McDermott Shines on Broadway in Big East Tourney

14 Mar, 2014

Doug McDermott is playing in New York City this week, just a few blocks from Broadway. And by the looks of it, he plans to put on a show.

The nation’s leading scorer delivered Thursday night with a dazzling shooting display in his Big East tournament debut, scoring a record 27 of his 35 points in the first half for No. 14 Creighton during an 84-62 victory over DePaul at Madison Square Garden.

“As a kid, you dream of playing in venues like this. The Garden is about as good as it gets. I watched the tournament growing up a lot,” McDermott said. “So just to be a part of it definitely was in the back of my mind. And in warmups, it felt surreal out there.”

The two-time All-America hit six of his first seven 3-point attempts, sending the second-seeded Bluejays (25-6) into the semifinals Friday night against third-seeded Xavier, which held off No. 6 seed Marquette 68-65.

Jahenns Manigat added 14 points for Creighton, which left the Missouri Valley Conference for the new-look Big East this season, and Austin Chatman had 11 points and nine assists. Led by McDermott, the league’s player of the year and a heavy favorite for several national awards, the Bluejays shot a sizzling 14 for 22 from 3-point range (63.6 percent) against 10th-seeded DePaul (12-21).

McDermott shot 10 of 14 in the first half, including 7 for 9 from 3-point range. He finished 14 of 22 overall and 7 for 10 on 3s, easily surpassing his scoring average of 26.5 points, as Creighton went 32 for 53 (60.4 percent) from the floor.

The senior forward broke Big East tournament records for points in a half and points by a player in his debut at this event. He ended up one 3-pointer shy of the single-game mark set by Boston College guard Dana Barros in 1989.

AP

Image Sports Illustrated

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