Alabama Basketball: 3 keys to beating the Creighton Bluejays at home

Alabama is wrapping up one of the toughest stretches of games any team will have during the non-conference slate, facing seven consecutive power conference opponents. The Tide have fared well over this stretch, sporting a 4-2 record, and will host Creighton on Saturday. 

These two schools don’t play each other often. This will be the fourth meeting all-time between the programs. Creighton leads the series 3-0 and picked up the win last season when the Bluejays hosted the Tide. But with the game being in Tuscaloosa this year, Alabama is looking to secure its first win against Creighton. Here are three keys to Alabama beating the Bluejays on Saturday. 

1. Limit post touches for Ryan Kalkbrenner

Creighton big man, Ryan Kalkbrenner (17.3 ppg), is about as close as you can get to automatic around the rim. This season, Kalkbrenner has only missed 21 total shots, including four misses from three. So really, he has missed 17 shots from two, which averages out to less than two misses per game this year. Kalkbrenner is making 76.7 percent of his shots inside the three-point line and has only been held below 80 percent in three games. Two of those games were losses for the Bluejays. 

Creighton’s offense runs through Kalkbrenner. He works well on the low post and has enough size and quickness to beat nearly every post defender. But teams such as Nebraska and Texas A&M were able to keep the ball out of Kalkbrenner’s hands and win the game. Against Nebraska, he only attempted one shot all game, a three. And against A&M, Kalkbrenner went 4/5 from two. The Aggies took home the win. 

Taking Kalkbrenner out of the game is much harder said than done, but unlike last year, Alabama has a solid interior defender in Clifford Omoruyi to try and keep the ball out of Kalkbrenner’s hands. It will be a tough task, but if the Tide can do this effectively, their chances of winning will be much higher. 

2. Run Steven Ashworth off the three-point line

Steven Ashworth (15.9 ppg) has been Creighton’s best three-point shooter this season, making 40 percent from deep. And with Pop Isaacs out for the rest of the season following hip surgery, Ashworth is really the only deep threat for Creighton. There are a couple of other Bluejays who shoot the three with any consistency, but none that make as many as Ashworth. On the season Creighton takes just under 30 threes per game, with Ashworth accounting for 8 attempts. 

Without Isaacs to help score from behind the arc, a large portion of the perimeter scoring will fall to Ashworth. He’s made at least two threes in every game this season and has made three in each of the last three games. 

Almost 80 percent of Ashworth’s shots come from three, and on the season he’s only made nine shots inside the arc. He’s also a 97 percent three-throw shooter but only attempts four per game. So, if you take away the three for Ashworth you almost completely take away his scoring. 

3. Get points off turnovers

Creighton has been solid on offense this year, averaging 78 points per game, but the Bluejays turn the ball over a ton. Creighton is averaging nearly 14 turnovers per game and has at least 10 turnovers in nine of the 10 games the Bluejays have played this season. The only game this year under 10 turnovers was the loss to San Diego St, where Creighton had nine turnovers. 

As far as the opposition, Creighton’s opponents have recorded double-digit steals in half of the Bluejays games this season, with Kansas and UNLV both reaching double-digit steals in Creighton’s last two games. This is good news for any Creighton opponents and opens up an opportunity for Alabama. 

The Tide has forced a fair amount of turnovers, just over 10 per game. But Alabama isn’t getting many of them by way of steals. The Tide only averages 5.7 steals per game. There will be a ton of scoring opportunities if Alabama can take advantage of Creighton’s willingness to turn the ball over.