Creighton Scouting Report | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Creighton Scouting Report

UConnTrumbull said:
Need to get Kalkbrenner in foul trouble early. Tristen and Steph need to be a bit more aggressive and controlled when driving. A $2 miller lite crowd will be worth a few points on that end. Get in the refs heads right away.
Expand ...
I'd prefer Kalkbrenner is on the court as much as possible, getting torched on defense by our quicker players
 
REB1094 said:
Our overly aggressive perimeter defense might help us in this one. Creighton seems to struggle with in-your-face defense

But I am very scared of Kalkbrenner.
Expand ...
#1 not scared
 
When we go small it results in fouls on Karaban. We've been lucky so far going small but it should not be our primary offense. To be honest, it didn't matter who we put out there against G'town. But there now is much more tape of our small line lineup. Creighton will be well prepared for it.

I don't think we can keep Johnson on the shelf for most of the game like last time out. I think we will need him.
 
WhereistheDove? said:
My concern is Samson and Karaban are going to rack up fouls trying to stop him on the offensive end.
Expand ...
He’s not an isolation back to the basket player. I don’t think he’ll be as much as a mismatch as most think. I think the GTown kid was a way bigger mismatch
 
AntG168 said:
He’s not an isolation back to the basket player. I don’t think he’ll be as much as a mismatch as most think. I think the GTown kid was a way bigger mismatch
Expand ...
He’s a mismatch in the PnR and a mismatch on the glass. Both areas where quick fouls are easy to rack up
 
.-.
AntG168 said:
He’s not an isolation back to the basket player. I don’t think he’ll be as much as a mismatch as most think. I think the GTown kid was a way bigger mismatch
Expand ...
Agreed. Kalk is a rim runner who gets most of his baskets off of pick and rolls and offensive boards. He’s a lot closer to Samson than Sanogo in terms of what he wants to do on offense.

Kalk having to guard Karaban or Castle is also terrible for the way Creighton likes to play defense, which is to funnel people towards him while he averages 2.5 blocks and a lot more contests a game
 
Kalk is going to be THE problem. Have faith Hurley and the staff will figure out a plan to slow him down without having Don available.
But….. we can run Kalk ragged and keep him in the perimeter when we have the ball.
 
RichCTBB said:
I think we’ll definitively see AK vs Kalkbrenner for some decent stretches and I think AK is up for it
Expand ...
Like others, I'm concerned with AK getting into early foul trouble. I'd rather see Kalkbrenner work hard to get his points against SJ and maybe Stewart or whoever Hurley throws out there, w/out going off for some career game, stay out of serous foul trouble with our scorers while keeping their other weapons in check. Yeah, that's a mouthful, but you get idea.

We just need to have a solid defensive game, limit their second chance opportunities and hope our multiple weapons can out score theirs. As we've seen throughout the season, on any given night, a different player leads the team in scoring with others contributing not far behind.

They get a lot of their scoring from 3 players. If we can get one of them into foul trouble, I like our chances.
 
Last edited:
Creighton is a very good defensive team with some interesting quirks.

They limit assist opportunities (5th best) and 3 point attempts (4th best) all while not forcing turnovers (worst in NCAA in TO forced) and not committing fouls (best in NCAA in not committing fouls).

They also, as a team, don’t draw many fouls (part of that has to do with them shooting so many 3s).

The refs have been a topic of discussion after many of our games this season, but this one is hopefully setting up to have fewer whistles and better offensive flow.
 
.-.
Captbluefin said:
But….. we can run Kalk ragged and keep him in the perimeter when we have the ball.
Expand ...
If Kalk is covering someone in the small ball lineup, he will be playing way too far from the hoop to be an effective rebounder, IMO.

Not sure how we defend him? try to deny him the ball?
 
NJHusky said:
If Kalk is covering someone in the small ball lineup, he will be playing way too far from the hoop to be an effective rebounder, IMO.

Not sure how we defend him? try to deny him the ball?
Expand ...
We might just have to take our medicine with him in the post. They have so many shooters, doubling could put us in a really bad spot on the perimeter.
 
