Creighton's Maurice Watson looks to Villanova and a Philly homecoming
With Creighton's Maurice Watson Jr., one of the Big East's best point guards, coming home to the Philadelphia area with the Bluejays to meet third-ranked Villanova on Wednesday night, Jay Wright was asked if a player receives a boost when he returns to familiar territory.
With Creighton's Maurice Watson Jr., one of the Big East's best point guards, coming home to the Philadelphia area with the Bluejays to meet third-ranked Villanova on Wednesday night, Jay Wright was asked if a player receives a boost when he returns to familiar territory.
"We've seen a lot of Philly guys come in here and have great games," the Wildcats coach said Tuesday after practice at the Pavilion. "They're home, they've got people here, they're fired up to be home, and they take it to another level.
"But," he added, "he did it to us out there so I'm already worried about what he's going to do when he comes in here."
"Out there" is in Omaha, where Watson had 15 points, four assists and three steals against the Wildcats on Jan. 2. But 'Nova managed to pull away in the second half for an 85-71 victory, a game in which it made 28 of 32 (87.5 percent) two-point attempts.
The 5-foot-10, 170-pound Watson played high school basketball for his father, Maurice Watson Sr., at Boys Latin, where he scored 2,356 points, the second-highest total in Philadelphia Public League history. He spent two years at Boston University before transferring to Creighton.
He leads the Bluejays (14-8, 5-4 Big East) in scoring (14.1 points per game) and assists (6.5), which is second in the conference behind Providence's Kris Dunn.
"He gets in the lane, he knows when to score, he knows when to dish it off," said sophomore guard Phil Booth, who guarded Watson quite a bit in the season's first meeting. "He knows how to make the right reads. That's why the ball is in his hands a lot. He's going to make the right play."
Creighton has lost back-to-back games, the most recent a 75-65 home loss to Seton Hall. Wright said the Pirates used "a lot of length and a lot of fresh bodies" on Watson but "we don't have that so we've got to find our own way."
Villanova center Daniel Ochefu, the team's leading rebounder and shot-blocker, will miss his second straight game because of a concussion. His loss leaves the Cats with just one big man – 6-9 Darryl Reynolds – and a seven-man rotation.
The Wildcats were committed to rebounding in their 68-53 win Sunday over St. John's, outrebounding the Red Storm 48-35. They'll have to do it again Wednesday night in addition to cutting down on turnovers; 'Nova had a season-high 20 against the Johnnies.
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