Re-watched the game.
First, here's what I wrote, with comments from Mac and Kalk.
https://hurrdatsports.com/creighton-men ... ado-state/As for the re-watch, I come away thinking that game really was much more of everybody just having a bad day at the same time than some sign that this team is doomed to mediocrity. More specifically, any time all three of Kalkbrenner, Alexander and Scheierman play poorly on both ends against someone with a pulse, Creighton is almost assuredly going to lose.
On defense, there were far too many miscommunications where one guy switched and the other didn't leaving a shooter wide open. There were also just straight up lapses where guys got caught flat-footed or ball-watching or whatever. Baylor and Trey were involved in most of those.
Colorado State is uniquely equipped to attack a drop defense because of Isaiah Stevens. I don't think Creighton will face a better point guard this season. He consistently made the right decision and picked them apart, either rising up for the mid-range jumper or sucking in Kalkbrenner and dropping it off last-second for an easy finish. TBH, I thought Kalkbrenner was off in his positioning and activity with that drop most of the time. He just wasn't as disruptive or impactful as he is capable of being.
That being said, Colorado State hadn't scored below 80 before that game, and they only scored 69 against Creighton. They got into a rhythm in the second half to prevent Creighton from clawing back into it, but the offense was the problem, full-stop.
And I don't know, man. There were some things they definitely need to do better and some tweaks I'd like to see, but I really do think they just missed a ton of good shots. There are so many possessions where they executed pretty well, made good decisions and got nothing out of it because they couldn't make anything from anywhere on the court.
Colorado State was really physical. Lot of hand checks and body bumps and slaps not called. They were also playing pretty aggressively, helping off to plug the gaps to prevent Creighton's guards from getting downhill cleanly and sending multiple bodies at Kalkbrenner on post touches or rolls to the rim (but not the same number each time). If Creighton shot anywhere near its average, it would have backfired. But they just couldn't throw it in the ocean.
On think Trey in particular needs to improve on is being more direct with his drives. Too often he rounds his drives out rather than attacking in a straight line and getting the defender on his hip for follows or direct paths to the rim. Creighton also needs to do a better job making solid contact on screens and getting downhill off them, though they set a lot of ghosts as well which is a different story.
Everybody's down on Ashworth now, but he wasn't anywhere near Creighton's biggest problem (and I don't think Creighton wins that game with Nembhard in his place based on the way he's been playing this season). I didn't think he got picked on defensively to the degree that some might have implied and he made some good plays on offense.
The truth is Trey is the primary playmaker on this team. Ashworth is the organizer and floor spacer at point guard; that's his role on this team and it's one I think he's capable of filling well. He's going to make teams pay for loading up too much on the other guys at points this season and win CU some games.