Creighton Basketball: 3 takeaways from win over North Dakota State

Creighton Basketball took care of business on Saturday, beating North Dakota State. What are the takeaways from the win for the Bluejays?

When the offense is firing on all cylinders No. 8 Creighton is one of the most entertaining teams in the country. That was very much the case in the Bluejays’ 89-60 win over the North Dakota State Bison out of the Summit League on Saturday afternoon. Creighton took a 10-point lead into the half.

After the break, any hopes of a close game were quickly dashed when 7’1” Center Ryan Kalkbrenner went on a quick scoring run of his own, accounting for the first seven points of the half. After this, there was no looking back. The Bluejays look like a team that is in a great position to compete for the Big East title and make a run in the NCAA Tournament. Here are three takeaways from Creighton’s big win over NDSU.

Trey Alexander is and will continue to be a nightmare for opposing defenses

With Ryan Nembhard gone, Alexander has stepped into the lead guard role for the Bluejays. He led Creighton in scoring, dropping 21 points in the win over NDSU. The biggest thing about this outing wasn’t just the 21 points, it was how he did it. The Bison had no answer for Alexander, he was able to score from anywhere he wanted to on the court. He knocked down mid-range jumpers, worked his way down to the post, scored on fast breaks, got to the foul line, and to top it all off had a monster dunk. The only way he didn’t score in this game was from three, but he is a decent shooter from behind the arc.

The Bluejays got a big game from Alexander all over the court. In addition to his 21 points, he filled up the box score to the tune of seven rebounds, four assists, five steals, and one block. As the season progresses I think most teams will find that they cannot eliminate Trey Alexander from the game. How do you stop a player from impacting the game when he does so many things well?

Creighton’s defense is pretty good outside of Kalkbrenner

Everyone knows how good Ryan Kalkbrenner is on the defensive end of the floor. He is a good rebounder and shot blocker, but his biggest contribution is his ability to stay in position on the low post and alter shots at the rim. Outside of two blocks, Kalkbrenner’s impact didn’t show up on the box score. That’s where the rest of the Bluejays stepped in. The rest of the team added four more blocks and seven steals. Trey Alexander accounted for five of the steals by himself. As a team, Creighton grabbed 29 defensive rebounds and only gave up six offensive rebounds.

NDSU rarely had any easy shots and Creighton used its speed to make the Bison offense uncomfortable. I know this defensive performance was against a team out of the Summit League and that the Big East is one of the deepest conferences, but I think that Creighton has the makings of a defense that can take them on a tournament run.

Depth might be an issue down the line, but for right now the rotation is working

So far this season for Creighton 10 players have seen the floor in the first two games. Right now that isn’t any cause for concern. It’s early in the season and Head Coach Greg McDermott is still figuring out his rotation. But as the season moves forward most coaches tend to tighten up their lineups and only play a couple of bench players. Against NDSU only three bench players, Isaac Truadt, Fredrick King, and Francisco Farabello, saw more than 12 minutes of action in a 29-point win. Two other players saw the court as well, Josiah Dotzler for seven minutes and Johnathan Lawson for five minutes.

Injuries are unavoidable during a long basketball season. And they always seem to pop up at the worst times. There will be stretches when players will absolutely need rest, and it’s important that teams have a strong bench to pick up the pieces if and when they are needed. Creighton has a solid bench, but I don’t know who would pick up some minute if someone misses an extended time.

I have full confidence that Coach McDermott knows what he’s doing and knows his team better than I ever will, I’d just hate to see a really good Creighton team drop some important games because of depth issues.