Creighton Basketball: Justin Patton oozing with lottery pick potential

Justin Patton dropped a career high 25 points on St. John’s on Wednesday night, but he is no where near his potential.

The 10th ranked Creighton Bluejays have one of the best, if not the best backcourt in the Big East Conference due to the presence of Maurice Watson Jr., Marcus Foster and Khyri Thomas.

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However, it’s time to finally take notice of Creighton’s emerging front court. We already know about Cole Huff and what he’s capable of doing (35 points against Seton Hall in last year’s Big East Tournament), but almost no one expected redshirt freshman Justin Patton to be this impactful.

It’s finally time for the seven-foot Omaha, NE native to receive the attention he deserves, especially after what he did to the St. John’s Red Storm on the road on Wednesday evening.

Patton, who sat out last season mainly to add strength and improve his game, scored a career high 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out four assists. The center was running the floor like a gazelle, was beating St. John’s guards down the court and finished a couple of absurd alley-oop dunks.

In addition to his superb footwork and improving post moves, Patton also hit a transition three, showing off his smooth stroke and soft touch.

That’s not a guard, that’s a seven-foot center. A seven-foot center!

After watching numerous Creighton games already this season, it’s evident that Patton is a future lottery pick. It may not be following this season, but he almost assuredly will be in the conversation in advance of the 2018 NBA Draft.

Why will the big man be so highly touted? Patton is just scratching the surface of his potential. He already has the size and the extraterrestrial-like length to protect the paint and alter shots defensively, and sports the footwork and the touch to be a terrific inside-out player on offense.

And remember, Patton is just 19 years old. He can get even stronger than he is and his post game can develop to another level.

“His best basketball is still ahead of him and he just continues to grow and improve,” Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said after their win over St. John’s. “A lot of it has to do with his work ethic and how he’s understanding the value of competing on a consistent basis. As good as he was offensively in the first half, he was equally as good defensively and that wasn’t the case the first five or six games of the season.

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“His low post game continues to develop. We were joking in the locker room, he told me in practice a couple months ago, he looked at me and he said, ‘Your trying to make me a back to the basket five.’ And I said no, we’re just trying to add to your repertoire and your ability to score. And to his credit, he’s worked at it. His patience down there and his footwork is off the charts. He’s been a pleasure to coach and obviously he’s a special young talent.”

One of the main reasons Creighton’s been much better than expected is because of Patton’s consistency on both ends. He scored 10 or more points in the first eight games of his college career, has scored in double figures in five straight games and has recorded eight or more rebounds in six games thus far.

Through three Big East games, Patton is averaging 20 points and nine rebounds, and he hasn’t missed more than five shots in a single conference game.

And that wasn’t just against a St. John’s team that lost Yankuba Sima or a Villanova team that isn’t exactly the biggest team in the nation. His production also came against one of the conference’s best and toughest big man, Angel Delgado.

For a youngster that only received one offer out of high school (Creighton) and had a late, rapid growth spurt, his early season performance has been somewhat shocking to even himself.

“I would say the doubt was solely on me,” Patton said when asked about whether there was any doubt that he would go to Creighton. “Was I good enough? And then I (gained) seven inches and I automatically qualified for the job.”

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Patton is going to be a star in the Big East for the rest of the 2016-17 season, and if he indeed decides to stay, he’ll be a strong contender for First Team All-Big East in 2017-18. But down the road, there’s no question about his potential: It’s all about the lottery.