St. Joe's will be challenged by Creighton's running offense

St. Joseph's has an athletic basketball team that likes to get up and down the court, and Saturday's opponent should provide the Hawks ample opportunity to play a transition game.

When Creighton enters Hagan Arena for Saturday's noon game, the Bluejays will bring their running shoes.

Creighton (7-0) will also bring a nationally ranked basketball team, No. 17 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll and No. 19 by the Associated Press. The Bluejays average 87 points per game.

"They play a great style, use 10 guys, and have a superstar," St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli said.

The "superstar" is 6-foot-7 sophomore Doug McDermott, son of coach Greg McDermott, who is averaging 23.7 points per game. Creighton shoots 52.6 percent from the field and 45.4 percent from beyond the arc.

Then again, St. Joseph's (6-3) is averaging 72 points a game, and the backcourt of junior Carl Jones and sophomore Langston Galloway combines to average more than 34 points per game.

"Any time you have a starting backcourt averaging over 34 points a game, that's an area of concern for us," Greg McDermott said in an e-mail response. "Both Jones and Galloway are extremely talented on the offensive end of the floor and present a challenge for our defense."

St. Joseph's center C.J. Aiken is averaging 5.0 blocked shots per game, an average that led the nation in the most recent NCAA statistics that were released Monday.

Another sidelight to this game among Jesuit schools involves Creighton's first-year president, the Rev. Timothy R. Lannon.

Father Lannon was the president of St. Joseph's from July 2003 to the end of the 2010-11 academic year, assuming the presidency at Creighton on July 1. He will be inducted into St. Joseph's Athletics Hall of Fame during halftime of Saturday's game.

During his first year at St. Joseph's, the basketball team went 30-2, and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. At one point the Hawks were 27-0 and ranked No. 1 in the country. Now, in Father Lannon's first year at Creighton, his school is unbeaten and nationally ranked.

"He's probably taking the credit for them being unbeaten," quipped Martelli.

Creighton is coming off Sunday's 74-66 win against visiting Nebraska.

St. Joseph's, whose losses to Seton Hall, Iona, and American University were by a combined 19 points, defeated visiting Boston University, 75-68, on Wednesday as Jones scored his 1,000th career point and Galloway had a career-high 30 points.

Both guards should receive ample opportunity to score in a game that truly could resemble the Penn Relays.