Wyoming 68, Creighton 64

There are numerous benefits of my dad and I having season tickets three rows behind the visiting team’s bench. Obviously, I am close to the game action. But there are other advantages to close seats: watching the opposing players interact with each other, meeting some of the diehard fans that travel to Omaha following their team, and even witnessing the players trying to flirt with the Creighton dance team.

There are really only two times when the proximity of our seats backfires; when the opponents are playing well enough that the bench players stand and obstruct the view of the south side of the court, and when a visiting team leaves the Qwest Center with a victory, dancing and laughing and congratulating on their way to the locker room. Surprisingly enough, all of those things happened last night against Wyoming.

There was the good and the bad last night, along with the ugly. More than 12,000 people packed into the Q last night, marking the largest crowd of the season. They saw a loss to a Wyoming team missing their best player due to injury and that turned the ball over 25 times. That wasn’t even the ugly: the Jays lost by four points and missed 10 free throws (57%), shot 32% from the field, and hit only 7 of 25 three-point shots (28%). Oh, and they were out rebounded by 20 (50-30).

However, the Jays could have won the game. Led by Tyler McKinney, the Jays dished out 15 assists and only committed nine turnovers. Jeffery Day showed some solid offensive moves, taking what the sizeable Cowboy frontline gave him and knocking down a couple of medium-range jump shots. But the lack of offensive execution was too much to overcome. The Jays started cold from the field and became hesitant from the perimeter.

And don’t discredit how Wyoming played – beyond those 25 turnovers is a team that caused numerous match up problems with their height and rebounding skills. Wyoming’s starters made the most of their minutes, scoring all but three of the Cowboy points. Oh, and they blocked eight Bluejay shot attempts (6’11” forward Justin Williams redirected seven himself). But you get a sense that had the Jays not started so slowly offensively, the outcome would have been different.

I’ve only seen four teams run past our seats at the Q celebrating a victory over Creighton, and it doesn’t get any easier after each time. This team will bounce back – Dana Altman would expect nothing less. Plus, this Jays team can’t shoot THIS bad in too many more home games this season, can they? I’d bet our seats on no.

Thoughts…

• Jeffony Tolliday played 30 minutes, scoring 17 points and pulling down eight rebounds. Jeffery Day did most of the damage, scoring 13 points in 15 minutes and adding a blocked shot and two steals while playing his most aggressive defense of the season. That aggressiveness cost Day though, and he fouled out with just less than five minutes to play. His minutes were solid, and hopefully he will apply the same force and urgency as the season moves forward.
  
  
• Dane Watts experienced his most vivid freshman moment of the season, and unfortunately his woes on the court last night snowballed from unfortunate to unlucky. After making a solid move to the basket and throwing down a dunk early in the first half, the referees called a technical foul on Watts for hanging on the rim. I won’t comment on the call, but any Jays fan feels the same way about it. After that, Watts took nothing but open shots (16 total) and missed almost all of them (including 0-5 from beyond the arc). He has a fluid, natural shooting motion but the shots were just not falling. It was encouraging to see him shoot through his woes, because he is only going to get better
  
  
• Junior college transfer Nick Porter didn’t see playing time after being cleared to compete after recovering from knee surgery. Many in attendance were looking forward to seeing Porter, a physical guard with a reputation for creating his own shots, but Jays fans will have to wait until at least Wednesday to see Porter’s first action as a Jay.

Next Game

Creighton needs to bounce back and start Missouri Valley Conference play on the right foot, and the Jays travel to Evansville to take on the Purple Aces. The Jays have not played well in their last two games at Roberts Stadium, and Evansville has improved under head coach Steve Merfeld. Altman will need big games from guards Nate Funk and Kellen Miliner offensively and on defense, but the most important contribution will come from the frontline. For the Jays to succeed this year, they need to improve their rebounding and their offense in the post. And it needs to start in Indiana.