Thursday evening was the Big East quarterfinals between Butler and Creighton at Madison Square Garden. Creighton was a little skeptical entering the match, seeing as their head coach had been on a 1-game suspension. Nevertheless, they stepped up and cruised by Butler to earn a spot in the Big East semifinals.
Butler certainly had their work cut out for them from the very beginning. While they stressed about maintaining possession, Creighton scored with ease in the opening minutes. Clearly, Butler had not been prepared for the dominance Creighton represented. In the first 3 minutes, Creighton earned 7 points, while Butler remained scoreless until 16:24.
From that moment on, everything went in Creighton’s favor. What spectators were hoping would be an exciting match turned out to be anything but. Once the game got underway a bit more, Creighton had complete control. Leads were stretched even more in the first half. Midway through the first half, Creighton had gained a 23-7 lead. Not much later, it was extended even more to 36-19.
Heading into the second half, Creighton was sitting comfortably at 42-26, their heads held high. Meanwhile, their opponents quickly needed to think of a way to switch up their game plan and put-up baskets.
Whatever Butler discussed they needed to improve on in the locker room didn’t show up on the court. The new efforts were there, but Creighton was already way too far ahead for them to play catch up. Every play Butler attempted, Creighton was on top of. This caused more mistakes on Butler’s end, which Creighton quickly took advantage of. In fact, Creighton almost always had a 20-point edge on Butler in the second half, if not more.
By the end of the game, Creighton had more than doubled their points from the first half. Although Butler did the same, it was unattainable for them to come close in points. Their season came to an end with a record of 10-15, 10th in their conference.
Standouts
Marcus Zegarowski was on fire for Creighton, earning 18 points, along with having 4 rebounds and 5 assists. Zegarowski also obtained an 80% three-point average in this match and 70% in field goals. Close behind him was teammate Damien Jefferson. Jefferson acquired 14 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists. He also earned 66.7% in both three-pointers and field goals.
On Butler’s end, it was all Bryce Nze. Nze was the only player who got in the double digits in points for his squad. The Forward managed 21 points for himself, as well as 6 rebounds and 3 assists. He also played 35 of 40 minutes of the game; only Chuck Harris played more than him by a minute.
Commentary
In a postgame interview, head coach Greg McDermott (Creighton) seemed very pleased with the outcome. McDermott expressed, “I’m proud of those guys in the locker room…” Furthermore, he stated, “They were really forced to mature a lot in the last 10 or 12 days because someone they really trusted made a mistake,” referring to his suspension not long ago.
Zegarowski also joined in, speaking positively about his coach, noting, “He’s a real role model for all of our guys…”
Up Next
Creighton takes on No. 3 seed UConn at Madison Square Garden on Friday, March 12th. Tipoff is set for 9:00 ET and available to watch on FS1. This is the semifinals for the Big East Conference. Whoever wins this match will move on to the finals.
