Madison Square Garden – New York, NY
Tip-off: Thursday, 9:30 p.m. ET
Line: N/A

Reeling Creighton will give Seton Hall its best shot in the Big East tournament quarterfinals.

It's been an up and down season—in that order—for the Creighton Bluejays, who enter Thursday's Big East quarterfinal against Seton Hall with an 18-13 overall record (18-12 ATS), a 9-9 in-conference record (11-7 ATS) and the six seed in the conference tournament. After a 14-6 start to the campaign, Creighton has gone 4-7 in its last 11 and 1-4 in its last five. Admittedly, the recent stretch was projected to be a difficult one for the Bluejays, as they were favored in only five of those games. Losses against Georgetown (Creighton -3.5) and Marquette (Creighton -7.5) were disappointing, but a 70-56 win over No. 2 seed Xavier on February 9 (Xavier -1) showed the type of damage this team can do when it plays to its ceiling. Seton Hall, meanwhile, won nine of its last 11 to finish 22-8 on the regular season (19-9-1 ATS), and it will come into this matchup with plenty of confidence, as many prognosticators believe it has a legitimate shot to take the whole tournament. While both of the Pirates' losses in the aforementioned 11-game stretch came to No. 5 seed Butler, they showed they can go toe to toe with the Big East's best by beating No. 4 seed Providence, 70-52, (Seton Hall -5) and seed Xavier, 90-81 (Xavier -2) in back-to-back games. The Pirates and Bluejays split their two regular -eason showdowns this year, with each team winning on the road. As a four-point underdog, Creighton took down Seton Hall, 82-67, in a game that was never in doubt in the second half. But three weeks later it was Seton Hall taking the role of the road underdog (Creighton -5.5), and they cruised to a 75-65 win.

After a 6-12 Big East record last year and a seventh-place finish, the Pirates were picked to finish seventh again in this year's preseason coaches poll. Instead of standing pat in the standings, they flipped their in-conference record to an impressive 12-6. Much of the credit for the reversal of fortune can be directed to the emergence of sophomore G Isaiah Whitehead (17.9 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 4.9 APG) who, after showing flashes of talent last season, transitioned into the role of full-time point guard and finished second in the Big East in scoring. He was also a unanimous First Team All-Big East selection. He's shooting 42.6 percent from three in conference competition (38.5 percent overall), a standout figure for a primary ball handler and volume shooter (6.4 3PA per game). He's fully embraced the point guard position, too, handing out the third-most assists per game in the Big East. And with his 1.47 blocks per game, he's the only guard in the Big East's Top 10 BPG leaders. Whitehead scored 22 points and had six assists in Seton Hall's win over Creighton, but only put up 10 and two in its loss, so look for his performance to be representative of the team's as a whole. He's averaging 26.7 points (and three blocks!) over his past three games, so don't be surprised to see him attack early and often in this one. Supporting him on offense are fellow sophomores G Khadeen Carrington (13.9 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 2.5 APG), F Desi Rodriguez (12.8 PPG, 5.1 RPG) and F Angel Delgado (10.2 PPG, 9.7 RPG), who is second in the Big East in rebounds. The Pirates are a tremendous defensive squad, ranking second in the conference with 67.1 points allowed per game and an opponent shooting percentage of 40.2 percent. They're led on that end of the floor by senior G Derrick Gordon (7.8 PPG, 3.3 RPG), a dogged perimeter defender, and sophomore G Ismael Sanogo (4.9 PPG), who blocks 1.2 shots per game and pulls down 7.1 RPG as a guard. Gordon suffered a concussion in the Pirates' last game and is considered questionable to play against Creighton. Both his defense and veteran leadership would be sorely missed by this sophomore-heavy Seton Hall squad.

Creighton has been efficient and potent on offense this year, shooting a league-best 47 percent from the floor and putting up 79.8 PPG, good for third best in the conference. The Bluejays feature a balanced attack that includes five players who average over 9 PPG, and eight who average over 5 PPG. (Seton Hall has four and five, respectively.) Leading the charge is Second Team All-Big East selection G Maurice Watson Jr. (14.5 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 6.6 APG), a transfer from Boston University in his first season with Creighton. And what a first season it's been, as he led the squad in scoring and finished first in the Big East (11th in the nation) in assists. While Watson doesn't dominate the shot chart in the same way that Whitehead sometimes does for Seton Hall, he's a dynamic playmaker who could give the Pirates fits, especially if Gordon isn't on the floor to guard him. The Bluejays have some injury problems of their own, though. G Isaiah Zierden (10.6 PPG), who leads the team with 32.2 MPG this season, is questionable with a shoulder injury, a cruel turn of events as Zierden has missed each of the last two Big East tournaments with knee injuries. Injuries have been a tremendous problem up and down the roster for Creighton this year, as C Geoffrey Groselle (10.6 PPG, 5.8 RPG) has fought through ankle pain all season and F Cole Huff (10.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG) only recently began to look fully healthy after missing substantial practice time with a knee injury. The Bluejays' regular-season finale, a 98-93 loss to Xavier (Xavier -10), was the first game Zierden missed all season. Huff stepped up in his absence, scoring 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting. He also pulled down seven boards and grabbed five steals. Whether Zierden is on the floor or not, Huff may have to play spectacularly if Creighton is to regain its winning ways and advance past Seton Hall.