Rookie important in W over Creighton

January 3, 2014 - Down by six with 7:37 to go in the first half, Georgetown was struggling to score, having managed only 15 points against Creighton. A sense of restlessness seemed to fill Verizon Center. Adding to the concern was senior center Joshua Smith being run with his third foul 27 seconds later. The Hoyas were searching for a spark.

Up stepped freshman guard Tre Campbell, who would score seven points before halftime, crucial output in G'Town's 33-31 intermission lead. For the contest Campbell finished with 13 points, added solid defense during his 26 minutes of play and was a key factor in the Hoyas eventual 76-61 win over the Bluejays.

"The lay person will look at the box score and go 'Oh yeah, he had 13 points' But the effort and the energy he gives us on defense is what got us going at the end of that first half" said Campbell's coach, John Thompson III. He specifically lauded Campbell whose work getting "over ball screens" finding his man and not providing space for him to shoot. "That's where it all starts" said Thompson. "And the points are just extra".

"I thought Tre Campbell's play towards the end of the first half was really huge" said Creighton's head coach, Greg McDermott. "He hit a couple of baskets there that allowed them to get the lead and momentum".

Big Mo followed Thompson's team into the second half, where the Hoyas outscored Creighton 43-30. Smith got going in the second stanza, scoring 10 points in the period, producing a game high 16 for the game.

The Hoyas' leading scorer for 2014-15, junior guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, tallied only five points (all in the first period), but his team flourished regardless, leaving McDermott saying "The first half, the job we did on their big two, Smith and Smith-Rivera, is exactly where it needed to be, yet we were still down two (at halftime) because they had other guys step up and make shots. That's the sign of a good team".

The "other guys" McDermott mentioned included senior swingman Jabril Trawick, who logged 12 points, freshman swingman L.J. Peak (14 points, four rebounds and three steals) and freshman forward Paul White, producer of 10 points and four rebounds.

Thompson lauded his team's defense - Creighton shot 30.8% from the field, a mere 20% on three pointers - saying "I think our guys were more attentive now, finally, to hard closeouts with hands up, not lolly gagging out to the offensive player". The Bluejays second half 1-17 mark from three point land attests to that.

A pair of Bluejay performers finished with 11 points - sophomore forward Zach Hanson and senior guard Devin Brooks, the latter's seven games pacing the game. Senior guard Austin Chatman and sophomore guard Isaiah Zierden put in eight points apiece for Creighton.

Ball sharing was also important to G'Town's winning equation.

"Today, they did a really good job of staying with our sets , moving it to the next person, the next person, and you end up with a good shot" noted the Blue and Grey's coach. "I mean we end up shooting 75% in the second half".

That they did, also dropping in 60% of their threes during that period. G'Town's final shooting numbers read 58.7% from the field, 42.1% on three balls.

Creighton (9-6) is 0-2 in the BIG EAST, an early season league mark McDermott cautioned not to be taken out of context, as "there's a lot of teams that are going to come to Georgetown and come up on the short end this year". The Bluejays welcome DePaul Wednesday at 9p EST. Buoying his confidence is the fact to date, the home team has prevailed in nine of ten league contests.

The Hoyas (9-4,1-1) remain in DC, hosting Marquette, Tuesday at 7p.