The Creighton men's basketball team opens play in the Paradise Jam Friday, November 18th at 7:30 p.m. The Bluejays (2-0) take on Washington State (2-0) at the Sports and Fitness Center at the University of the Virgin Islands in St. Thomas, USVI.
"I'm certainly impressed with some of their young players, they have a focus on trying to get that basketball inside and when it goes in there those guys know what to do with it," Creighton basketball Head Coach Greg McDermott said. "It's going to be a challenge for us and one that were going to take seriously."
Creighton and Washington State's lone previous meeting was in the NCAA Tournament in 1941, which happened to be Creighton's first NCAA Tournament game. Washington State beat the Bluejays 48-39 in the quarterfinals. The Cougars advanced to the finals where Wisconsin won 39-34.
If Creighton wins Friday, its final two games on Saturday, November 19th and Monday, November 21st will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
"We have to be who we are and we want to play as fast pace as we possibly can while still making good decisions," McDermott said. "That's the trick, when you're trying to play fast yet you can slow down enough to make sure you're making good decisions with the basketball and taking good shots. Then defensively we did a terrific job against Wisconsin, we forced 16 turnovers and really took them out of what they wanted to do and that's going to have to be a staple of what we do."
