It’s been a trying season for the Friars with so many close losses but they’re starting to turn a corner during the most important stretch of the season. PC went to Omaha and defeated the Creighton Blue Jays for the first time since January 20th, 2021. With the victory the Friars have won 3 in a row for the first time since defeating Brown back in December and it’s their first 3-game win streak in the Big East since February of 2024. The Friars are also now winners of five of seven and are in 7th in the Big East with a chance to climb as high as 4th. Jaylin Sellers once again led the way for the Friars with his second consecutive game of 27 points and scored a critical hoop late that put PC up 3 with 15 seconds left.
We break down the game in more detail below.
Jaylin Sellers Continues to Cook
Jaylin Sellers is starting to do his best Devin Carter impression when it comes to scoring the basketball. The team has dealt with injuries and suspensions but thankfully Sellers has put on the superman cape. As mentioned earlier it’s his second consecutive game of 27 points and over his last 7 games he has been incredible. Over those seven games he is averaging 24 points per game and that includes a game where he only scored 13 points because he was ejected earlier in the second half against St. Johns. In all the other games over that span he exceeded 20 points in each one. Down the stretch the Friars made sure to get the ball in his hands, and he delivered with the big layup late to put the Jays away for good.
Jays Prove Tough to Put Away
In the first game against Creighton the Friars had a 7-point lead with 2.5 minutes left and the Friars played pretty poorly down the stretch allowing the Jays to get it close before ultimately falling 93-88. In this one the Friars had a 6-point lead with 82 seconds left but some turnovers and silly fouls allowed the Jays to get it to a 1-point game with 37 seconds left. Sellers ended up getting the big hoop to put them back up three and then the Jays had two looks at the tie but they couldn’t fall. We have seen plenty of games this year where the Friars start to fall apart late and let it snowball into a loss. It wasn’t pretty but the Friars were able to put the Jays away.
Friars Once Again Take Care of the Basketball
PC has had the turnover bug creep up throughout the season. In a win against Xavier in their last game PC had a season low 4 turnovers. Being on the road it was going to be important for the Friars to take care of the basketball and they did. PC only had seven turnovers in the game, the Jays had 10. PC did start to get sloppy late. Edwards was saved from having one with the possession arrow belonging to PC on a jump ball, Mela fired a pass to Oswin that would’ve been an easy dunk, but it flew past Oswin and went out of bounds.
If the Friars limit the turnovers, it makes them that much more difficult to play because it gives their high-powered offense extra chances at hoops and doesnt let the opposition get easy points in transition. The ball security is starting to trend in the right direction and thats a great thing.
PC Loses Battle on the Glass
Believe it or not, but your Friars are the best rebounding team in the Big East. They do an excellent job on the defensive glass but at times have been susceptible to giving up offensive rebounds. The Creighton Blue Jays were the worst offensive rebounding team in the league but in the first half got 7 offensive rebounds, which allowed them to be in a much closer game than it could have been. To Kim English’s credit he got the Friars to clean it up in the second half only allowing 3 offensive rebounds. Although one of those offensive rebounds was off Josh Dix’s late three-point miss that gave the Jays one more look at the tie. PC would lose the rebound battle 37-31 but ultimately won the scoreboard battle.
What’s Next
The Friars will finish the regular season with two games next week. First they will host Marquette, who they lost to 105-104 in overtime in Milwaukee, and then wrap up the season with a trip to DC to take on Ed Cooley and the Hoyas. Wednesday night will be senior night and will be the return of Duncan Powell from his three-game suspension. If PC can win those two games they should have a great shot at having a first-round bye in the Big East Tournament, as crazy as that sounds.
DLTFGH, GO FRIARS!
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