Bradley-Creighton Preview

By JEFF BARTL

(AP) -- Creighton has been mostly dominant at home over the past year, and there's little reason to believe struggling Bradley will be the team to buck the trend - especially if it can't stop Doug McDermott.

The 15th-ranked Bluejays seek their 14th consecutive home victory over the Braves when the Missouri Valley Conference foes meet Saturday night.

McDermott added another brilliant performance to his breakout sophomore season Wednesday, scoring 30 points in a 77-69 win at Drake and helping Creighton (19-2, 9-1) to its ninth straight victory overall.

The 6-foot-7 forward went 10 of 14 from the field and hit 9 of 10 free throws.

"I was getting good position on their guards actually because they were switching on me. I had to take advantage of that," said McDermott, who ranks second in the nation averaging 23.5 points. "Got to the free throw line. If they're going to do that, we've got to make them pay."

Coach Greg McDermott - Doug's father - says his Bluejays, who have won 20 of their last 21 home games, are a confident bunch. Their only home loss in that stretch was a 77-65 defeat to Missouri State on Dec. 28.

"It's not arrogance. It's not cockiness. It's just a very strong belief in each other. They've got each other's back," the elder McDermott said. "This is a confident group that really believes in each other and have worked extremely hard to put themselves in the position they're in."

They have every reason to be confident with Bradley coming to town.

Doug McDermott scored a career-high 44 points and hit 18 of 23 field goals in a 92-83 road win in the first meeting Jan. 7. Though the teams have split the last four overall matchups, the Bluejays have won 13 straight in Omaha since the Braves' 61-58 victory Jan. 17, 1998.

McDermott had 17 points and 10 rebounds in the most recent meeting at Creighton, an 81-68 win Jan. 19, 2011.

Bradley (6-16, 1-9) has been struggling lately no matter where it plays.

The Braves have lost seven straight on the road and 12 of 13 overall after falling 77-60 at Southern Illinois on Tuesday. Taylor Brown - the team's leading scorer at 16.7 points per game - scored a game-high 21 points, but Bradley shot only 36.4 percent.

Brown scored a team-high 25 in the first meeting with Creighton, which tied its season high for points allowed in that contest.

The Bluejays, though, lead the MVC and rank ninth in the country averaging 81.2 points. They lead the nation in both field-goal percentage (51.3) and 3-point percentage (45.1).

Individually, McDermott ranks eighth in the country shooting 61.3 percent, while Jahenns Manigat - 5 for 7 from downtown this week against Drake - is tied for fourth nationally hitting 51.9 percent of his attempts beyond the arc.

Creighton went 10 for 20 from 3-point range earlier this month at Bradley, with McDermott hitting 3 of 5 and Manigat nailing 3 of 4.

"It's always fun to kind of hear the crowd go into a silence after you knock down a pretty big shot," Manigat said of his performance Wednesday. "I was pretty open and I felt pretty comfortable shooting those shots, so I just let it fly."

Bradley ranks eighth in the 10-team MVC shooting 42.3 percent and ninth in both scoring average (64.0) and points allowed (72.2).

Updated January 27, 2012