Marcus Foster reaches 1,000-point milestone as Creighton routs No. 19 Seton Hall

Marcus Foster reaches 1,000-point milestone as Creighton routs No. 19 Seton Hall
Creighton’s Marcus Foster scored 25 points against Seton Hall, including two early 3-pointers. The Jays made seven of their first eight shots. (World-Herald News Service)

No one on Creighton’s roster enjoyed that loss at Xavier on Saturday, but if Wednesday’s response was any indication, the blowout loss may have given the Bluejays the reality check they needed.

Senior Marcus Foster could see the difference when the arena lights went out and the starters were introduced Wednesday. He looked at his teammates. There was no silliness, no extra chatter. Just purpose. Senior Toby Hegner noticed it during the previous two days of practice.

Whatever malaise had crippled the Bluejays during Saturday’s 92-70 defeat was not going to linger into this week. The players made that clear right away.

And Wednesday’s 80-63 victory over No. 19 Seton Hall was the byproduct of their reinvigorated state.

“It was a different feel when we first stepped on the floor,” Hegner said. “You could definitely see it the first five minutes of the game, for sure.”

Seton Hall (15-4, 4-2) didn’t appear to be ready for it.

The Jays made seven of their first eight shots. An alley-oop by Martin Krampelj started the barrage. Foster nailed two 3-pointers. Junior Khyri Thomas splashed one in, too. They both drove right to the rim for buckets.

Junior Ronnie Harrell’s 3-pointer and Krampelj’s layup sent the CenturyLink Center into a frenzy, forcing a Seton Hall timeout as the Pirates stared at a 20-4 deficit after just six minutes of action.

“We were all locked in,” Foster said. “I knew coming in we were going to definitely have a huge punch. … We’ve got to be able to come out and hit people hard in the mouth — and we’ve got to be able to sustain it.”

There was a bit of a lull right before halftime — foul trouble forced Creighton to its bench, allowing Seton Hall to pick up some momentum. The Pirates pulled within five points with 30 seconds left. But that was the closest they got Wednesday.

The Jays (15-4, 5-2) had more haymakers to throw.

It was Harrell draining a 3-pointer to push CU’s lead to 53-40. Then Thomas skying over a defender and igniting the crowd with a majestic one-handed tip dunk. Two possessions later, Foster knocked down a contested 3-pointer.

The arena was at its loudest a few minutes later when Harrell picked up a loose ball, dribbled down to the paint and cleverly wrapped the ball around his back — from his right hand to his left — before finishing with the right-handed layup. That brought the 17,705 fans to their feet.

Senior Angel Delgado, who had just four points and four rebounds, got whistled for a flagrant foul on Seton Hall’s ensuing possession when he elbowed Toby Hegner in the gut. Hegner’s two foul shots made it 67-47 with eight minutes left.

“When you come here in this building, the way they’re playing, if you don’t have your A game you’re going to struggle,” Pirates coach Kevin Willard told reporters afterward. “We didn’t have our A game and we struggled.”

Delgado was in foul trouble most of the night. Seton Hall’s leading scorer, Desi Rodriguez, sat for the final 34 minutes because of fatigue, according to Willard. Senior Khadeen Carrington was 0 of 6 from the floor with three turnovers.

The Pirates just weren’t able to match Creighton’s urgency.

Creighton had a similar issue Saturday, though. It faced a desperate Xavier team, motivated to return home and snap a two-game skid. The Jays weren’t themselves from the start of that one — and they paid for it during those painful 40 minutes.

They heard some pretty blatant criticisms from the head coach while they watched game clips two days later. They drilled some fundamentals in practice to hammer home the message.

The players understood.

What makes the Big East so challenging is that any vulnerability is typically exploited. The opponent is too talented for you survive a dropoff in energy or focus.

CU was reminded of that Saturday. And it’s quite possible it’ll need another wake-up call at another point during this exhaustive conference slate. Krampelj injured his knee during Wednesday’s game and it was unclear initially how long he’d be out.

More adversity is likely coming. That’s the nature of a long season.

At least on Wednesday, though, the Jays proved convincingly that they learned their lesson. They can’t let up.

“When you’re rolling, and you’re rolling, and things are going well, you take maybe some of the things for granted as to why you do well,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “Sometimes here’s no way probably to understand reality until you get your teeth kicked it — and then it opens your eyes and you understand what we have to get back to.”

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