Sports

Creighton’s McDermott makes big first impression

This is exactly what Doug McDermott had in mind when he decided to play one more season at Creighton.

Perhaps not 27 points in the first half of his first Big East Tournament game (which happened to be a tournament record). McDermott might not have dreamed that big, but that’s exactly what he delivered in Thursday night’s 84-62 quarterfinal rout of DePaul at Madison Square Garden, finishing with 35 points.

Playing at the Garden was as much on McDermott’s radar as anything as he entered his senior year, opting not to turn pro early. When the two-time All-American and the nation’s leading scorer this season enters the NBA, he figures to make plenty of visits to the Garden as a pro.

But playing the Garden as a college player in his school’s first year in the Big East is what has driven McDermott, whose father, Greg, is Creighton’s coach.

“This played a big part,’’ Doug McDermott said inside the Knicks locker room. “This is the place you think of first when you think of the Big East. Just getting on the elevator here and walking around is cool, knowing so many famous players have been in this building.

“As a kid you dream of playing in venues like this. The Garden is as good as it gets. I watched this tournament growing up. You remember so many great games. To be a part of this was definitely in the back of my mind. In warm-ups, it felt surreal out there.

“It’s special to be able to do this in the Garden, the world’s most famous arena.’’

McDermott and Creighton (25-6) get to do it at least one more time — they’ll play Xavier in Friday’s second semifinal.

McDermott puts up a shot during the first half

McDermott connected on the first of his personal-record seven 3-pointers just 11 seconds into the game to open the scoring, and he never looked back. Sensing he was in one of his familiar zones, McDermott’s teammates kept feeding the beast.

“Doug’s performance in the first half was one of the better ones I’ve seen,’’ Greg McDermott said. “I’ve seen some good ones out of him, but that was about as good as it gets.’’

The combination of McDermott and Jahenns Manigat, who scored 12 in the first half, was too much for DePaul (12-21) to handle.

Manigat said when McDermott, who is featured on the current Sports Illustrated cover, gets into the kind of zone he was in “he looks a little bit different.’’

“I was just feeling in the rhythm, in the zone,’’ McDermott said. “I felt like I could make everything out there. It felt like the hoop was huge … like everything’s going to go in.’’

Just about everything did go in Thursday night, as McDermott shot 7-of-10 from 3-point range and 14-of-22 overall. In the first half, he was 7-of-9 from beyond the arc.

“We were trying to throw different people at him,’’ said Brandon Young, who was one of the unlucky DePaul players guarding McDermott. “He’s a great player. Great players do great things.’’