Greg McDermott says Creighton must start defending or 'we can book our flight home'

Creighton leads Princeton 47-43 at halftime in a game that has had several runs going both ways and some real back-and-forth.

Blue Jays coach Greg McDermott broke down where his team needs to be better going forward in a halftime interview with the TBS broadcasting crew just before he headed into the locker room.

“Well we’re going to have to start defending or we can book our flight home,” McDermott said. “Their spacing’s really good, their cutting is elite and every time we’ve made a mistake they’ve made us pay for with with a 3-point shot.”

Princeton hasn’t taken a high volume of 3-point shots in the game, taking only eight in the first half. But it hit half of those, doing enough to keep Creighton respecting the shot.

One late look fell after a kickout to an open 3-point shooter.

It was forward Tosan Evbuomwan who led the way for Princeton in the first half, scoring 15 points to lead all scorers in the game.

Creighton had a bit more balanced a scoring effort in the first half, with three players reaching double-figures just in the first half. Guard Baylor Scheieman led the way with 13 points, while center Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 11 and guard Trey Alexander scored 10.

As far as what’s working for both teams, former Villanova coach Jay Wright broke it down at halftime on the set for TBS.

“Creighton’s got good offense, Princeton runs elite offense. And in the Big East, everyone that plays Creighton knows you have to guard middle pick-and-roll,” Wright said. “They run great pick-and-roll in the middle of the floor. Kalkbrenner is the key to that, (Ryan) Nembhard‘s the key to that.

“As we talked about earlier, Nembhard’s had 30-point games, Kalkbrenner’s had 30-point games. You see Trey Alexander can hit the three. Scheieman’s their leading scorer. They’ve got so many weapons. We’re on pace for like a 90-point game here and Princeton’s in it. That’s what’s awesome about this game.”