ORLANDO, Fla. — As comebacks go, Xavier’s Jordan Crawford had a nice one Friday against Creighton.

The day after he missed 16 of 20 shots in a loss to Marquette, Crawford converted 8 of 12 attempts from the field in scoring 22 points in the Musketeers’ 80-67 win at the Old Spice Classic. Four of Crawford’s baskets came on five shots from 3-point range after he had been 0 for 3 from beyond the arc Thursday.

Crawford insisted he had one thing on his mind when he showed up Friday at Disney’s Milk House, and it had nothing to do with his lack of individual success in the 71-61 loss to Marquette.

“We had to win this game,’’ he said. “Me going 4 of 20 wasn’t as big as us losing and how we played that game. Yesterday, we were lackadaisical on defense and selfish on offense. We needed to come out and play as a team on both ends.’’

Against Creighton, Xavier was brutally efficient on offense and tenacious on defense. The Musketeers took 54 shots — 13 fewer than the Bluejays — but converted 29 for 53.7 percent shooting. They continually beat Creighton down the court in transition, resulting in easy baskets that propelled them to a fast start.

Defensively, Xavier’s halfcourt pressure pushed the Bluejays away from the basket and never allowed Creighton’s attack to get into sync.

“Our ball movement was just not very good, and we just didn’t handle the ball,’’ Creighton coach Dana Altman said. “In the first half, we had some bad turnovers but I just didn’t like our ball movement all day.’’

The Bluejays’ movement, in general, left a lot to be desired. A day after taking No. 15 Michigan to the wire before dropping an 83-76 decision in overtime, Creighton lacked energy in transitioning from offense to defense.

“The most frustrating thing was that we gave up too many easy buckets,’’ Creighton forward Justin Carter said. “Giving up 80 points is just not acceptable at any point in time.’’

The Bluejays, now 2-3, will have until Sunday to try to work out some of their defensive shortcomings. The loss dropped Creighton into the 9 a.m. seventh-place game against Baylor.

Altman admitted defense is a major concern right now. The Bluejays gave up 90 points to Dayton in their season opener. Xavier could have pressed that mark but scored only three points in the final five minutes.

“We’re giving up a lot of baskets, and part of that is our style getting up and down,’’ Altman said. “Shooting percentage is what we’re looking at, and 50 percent is not the number we’re striving for.’’

Xavier’s field-goal percentage, which included 9-of-18 accuracy from 3-point range, was a season high for a Creighton opponent. The Bluejays also allowed Dayton to make 49.3 percent of its field-goal attempts.

“It’s not our defense at halfcourt that we’re having problems with, but it’s our transition defense,’’ forward Ethan Wragge said. “That’s an effort thing that we’ll fix.’’

Wragge was one of the few bright spots for the Bluejays. The 6-foot-7 freshman from Edina, Minn., had career highs of 21 points and six rebounds to lead the Bluejays. He also showed scrappiness in diving to the floor to pick up a steal.

Creighton also got 20 solid minutes from freshman point guard Andrew Bock. A day after not getting off the bench against Michigan, Bock had four points, one assist and no turnovers.

“I thought Andrew did OK for the limited amount of minutes he’s received this year,’’ Altman said. “He moved the ball and got it going pretty good, and that’s something he can build on.

“I thought our two freshmen were good today. Ethan worked hard. Everyone will look at his points, but he was our leading rebounder and he moved around on defense. When you talk about 17 good minutes, he had them.’’

Wragge scored Creighton’s final five points of the first half, including a 3-point basket at the buzzer, to trim a Xavier lead that had been 14 with 1:27 to play to 39-31. Darryl Ashford’s tip-in got Creighton within six points on the first possession of the second half but that was as close as the Bluejays would get.

Xavier countered with a 7-0 run, capped by a Crawford 3-pointer, to push the lead back to 13. Creighton cut its deficit to 49-42 when Wragge made a 3-point shot with 14:52 left but Xavier scored the next six points.

The Musketeers sealed the deal with a 10-2 spurt midway through the half. Crawford started it with a jumper and a 3-pointer, Jamel McLean beat Creighton’s defense down the floor for a dunk and Dante Jackson nailed another shot from beyond the arc for a 68-49 lead with 9:49 to play.

“We came out and played with more energy, especially on the defensive end,’’ Xavier coach Chris Mack said. “I thought in the second half that our guys did not play the score but continued to play defense the way we asked.’’

The result was that Xavier held Creighton to a season-low 38.8 percent shooting from the field. The Bluejays’ 30.8-percent accuracy from 3-point range matched their low Thursday against Michigan.

Carter and Kenny Lawson each added 10 points for Creighton. Wragge made 5 of 11 shots from beyond the arc but the rest of the Bluejays were 3 of 15.

“We’re just not hitting shots,’’ Altman said.

• Xavier 80, Creighton 67

Contact the writer:

679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com

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