Southern Illinois 62, Creighton 48; Creighton 57, Wichita State 55

In a perfect case of good news/bad news, I’ll start with the bad news first.

Last year, after Creighton’s loss at Southern Illinois, it took me almost a week to sum up my feelings for Carbondale, the Salukis, and the Jays’ recent struggles as visitors to Little Egypt.

Again, I had to wait a few days this year, because if I would have written this immediately after the loss it would have been brief and probably full of choice language and colorful imagery.

Last year’s game was close, a 6-point loss, and so was this contest, as the Jays clawed and scratched their way back from an early 10-0 Saluki lead. However, SIU just plays too good of defense to be constantly trying to fight back from large deficits, and the Jays seemed to use all of their energy just to stave off the relentless defensive pressure applied by Tony Young, Jamal Tatum, and Bryan Mullins.

And so again, for another season, Dana Altman saw his team get out rebounded and forced into a higher-than-usual number of turnovers while being lambasted by vicious Saluki fans. Immediately after the game, I asked myself whether or not Altman’s team can win in Carbondale in the foreseeable future.

Sometimes places just start to seem haunted, like nothing will ever go your way. It must be the same way Mark Turgeon feels about Omaha.

Pulling the Plug on the Shockers

That’s right; Wichita State hasn’t won in Omaha since 1994. Couple that with Creighton’s current 14-game home winning streak, and Saturday night’s contest had all of the makings of an entertaining tilt between two of the Valley’s best teams.

At least, that is what Creighton fans thought was going to happen. Midway through the first half, however, I don’t think any Jays fan would tell you things would end in Creighton’s favor.

25-6

Jays fans might look back at that score in mid-March and realize that it defines this 2005-2006 season. At the 5:46 mark of the first half, Creighton was down by 19 points and was shooting a lights-out 10% from the field. Nothing, I mean nothing, was going Creighton’s way. Even in Altman’s worst nightmare, the game might not have started any worse for the Jays, who were entertaining a school-record 15,678 people and a regional television audience.

Someone forgot to tell them the game started at 6 p.m., and not the customary 7 o’clock tip-off. By the time Creighton reached double figures, there was barely 5 minutes left in the half and the crowd was the definition of restless.

Restless because the 15,000-plus came to get loud. There was a buzz among the crowd during warm-ups, and it continued during a stirring rendition of the national anthem by the student section. It was the first Saturday night game since the amazing Dayton double-overtime game, and even then students were back at their respective hometowns for Thanksgiving.

This game was exactly why the Jays play at the Qwest Center. The fan base is strong enough now that more than 10,000 people are going to show up consistently, and this crop of Jays consistently leave them wanting more.

Back to the 19-point deficit. The Jays didn’t defend at all in the first 15 minutes of the half, so over the next 25 minutes they turned the pressure up and stifled a WSU squad that was riding exhilaration and almost disbelief as they build their large lead in the first half.

Creighton outscored the Shox 51-30 over the last 25 minutes of game time, and each minute that passed the crowd grew louder, stood longer, and screamed crazier than the minute before.

And just when all 15,678 didn’t think things could get any better, Anthony Tolliver took everyone for a ride on the A-Train.

Anthony scored 12 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, including the game-winning 15-foot baseline jumper with no time remaining to give the Jays a two-point win. Johnny Mathies drove the lane, drew two defenders, dished to Tolliver, and watched as the A-Train drained the jumper and sent the crowd into a frenzy.

It was an improbable end to a game the Jays seriously needed to defend. If Creighton can hold home court and defeat Southern Illinois when the Salukis visit Omaha in two weeks, Altman’s team can guarantee at least a split with the other three top teams in the conference.

To make up for early road losses to Illinois State and Bradley, however, the Jays will need to beat freshly-ranked Northern Iowa tonight at the Q. A regular season sweep over a top-20 RPI team like the Panthers would go a long way to securing an at-large bid to the Big Dance. Creighton plays four more road games, two against lower-level Valley teams that always play the Jays tough at their respective buildings (Drake and Evansville), and two others at Wichita State and Missouri State, two of the toughest places to play in the conference.

It all starts again tonight against the Panthers, who come to Omaha looking for their first win in the Big O in 10 years. At the beginning of the season, NBA scouts circled this game as a Sioux City Showdown between Nate Funk and Ben Jacobsen. But with Funk out for the rest of the year and Jacobsen below his career levels in most categories, those same scouts just might have to find a seat on the A-Train and buckle up for a rollercoaster of a game.