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Off the heels of their first two BIG EAST Conference games, the Creighton Bluejays appear to be adjusting to their new conference with relative ease. After spending years in the Missouri Valley Conference, Creighton walked into their new conference and unfamiliar territory, and responded with two impactful performances against two mainstays in the conference. Marquette and Seton Hall both found out that the Bluejays are legitimate factors in the conference, as they fell 67-49 and 79-66 respectively.
After these victories, the Bluejays now stand at 12-2 and so far are outperforming their expectations. Creighton has soared above these expectations thanks to significant contributions from their superstar forward, Doug McDermott. McDermott, who was recently named as CBS' National Player of the Week and the BIG EAST Player of the Week once again, scored 19 and 30 points against Marquette and The Hall respectively, and it's been that type of season for this elite shooter from Ames, Ia. He's currently the nation's 2nd best scorer, averaging 24.7 points per game, only trailing Niagara's Antoine Mason who is scoring 28.7 points per game.
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As a whole, the Bluejays stand as one of the most efficient teams in the nation. They are tied for 1st with three other teams in Effective Field Goal%, and rank with some of the elite offensive teams in the nation in that category.
| UCLA | 58.1% |
| Creighton | 58.1% |
| Gonzaga | 58.1% |
| Colgate | 58.1% |
| Iona | 58.0% |
| Duke | 57.4% |
| Utah | 56.9% |
| Utah St. | 56.5% |
| Iowa St. | 56.1% |
| Belmont | 56.0% |
Creighton's offense isn't the only area that the Bluejays succeed in, either. The fact is that Creighton's defense has been improving from game-to-game as well. They have ballooned up to 49th in the nation in Adjusted Defensive Efficiency, allowing only 96.7 points per 100 possessions. Additionally, they are yielding an Effective FG% of just 45.9 percent, 66th best in the country. They rank in the Top 75 in 2-PT defense and FTA/FGA, and are 10th in the nation in Offensive Rebounding%, allowing just 25.3 percent of rebounds from their oppositions to be on the offensive side.
Ten weeks in, one glaring area that Creighton has to improve upon is in their FT ratio. Creighton's FTA/FGA is just 31.5 percent which would be good for 326th in the country. If you guessed that that is near the bottom, you would be guessing right. The Bluejays have to do a much better job at creating opportunities to get to the FT line. They are one of the nation's best at converting their free throw opportunities (76.6 FT%) and with that type of success rate, the Bluejays could become an even better offensive club if they create more chances to score points.
The rest of the BIG EAST season is set to play out, and it should be no problem for these Creighton Bluejays either should they continue to play the way they are right now.
