EARLY BIRDS: More First-Half Woes Hinder Hoyas at No. 17 Creighton in 94-72 Loss

Creighton fans had $1 beers, but Hoyas looked hungover.

There may have been a dollar beer night promotion in Omaha but it looked more like your Georgetown Hoyas (8-16, 1-12) were the ones who were hungover in another rough loss. The Hoyas lost to No. 17 Creighton Bluejays (18-7, 9-5), 94-72. This one was over before it started as Creighton dropped 46 points before halftime shooting 58.6% from the field and 47.2% from the perimeter for the game.

The Bluejays made 10-22 three-point attempts in the first half while Georgetown only made 9 of their 30 field goal attempts in the first period. It was yet another embarrassing first half effort against a ranked conference foe.

CU scored their 18 first-half buckets (33 FGA) on 14 assists and outscored GU 16-8 on points in the paint and 11-5 on fast-break points. They moved the ball with ease and Georgetown’s defense barely reacted until the ball was on the rim.

Cooley started Wayne Bristol, Jr. (17 min in the first) over Ismael Massoud (5 minutes in the first). Bristol had zero points and 4 assists in the game. Notably, Rowan Brumbaugh only played 5 minutes in the first half and Drew Fielder played only 3 minutes. Nothing worked on either end despite the playing time shift.

Georgetown had one good play to start out the game with terrific ball movement to find Dontrez Styles for a great looking three-pointer before the cascade of missed open looks turned into poor transition defense and fans saw a familiar 15-3 run over 5:38 without a Georgetown field goal.

Jayden Epps had a pair of nice threes early on to try to keep pace and he scored 13 points in the half (4-12 FG, 3-5 3PT).

Creighton’s Trey Alexander made his first four three-point attempts (6-8 3PT overall) as the Hoyas’ weak perimeter defense was on full display. Ryan Kalkbrenner made his hay on 7-8 from the field, including nailing his only three-point attempt.

Baylor Sheierman was 0-6 from three in the half on wide-open looks—the rest of the team was 10-15 from the perimeter—but he still had 7 assists on his way to a triple-double in 29 minutes via points, rebounds, and assists.

The Hoyas shot the ball better in the second half, despite missing their first 6 three-point attempts after halftime. But they predictably could not get stops and inevitably fell apart for another 9-2 run with about 7 minutes left before the CU starters came out.

Against the second-team Bluejays, Georgetown worked hard on its world-renowned isolation offense until the horn sounded and the final score was 94-72. Austin Montgomery hit another three (3-3 for the year) and Ryan Mutombo got three minutes.

The Hoyas host Villanova on Friday night (7PM) on CBS Sports Network. There are only 7 conference games left for Ed Cooley and the gang to get down on it.