NEW YORK — Doug McDermott’s Madison Square Garden debut didn’t turn out the way he had hoped.
McDermott and No. 12 Creighton were upset by a surging St. John’s club, 70-65, Sunday night, leaving McDermott 0-1 in his career at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
Still, the Bluejays will return to the Garden for the Big East Tournament March 12-15, and McDermott said he’s now even more motivated to perform well there.
“Very motivated,” McDermott told SNY.tv after going for 25 points in the loss. “We kind of got our feet wet in the Garden, we weren’t used to it. It’s a great crowd but I’m sure we’ll see a lot more fans here during the Big East Tournament.”
Creighton (19-4, 9-2) figures to be one of the top two seeds in the Big East Tournament, along with No. 6 Villanova (21-2, 9-1), and thus should get byes into the quarterfinals on March 13.
Creighton coach Greg McDermott said playing at last one game at the Garden in advance of the Big East Tournament was a “huge bonus” for his team because they got over the “awe moment of walking in here for the first time.”
“We’ll have a comfort level next time,” he said. “I hope we shoot a little bit better here next time.”
For the first time, tickets to the event have been made available to the general public, but Doug McDermott expects Creighton to travel to New York from Nebraska for the event.
“They will,” Doug said. “I think we already sold 3,000 tickets, so I think it leads the Big East right now. They’ll do well and we’re gonna be well-traveled well and it should be a good atmosphere.”
McDermott, who didn’t take a shot over the final 8:41 of the game, believes a Creighton presence will make a difference in March.
“I think so,” he said. “When you got some fans on your side, it’s always huge, especially in a place like this. It’s close together, you can kind of hear everyone. I think that will be a huge advantage.”
Of course, St. John’s will also have an edge in the Big East Tournament, and they may well need to win the whole thing to make the Big Dance.
“They’re playing as well as anybody in our league right now,” Greg McDermott said.
