Creighton Basketball: 3 takeaways from Big East play loss at Marquette

2. Turnovers most likely cost Creighton the win

Something had to give in this game. This season Creighton is only turning the ball over 10.8 times a game. That isn’t a great number but it's understandable with how fast the Bluejays like to play on offense. On the other hand, Marquette has done a good job forcing turnovers this season. Their opponents are averaging just over 16 turnovers per game. Marquette forced 18 turnovers in the game, the most Creighton has had this season.

It’s easy to play the what-if game after a loss. What if Creighton wouldn’t have had as many turnovers? What if they would have gotten back on defense after a turnover? You could do that all day. Normally I wouldn’t entertain that type of thinking. But in a game that was only decided by five points, it’s easy to think that if only Creighton hadn’t thrown the ball away on a couple possessions they would have won the game.

But enough of that, let's get back to hard facts. Creighton had 18 turnovers in this game. Some of them were unforced, but the number still stands. The Bluejays' three primary ball handlers, Steven Ashworth, Trey Alexander, and Baylor Scheierman accounted for 11 turnovers. Even with that many turnovers, what really hurt them the most is that Marquette has 24 points off those 18 turnovers. Creighton was still good enough on offense to keep the game close in the end, but I have a hard time imagining any team that gives up 24 points off turnovers would be able to win many games.