1. Pace will be fun to watch. Creighton's average offensive possession is just over 15 seconds, 9th fastest nationally. K-State's defensive possession is 18.3, 322nd nationally. I watched a little bit of Creighton's upset over Villanova and to say they shoot quickly is an understatement. I'm sure @Chris_Nelson will have some great breakdowns of their sets and system, but "shoot the first open shot" seems to be a common theme and nearly everyone on their roster will shoot it from deep. K-State's offensive pace (17.8 seconds) vs Creighton's defensive pace (17.9 seconds) is much more even, but the quick shooting is enough for Creighton to average over 6 more possessions per game this year than K-State (70.8 vs 65.5).
2. Offensive rebounds will be hard to come by. If we think K-State doesn't really try to oboard (26.2% OR%), Creighton (and McDermott teams in general) takes it to another level. The Bluejays only rebound 21.8% of their misses (#335) and generally work to get back on defense, where as you can see above they slow the pace down considerably. However, they also don't let their opponents offensive board much, allowing only 24.7% OR% (#31) whereas K-State allows opponents to rebound at a rate of 32.2% (#312).
3. Premium shot making will be on display, especially on 2s. At 54.6%, this is K-State's best rate of making 2s in the history of the program, good for #36 nationally. However, Creighton makes 59.3% of their 2s, good for #4 in the country. Creighton also hits 3s at a 37.6% clip (#53) while the Cats have cooled considerably in the last 1/3 of the season to only 34.4% (#205). Creighton's eFG% of 58% is #7 nationally compared to K-State's 53.5% which is #74.
A lot more will come through the week, these were just a few that stood out to me while looking at the numbers and watching a few minutes of one of their games.
2. Offensive rebounds will be hard to come by. If we think K-State doesn't really try to oboard (26.2% OR%), Creighton (and McDermott teams in general) takes it to another level. The Bluejays only rebound 21.8% of their misses (#335) and generally work to get back on defense, where as you can see above they slow the pace down considerably. However, they also don't let their opponents offensive board much, allowing only 24.7% OR% (#31) whereas K-State allows opponents to rebound at a rate of 32.2% (#312).
3. Premium shot making will be on display, especially on 2s. At 54.6%, this is K-State's best rate of making 2s in the history of the program, good for #36 nationally. However, Creighton makes 59.3% of their 2s, good for #4 in the country. Creighton also hits 3s at a 37.6% clip (#53) while the Cats have cooled considerably in the last 1/3 of the season to only 34.4% (#205). Creighton's eFG% of 58% is #7 nationally compared to K-State's 53.5% which is #74.
A lot more will come through the week, these were just a few that stood out to me while looking at the numbers and watching a few minutes of one of their games.