We are horrible on the boards and that is a mighty big problem against this line up. Samson will be eaten for dinner and AK just doesn’t have the physical talent to neutralize their big men without getting into foul trouble. If we can squeeze a W out it will be because we are hitting 3s… which is a hill you can thrive or just as easily die on.
 
UConn has a better rebounding margin and effective FG % and FG % defense. Not by much but still better. Home court advantage. Creighton doesn't play "Cooley" ball so stupid refereeing should not be a big issue. Need to be able to win most of these pretty evenly matched games (especially at home).
 
giddyup said:
We are horrible on the boards and that is a mighty big problem against this line up. Samson will be eaten for dinner and AK just doesn’t have the physical talent to neutralize their big men without getting into foul trouble. If we can squeeze a W out it will be because we are hitting 3s… which is a hill you can thrive or just as easily die on.
Expand ...
Creighton is one of the worst offensive rebounding teams in the conference. It's only Kalkbrenner and then King off the bench.
 
.-.
giddyup said:
We are horrible on the boards and that is a mighty big problem against this line up. Samson will be eaten for dinner and AK just doesn’t have the physical talent to neutralize their big men without getting into foul trouble. If we can squeeze a W out it will be because we are hitting 3s… which is a hill you can thrive or just as easily die on.
Expand ...
It may seem we are "horrible" on the boards but UConn has out rebounded every team since Donovan went down. We've given up a few too many offensive boards though imo
 
Something I am interested in watching. If Creighton tries to switch all 5 spots on defense like most teams have done against us this year I could see our guards attacking Ashworth off the dribble. At 6'1 170 he is going to be at a big disadvantage. Newton and Castle both know how to get downhill and use there bodies while Cam can get Ashworth on his hip and use those turn around jumpers he has hit this year. Something to watch.
 
JT-55 said:
Something I am interested in watching. If Creighton tries to switch all 5 spots on defense like most teams have done against us this year I could see our guards attacking Ashworth off the dribble. At 6'1 170 he is going to be at a big disadvantage. Newton and Castle both know how to get downhill and use there bodies while Cam can get Ashworth on his hip and use those turn around jumpers he has hit this year. Something to watch.
Expand ...
Kalkbrenner will still be waiting in the middle to help unless we're pulling him out with the small ball lineup, though. May need Samson to be on point with finishing some lobs.
 
Great test. Chess game. I contend we have the better team, even with DC out. Even with matchup problems. Need TN to snap out of funk, and we need AK, Spenser and Castle to shine. I do not see us losing if that happens.
 
.-.
IMG_1449.jpeg
IMG_1450.jpeg
 
JT-55 said:
Something I am interested in watching. If Creighton tries to switch all 5 spots on defense like most teams have done against us this year I could see our guards attacking Ashworth off the dribble. At 6'1 170 he is going to be at a big disadvantage. Newton and Castle both know how to get downhill and use there bodies while Cam can get Ashworth on his hip and use those turn around jumpers he has hit this year. Something to watch.
Expand ...
Kansas switched on everything except at the 5 as Dickinson stayed on Clingan. Creighton will probably do the same and leave Kalkbrenner parked in the middle of the paint where McDermott likes him. Creigton on pick and rolls will have Kalkbrenner playing drop coverage, he almost never hard hedges like Sanogo does, and have whoever is getting picked chase over the top of the pick trying to keep attached at the hip of the ball handler trying to push the ball handler to the middle where Kalk will be parked.

Attacking Ashworth is a good plan as he is a terrible defender. If the drives to basket force Kalkbrenner to help this can open a lot of offensive rebounding opportunities for Samson-he just has to take advantage. If UConn goes small, they will give up more points on the defensive end, but if they are on shooting, they can score a lot. Kalkbrenner and Frederick King are not comfortable playing defense away from the basket and it goes against Creighton's core defensive gameplan.
 
Tonight is the night for Samson to Jack up a 3 early. Make Kalk think a little bit.
 
Coach Mac knows he has a short bench. Needs his top 7 to be available. Guessing he's saying.. Let them get their points. We'll outscore them. We can't afford foul trouble.
 
.-.
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,306
Messages
4,562,335
Members
10,457
Latest member
caw2


Top Bottom