West Virginia Learns Opponent for Semifinal Round in College Basketball Crown

Things looked awfully bleak last night for the West Virginia Mountaineers, trailing Stanford by four with under 20 seconds to go in the quarterfinals of the College Basketball Crown.

Fortunately for Ross Hodge and Co., Stanford made just one of two free throws with just seconds on the clock, and Honor Huff was fouled near halfcourt on a heave, sending him to the line to tie the game up. From there, the Mountaineers took over and beat the Cardinal, 82-77.

Shortly after, Rutgers and Creighton squared off against one another in a battle of teams with losing records, hoping to keep their season alive. The Bluejays came out on top 82-69, thanks to a 51-point explosion in the second half.

Senior guard Nik Graves was the story of the night, leading all scorers with 28 points on 7/13 shooting, including knocking down 2/5 attempts from three-point land. He also pulled down five rebounds and dished out eight assists, some of which were to forward Jasen Green, who had a fine night himself, pouring in 16 points on 7/10 shooting to go along with nine boards.

With the win, Creighton is now 16-17 on the season in what is Greg McDermott's final season before he hangs up his whistle and calls it a career. While it may not have been the type of year they had hoped for, you know they want to send out their coach in the right manner and can do exactly that with just two more victories.

To end the regular season, the Bluejays dropped eight of their final eleven games, which included losses to Georgetown, Providence, Marquette, and DePaul (2x).

What Creighton does well

The Bluejays do a really good job of limiting teams to one-and-dones, ranking 64th nationally in defensive rebounding. Unfortunately for them, that success doesn't translate to the other end of the floor, as they are one of the worst offensive rebounding teams in the country. While they do live and die by the three-point shot, they typically do a good job of finding the right shot and not forcing it. Only 23 teams in the country attempt more threes per game.

What Creighton struggles with

Defense. More particularly, three-point defense, which is quite ironic for a team that practices against a heavy three-point attack every day. Creighton ranks 243rd nationally in three-point defense, with opposing teams connecting on 34.9% of their attempts.