The Creighton Bluejays have been one of the most explosive teams in the nation to start the season and will attempt to continue their strong play as they host the Boise State Broncos in the Mountain West-Missouri Valley challenge at CenturyLink Center Omaha on Wednesday night.
Creighton is the 11th-ranked team in the country and is looking to start 7-0 for the second-straight season.
The Bluejays have been one of the most efficient offensive teams under head coach Greg McDermott, scoring 85 points per game, ranking 12th in the nation.
The team is coming off of an impressive performance at the Las Vegas Invitational, which they won on Saturday with an 87-73 victory over Arizona State. The Sun Devils rallied in the second half, but were held of by Creighton's leading scorer Greg McDermott, who had 29 points and nine rebounds.
"We gotta learn when we're up 27-9 we gotta throw that punch and not even make it a game. We got a lot to improve on, we didn't play our best basketball but we still found a way to win," McDermott said to the Associated Press. "It's huge, huge for our confidence. Winning a tournament like this, it's big, beating two big-time teams."
McDermott, who is also the coach's son, has been the most valuable player for Creighton this year and is the reigning Missouri Valley Conference player of the year. This season he is leading the team in scoring and rebounds, averaging 21 points and 7.8 assists.
Forward Ethan Wragge has proved to be a valuable sidekick for McDermott and is second on the team with 12.8 points per game. Against Arizona State he scored 13 points and is shooting over 60 percent from 3-point range over the past five games.
"I think he's taken a lot of pride in his role, he sure can shoot that thing," McDermott said. "It's something that's gonna continue cause he's the best shooter in the country in my opinion -- he doesn't miss. We're really happy to have him out there on the floor, it just makes it so difficult for the other teams to guard."
Creighton has been hard to beat at home over the past few season and is 4-0 in Ohmaha this year. According to the Associated Press, the Bluejays have "outscored unranked non-conference opponents by an average of 17.0 points during a 31-game winning streak."
"We got a big week ahead," McDermott said. "We got Boise State, whose only loss is to Michigan State, and Saint Joseph's -- a team that beat us last year ... so we gotta stay focused."
McDermott has scored at least 24 points in three of six games this season and has only been held to single digits once, scoring five points against UAB. The junior is shooting over 51 percent this season and has made over 87 percent of his foul shots.
The Bluejays have a ton of depth this season, with six players averaging more than six points per game, including senior center Gregory Echenique, who is averaging 9.7 points per game and is second on the team with 7.2 rebounds.
Creighton started the season with four wins against easy opponents before getting their first true test against Wisconsin, defeating them 84-74 in the team's first game of the Las Vegas Invitational. McDermott scored 30 points in that game and also grabbed eight rebounds.
Last season Creighton went 29-6 and finished second in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 14-4 record. The team won the Missouri Valley Basketball Tournament and went to the NAA tournament, defeating Alabama in the first round 58-57 before losing to North Carolina 87-73 in the second round.
The Boise State Broncos enter the game on a high note after defeating UC Santa Barbara 72-56 on Saturday, but will face their toughest test of the season against the Bluejays.
The Broncos played a tight game against Michigan State last Tuesday, but were defeated 74-70 to end a three-game win streak. Leading scorer Derrick Marks scored 24 points against the Spartans in the losing effort while adding four assists, three rebounds and two steals.
The sophomore is first on the team in scoring with 16.4 points per game and is also leading the team in assists with an average of 4.0. He has scored in double digits in every game this season, but is shooting only 39 percent from the field.
Boise State has played solid defense this season, allowing 66 points per game, but lost their only game on the road to Michigan State. The team is ranked 200th in rebounding and are only averaging 14.4 assists per game.
Anthony Drmic is second on the team in scoring and is leading the team in rebounding, averaging 13.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. The sophomore from Australia had a season-high 25 points against Oakland on Nov. 13 and grabbed just four rebounds in the loss to Michigan State.
Last season the Broncos went 13-17 and finished tied for last place in their first season in the Mountain West Conference with a 3-11 record. The team lost in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Basketball Tournament to San Diego State and hasn't made the NCAA tournament since 2008 when the team lost to Louisville in the first round.
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