Creighton's Doug McDermott passes 3,000-point mark

You didn’t actually think Doug McDermott would fall short, did you?

Midway through the second half of Creighton’s 88-73 win over Providence Saturday on senior night at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Neb., McDermott became the eighth player in Division I history to score 3,000 points when he buried a long jumper that would have counted for three points on a regulation NBA court. “I saw on the Jumbotron that I was two away,” McDermott said. “So I just gave it a shot, got a good look at it, and it happened to fall.”

It was clear early in the game that McDermott was on a mission. He scored 22 of Creighton’s first 45 points and shot 8-for-14 from the field in the first half. McDermott's final bucket of the night was a layup with 2 minutes, eight seconds to go and he walked off the floor to a standing ovation at the 1:17 mark.

McDermott came into Saturday needing 34 points to reach 3K. He finished Saturday with a career-high 45 on 17-of-25 shooting, including 5-of-7 from three-point range. The Creighton senior now sits seventh on the Division I all-time scoring list with 3,009 points. He needs 51 to catch former Saint Peter’s great Keydren Clark in sixth place.

There are almost too many statistics with which one can quantify McDermott’s greatness. He is the top scoring option of an offense that’s on pace to average more points per possession than any other since at least 2002-03. He will become the first player in three decades to be named to the Associated Press All-American team in three consecutive seasons. He’s notched 22 30-point games over three-plus seasons.