Dougie McBuckets is ready to invade New York.
Following his 32-point effort in a 78-66 win against DePaul Friday night, Doug McDermott has now made 1,000 field goals and scored 2,773 career points — 28 behind Knicks assistant GM Allan Houston for 16th on the all-time Division 1 list.
The 3,000-point plateau is within his grasp and he could reach it next month at the Big East Tournament, becoming just the eighth player ever to do so.
But the 6-foot-8 McDermott has never scored a single point at Madison Square Garden.
The Creighton star from Ames, Iowa, has never even played at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
But he will play some big games there in the coming weeks, starting with Sunday’s tilt against a surging St. John’s team (14-9, 4-6 Big East) and culminating next month with the first-ever appearance by Creighton (18-3, 8-1) in the Big East Tournament.
“I’m really excited. I’ve never even been in the building, so I think it’s just going to be a really cool experience for our whole team,” McDermott told SNY.tv. “I don’t think many of us have played there other than Grant Gibbs when he was at Gonzaga, so it will be definitely something to cross off the bucket list for sure.”
St. John’s is all too familiar with McDermott.
On Jan. 28, Dougie McBuckets, as Seth Davis of CBS Sports has nicknamed him, hit a game-winning 3-pointer with 2.8 seconds left to seal Creighton’s 63-60 win over the Johnnies on Creighton’s home floor.
“They’re playing the best basketball in the league right now,” McDermott said of St. John’s. “It came down to one shot against us. If I wouldn’t have hit that shot, it would’ve gone to overtime and who knows what would’ve happened?
“They’re going to be really hungry to play us again. They played really well there the second half. We had them down 18 and they came back and made it a game. They’re playing the best in the league right now and we’re going to have to be ready to match their intensity.”
After an 0-5 start to the Big East season, the Johnnies have won five of six and are flashing the potential they had when many picked them to make the NCAA Tournament.
For St. John’s to have any hope of reaching the Big Dance, they need to continue to run off victories. They may even need to win the Big East Tournament next month on their home floor.
For now, and possibly then, too, McDermott and Creighton stand in their way.
“The first game he got a lot of open shots from the outside,” Sir’Dominic Pointer said. “We just need to communicate better and make it hard for him to score. He’s a real good shooter who can score from the outside and inside, and he’s 6-foot-8 so that makes him an even bigger threat.”
At this point, Creighton, Villanova and Xavier appear to be the only Big East teams safely in the NCAA Tournament, with Providence on the bubble and the Johnnies on the outside looking in.
A lot could be riding on the Big East Tournament next month, where sources said Creighton has already sold over 2,200 tickets.
The folks from Nebraska will have to travel to give their team a homecourt feel in New York.
With Syracuse, Louisville and Pittsburgh gone from the league, tickets are now being sold to the general public for the first time.
For those who do come, it will be a chance to see a rare sight: a projected NBA lottery pick with close to 3,000 points.
A player likely to be the first three-time AP All-American First Team selection in 30 years.
When will we ever see that again?
“All that stuff sounds cool and it will be cool to me when we’re done with the season, but right now I’m not even thinking about it,” McDermott said.
He’s thinking about the next game, and playing in the Big Apple for the first time.
For Dougie McBuckets, the St. John’s game will give him a chance to see, feel and hear the Garden before the league’s 10 team converge in mid-March for the league’s automatic bid to the Big Dance.
“Because none of us have really played there, it’s going to be nice to play there before the tournament,” he said.
“And it stinks that we’re getting such a great team as St. John’s. They’re used to playing there and we’re not, so we’re going to have to be really prepared to go in there for a battle.”
And the Johnnies better prepare for Dougie McBuckets bringing his show to New York.
