SAN ANTONIO — The nation’s leading scorer against one of its most long-armed, disruptive zones. A squad stinging from consecutive first-weekend NCAA Tournament exits trying to break through against an established team looking for its third Elite Eight in five years. For the purist, Creighton vs. Baylor has plenty.
Creighton (27-7) hasn’t reached the Sweet 16 since the Big Dance expanded, and lost in the round of 32 in the last two. But senior Doug McDermott is averaging an NCAA-best 27.0 points per game, and the Bluejays are banking on ball movement to beat Baylor’s zone in Sunday’s third-round game (7:40 pm, truTV) and get them to a Sweet 16.
“It’s always been a goal of ours,” said McDermott, who acknowledged their struggles against Providence and George Washington’s zones, but is convinced they will be better prepared for the Bears’. “We haven’t gotten there yet as a program, so that’s something that was in the back of our minds, something that was in the back of my mind. We’re finally to this point again.”
Baylor, athletic and aggressive on the glass, has been where Creighton is trying to get to, reaching two Elite Eights in the last four years. But the Bears (25-11) lost to the eventual national champs in both — Duke in 2010 and Kentucky in 2012. They’ll play through the post with 7-foot-1 Isaiah Austin and senior Cory Jefferson, the latter of whom played alongside McDermott in the 2013 World University Games.
“He’s a good player. He’s a scorer,” Jefferson said. “He’s going to want to get his shots and look for his shots, so we’re going to try to limit that.
“They’re going to be hungry. But we’re going to be just as hungry. We weren’t in the NCAA Tournament last year, and it’s the NCAA Tournament right now. They said they’re going to be hungry: We’re going to be hungry. We don’t want to go home. We lose this game and our season’s over.”
And whoever wins it at the AT&T Center will go on to Anaheim, Calif., to face the winner of Wisconsin and Oregon.