Doug McDermott is in his final year at Creighton, where he has helped his father and head coach, Greg McDermott, make the Catholic-Jesuit school in Omaha, Neb., a household name.
He has led the Bluejays to two straight NCAA tournaments and two straight Missouri Valley Conference titles, being named a consesus All-American twice in the process.
Creighton may have moved to the more-competitive Big East over the summer, but the goal won’t change for the father-son duo: win the conference and make an impact in the postseason.
The McDermotts and the rest of the Bluejays will roll into the Walter Pyramid Tuesday evening looking to get back on track after losing their last two games. Creighton (5-2) lost its final two games at the Wooden Legacy Classic over the weekend to fall out of the national top 25.
Long Beach State is enduring a rough streak of its own, though. The 49ers (1-7) will try to put an end to a seven-game losing streak when they host one of the more potent offenses in college basketball Tuesday evening.
Prior to a 60-53 loss to George Washington on Sunday, Creighton had averaged almost 90 points per game. They had scored at least 80 points in every game and broken out with 107 points in their season opener against Alcorn State.
By comparison, LBSU has scored more than 80 points only once: in Saturday’s 92-89 double-overtime loss to Washington.
The key to stopping Creighton will be shutting down the Doug McDermott-led offense. As a player that can score from anywhere on the floor, Doug McDermott will be impossible to stop. The best The Beach can do is slow him down and keep pace with the rest of the Bluejays to give themselves a chance to win it at the end.
Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday night. Prior to the game, a tailgate will be held outside of the Walter Pyramid at 3:30 p.m.