Creighton rewrites painful history at Hinkle Fieldhouse; clinches Sweet 16 berth

But here’s the takeaway, as it pertains to Sunday’s Sweet 16 showdown: The Zags have more than enough firsthand experience of Creighton’s potential potency that they shouldn’t be tempted to overlook CU.

So even if the experts aren’t giving the Jays a chance, you can bet Gonzaga’s taking them seriously.

>> The only time Creighton’s played a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament was 2012 when the Jays, as a No. 8 seed, lost to North Carolina.

>> Creighton held Ohio to 31.8% shooting Monday. It’s the 17th time this year that the Jays have kept their opponent under 40% shooting. On the season, teams are making 40.2% of their field goals. If that rate holds, it would be a record in the Greg McDermott era. But… Gonzaga’s up next. And that offense is scary good.

>> Shereef Mitchell’s 6 of 11 (54.5%) from 3-point range in March. He’d made just six 3s all year in the 22 games prior to this month.

It’s really a result of the work he put in during the summer. But he admitted this week that he needed a mid-season confidence boost to remind himself of that. Mitchell said his teammates did that for him.

“I remember having a talk with Mitch, Damian, Denzel and even Marcus,” Mitchell said. “They came up to me. They said, “Reef, you’re a good shooter, we’ve seen it. Just shoot it, with no thought. Like our slogan says, let it fly.’”