Creighton uses height advantage, depth to cruise past Akron in 1st round

When Creighton coach Greg McDermott chose to exploit its considerable height advantage over Akron by planting 7-foot-1 center Ryan Kalkbrenner in the paint, he knew the Zips could counter by stretching the floor and keeping up the frenetic pace.

What Creighton couldn’t have counted on was Akron star Enrique Freeman’s first 3-point shot going in off the glass, one of three treys the 6-7 forward made in the first six minutes as he launched a career-high eight shots from beyond the arc.

“That’s a nervy shot for a guy that doesn’t shoot a lot,” McDermott said of Freeman, who had never taken more than three 3s in a game. “If the first one doesn’t go in with the bank, maybe he’s not as comfortable.”

That comfort was contagious, as Kalkbrenner answered two Freeman 3s with one of his own in a 30-second sequence as the big men battled in the post and beyond. What the Zips had no answer for was Creighton’s depth, as its concentration on stopping Kalkbrenner and All-American Baylor Scheierman allowed the Bluejays’ supporting cast open looks.

No. 3 Creighton scored the final eight points of the first half, then pulled away in the second half for a 77-60 win over No. 14 Akron on Thursday afternoon in an NCAA Tournament first-round game at PPG Paints Arena.

“In the last four minutes, we were able to take care of the ball and get shots and stops,” Scheierman said, “and when we were able to do that, that’s when we really gained some separation.”

Creighton (24-9) advanced to Saturday’s second round, where it will play No. 11 Oregon, which beat No. 6 South Carolina, 87-73. It required an all-around effort, as Kalkbrenner led the Bluejays with 23 points and was joined in double figures by Trey Alexander (19), Scheierman (15 points, 13 rebounds) and Mason Miller and Steven Ashworth (10 each).

Creighton opened by repeatedly going inside to Kalkbrenner, who joined Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning as the only players to earn three Big East Defensive Player of the Year honors. Freeman complemented his physical defense with a combination of 3s and post moves that led to jump hooks in the lane.

“(Kalkbrenner) plays in the paint a lot, so we tried to stretch out the floor a little bit more,” Freeman said. “And everybody believes in my 3. I’ve been working very hard on it. And I just knocked down a few, so they had to change coverage, and we decided to attack a different way.”

A former walk-on who developed into the Mid-American Conference player of the year, Freeman led the Zips (24-11) with a team-high 21 points and game-high 14 rebounds. He finished 9 of 21 from the floor, making 3 of 8 attempts from 3-point range.

“The most he’s ever shot in a game this year was three, and he shot 47 on the year,” McDermott said of Freeman. “So we really didn’t think coming in that he would be willing to shoot eight 3-point shots. So we had to adjust, obviously, as the game went on.”

Meantime, Akron 6-8 forward Ali Ali held Scheierman in check. The first player in Division I history with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 500 assists and 300 3-pointers, Scheierman attempted only one shot in the first six minutes. Finally, the 6-7 senior left-hander sank a pair of 3s for a 27-23 lead at 9:11. Akron answered with a jumper by Greg Tribble and a steal by Nate Johnson, who fed Tavari Johnson for a tying layup.

McDermott gave his team a tongue-lashing during a timeout.

“Some of the things I said in the huddle I can’t repeat to you. And that doesn’t happen with me very often,” McDermott said. “But I was not surprised that they came at us in transition. In watching them play, they’re opportunistic, but they have a lot of guys that can handle it in transition and lead the break. So I was not surprised they came at us the way that they did.”

Ashworth lobbed a pass from the logo to Kalkbrenner for a two-handed dunk, and Kalkbrenner added a jump-hook for a 31-29 lead. But Freeman answered with one of his own to tie the score, then added another on a second-chance shot for a lead. Ali made the front end of a two-shot foul to stretch it to 34-31 at 2:44.

And it was the beginning of the end for the Zips.

“I thought that was the biggest juncture in the game,” Akron coach John Groce said. “We were up 34-31 with about two minutes to go in the half, and then they went on an 8-0 run. I thought that was the biggest two minutes of the game.”

That’s when Creighton showed its depth. Trey Alexander and Mason Miller hit successive 3s, the latter for the lead. Scheierman added a jumper from the elbow to make it 39-34 at the half.

Where Akron shot 43.8% (14 of 32) in the first half, including five 3s, the Zips dipped to 32.4% (11 of 34) in the second half and missed 12 of 13 attempts from beyond the arc. Creighton, by contrast, shot 60% (15 of 25) in the first half with seven 3s and 52.4% (11 of 21) in the second half, when it led by as many as 20.

“We were making a lot of shots in the first half which led to … they can’t get out in transition as much if you are making shots,” Akron guard Greg Tribble said. “And I feel like in the second half we weren’t making as many shots, and we started gambling and they’re a really good team on offense, and once they start getting open shots it’s hard to stop them from making shots.”

Creighton opened the second half with Miller grabbing an offensive rebound, setting a pick and popping to the top of the key for a 3 that extended the lead to 42-34. The Bluejays used a 10-0 run to take command of the game, with Miller using a ball fake to drop a defender and sinking another 3 for a 59-42 edge at 12:29.

“I work on my shot every single day, so I kind of come into the game expecting to make shots like that,” Miller said. “I guess just running to the corner, getting open looks and playing within the offense kind of helps the team a lot, especially when we have great players like Ryan and Baylor over here being able to space the floor for them, it’s huge for them.”

Akron never recovered, even as the crowd cheered on the underdog. Their ovations were directed, however, at the big screen that showed live look-ins at No. 11 Duquesne in its upset of No. 6 BYU in Omaha. Duquesne is the host school for this event, and the crowd caused some confusion by cheering on the Dukes during every timeout.

“It was a little strange to play the game with that going on, by the way,” McDermott said, “because the cheers and the oohs and ahs didn’t really match up to what was going on on the floor in front of us.”