How Creighton aims to limit turnovers in Sweet 16 battle with Tennessee

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Greg McDermott made perfectly clear the challenge his Creighton Bluejays are up against in their Sweet 16 matchup with Tennessee.

“With no disrespect to UConn, I think they’re the best defensive team we’ve played this year,” he said Monday.”

The Vols average 7.85 steals per game and just forced 17 turnovers in their Round of 32 win over Texas. The Bluejays gave up 25 turnovers in their NCAA Tournament wins over Akron and Oregon.

“We’ve had a few foolish turnovers in both of the games we played in, and now we’re going to see a team that really thrives on turnovers,” McDermott added of Tennessee. “Every game is a little bit different in terms of what you have to focus on and what we think are the keys to have success. I think taking care of the basketball against Tennessee is 1, and 1A is battling on the defensive glass. Because they’re elite at attacking the offensive glass as well.”

Creighton typically holds their own when it comes to taking care of the basketball averaging a pedestrian 10.7 turnovers per game, but the Vols will test them Friday night.

“It’s always emphasized,” Baylor Scheierman said of the Jays efforts to prevent turnovers. “But when you’re playing a team like Tennessee that likes to get out in transition, especially on turnovers, that’s where a game can be won or lost, so we’ll definitely have to take care of the ball.”

Trey Alexander, responsible for a team-high eight giveaways last weekend, said Creighton can’t let the Vols’ defensive prowess affect their offensive attack.

“You can’t go into a game playing scared or timid because that is how turnovers happen anyway,” he said. “We haven’t been doing a good job of taking care of the ball this tournament anyway. So we’re just going into it trying to play our game.”

Creighton takes on Tennessee Friday at Litte Cesars Arena in Detroit at 9:09pm CT.

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