2-4 3PT). Spears had 8 points (4-9 FG, 0-1 3PT), Mozone had 5 points on 2-2 (7 mins), and Murray had 3 points (1-6), and Wahab had 4 points (1-5 FG, 2-2 FT). Heath’s only points were free throws (0-4 FG, 0-2 3PT).

Creighton had 16 assists in the half. Georgetown had two assists. CU outrebounded GU 27-13 in the half and also managed win points in the paint 14-4 and fast break points 15-0.

The second half started with more of the same with a 10-5 Creighton run in the first 4 minutes, 61-29. Akok took a seat with visible back pains during this time. The second-half lead was extended to 18-5 with another 8-0 run. Heath had an offensive fouls and Spears got a technical after some extended discussions with the referees. Hoyas were down 69-29 with 14:55 left and a Ewing timeout.

The Hoyas went on a 7-0 run for a bit but Kaluma hit his second three pointer, 76-38. Creighton answered with a 6-0 run. CU continued to shoot well, hitting 12-21 FG and 5-11 3PT in the first 12:30 of the second half, leading 84-46.

Even with mixing in some full court press, Georgetown pretty much gave up on defense, especially if there was even a semblance of a screen. The Hoyas second-half shooting really wasn’t a whole lot better than the first (8-32 FG, 25%), going 13-34 from the field (38%) and 4-16 from three.

Alexander led the game with 26 points. Spears got his 21 points and 37 minutes. Kalkbrenner finished with 16 points in 15 minutes. Kaluma and Sheierman scored 13 apiece, while Nembhard got 10 points.

Mozone scored 13 points (5-9, 25 3PT) in 23 minutes. Murray score 9 points (3-11 FG) in 29 minutes. Wayne Bristol was 1-4 FG for 4 points. Wahab scored 8 points in 20 minutes (3-8 FG). The Hoyas only had 7 turnovers, but shooting 21-66 for the game led to many, many run outs. Georgetown only had 9 assists compared to Creighton’s 27 dimes.

In a roller coaster season for Creighton, the Bluejays—like so many other teams this season—used facing Georgetown as a get-right game to practice their ball movement, three-point shooting, and defense. The conference is having a solid year if they are the fifth best team.

While the rest of the BIG EAST will play their finales this weekend, Georgetown will not. The Hoyas will face surging sixth-seed Villanova on Wednesday night in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament. The Hoyas have a week to regroup, or not.