Creighton Blue Jays Head Basketball coach Greg McDermott has been one of the best and most consistent head coaches in the sport for years. Even the best head coaches don’t get everything right, and a recruiting miss impacting his club in Tuesday’s loss to Gonzaga may be one of them.
Recruiting Miss That Will Haunt the Creighton BlueJays
23rd-ranked Creighton headed into Spokane last night to take on 19th-ranked Gonzaga in one of the better games of the early college basketball season. It was a good test for Creighton to see how they fared against top competition before competing in the Players Era Festival later this month. Consider that the test failed.
Creighton took a 90-63 loss and got outplayed entirely in the second half, being outscored 46-25. They only shot 38% from the floor and just 26% from beyond the arc for the game. Those are numbers that need to improve.
If coach McDermott had his way, he would have had a Gonzaga player on the Creighton side, which may have helped change the outcome.
Jalen Warley, in 22 minutes off the bench for Gonzaga, chipped in nine points, nine rebounds, three assists, and three steals. The 6’7” guard led the team with four of his rebounds on the offensive glass. Those kinds of little things help teams win games now and in the playoffs, such as March. He is now averaging 10 points and seven rebounds per game thus far this season. Those totals would have led Creighton in rebounds and been third on the team in points had he gone there.
Warley had been with Florida State for the past three seasons, including starting for FSU last season. He entered the transfer portal for his final year of eligibility and ultimately landed at Gonzaga. Creighton tried to land him in the portal the previous spring, and Coach McDermott also wanted to recruit him out of high school.
It’s not always the star players who help you win games. Sometimes, it’s the bench player who has a role, can do a bit of everything, and take care of business. That was Warley last night for Gonzaga. A player coming off the bench and almost posting a double-double is a massive boost for a club.
If Creighton had it there way, Warley would have been doing that in a Bluejay uniform. They will look to rebound against Maryland Eastern Shore on Friday night.
