Omaha, NE – The Creighton Blue Jays are one of, if not the hottest team in the nation. After beating Butler 81-59, this makes it 5 straight wins, and 9 out of the last 10 for Coach Gregg McDermott’s crew. Yesterday, the Jays were lights out from three, shooting an insane 58% (15/26), led by Marcus Zegarowski who had 25 points and was 7/7 from down town. The Hamilton, MA product, along with Ty-Shon Alexander (15 points) and Mitch Ballock (9 points) make up one of the scariest backcourts in the country. A big contribution from forward Christian Bishop with 19 points, sparked the blowout win. For Butler Henry Baddley led the struggling Bulldogs with 13 points.
In the post game press conference Coach McDermott, when talking about his teams play said, “The first 28 minutes is about as well as I’ve had a team play, in terms of how connected they were on both ends of the floor.” This connection mentioned above is what is putting Creighton in the eyes and ears of the national audience, as they moved up to #10 in today’s AP Poll.
Butler continues a cold stretch, losing 6 out of the last 10, as well as ridding a 3 game losing streak. They dropped out of the AP rankings today, the same rankings where they were a top 5 team not too long ago. Luckily for the Bulldogs, they get to play the two bottom feeders of the Big East, St. John’s and DePaul, while also playing Xavier who is 7th out of 10 in the standings down the stretch. The Blue Jays have two games they should be favored in, St. John’s and Georgetown, before they will face Seton Hall the last Saturday before the conference tournament, in a game that could very well decide the Big East regular-season Championship.
Bracketology Effect: Butler drops from the 4 line in the Midwest to the 5 in the South, while the Blue Jays stay at the 2 line in the West Region, a spot they earned after this run of play.
Betting Effect: Covered: Creighton -5.5, Under 140.5