Creighton 73, #24 Xavier 67; Fresno St. 69, Creighton 54
How does it go? “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”?
That pretty much sums up the past couple of weeks for the Creighton Bluejays.
(Sidebar: You might be asking yourself, “Geez, where has this guy been? It’s been like two weeks since Creighton and Xavier played.” Well, I have an excuse — it’s called vacation. And, as for the Fresno Fiasco, as everyone knows I hate writing about losses.)
When I last checked in with you, my cousin was in town for the big weekend showdown against the Xavier Musketeers. He lives in Austin and attended the University of Texas, so he is no stranger to how good Xavier has been in the past (see: Xavier defeating Texas to reach the Elite Eight in 2004). And while this year’s X team might not be in the same category (yet), Xavier has come to embody what a quality basketball program at a Jesuit institution should look like.
But Creighton knows a thing or two about that, too, and everything that is right with the Bluejay basketball program was in full on display in a crucial win at The Phone Booth against the Musketeers. The largest crowd to see a basketball game in the state of Nebraska (ever) packed into the newly expanded Qwest Center, and the atmosphere was electric.
I turned to my cousin during a decisive second-half defensive stand and simply said, “This is how it is supposed to be.” Led by our three rows of Phone Booth Phanatics who sit in front of section 123, our entire area — check that, the entire arena — stood with every defensive stand from the 6 minute mark on. The crowd noise was blistering at times, as it matched Creighton’s defensive intensity in the first half. The Jays held Xavier to just 29% shooting in the first stanza, and took an 8-point lead into the locker room.
And even though Xavier fought back in the second half behind 52% shooting, the Jays did what they had to do; they hit some big shots (none bigger than Nate Funk’s NBA-range three-pointer with the shot clock expiring) and drew fouls (they shot 21 free-throws in the second half, more than X shot for the entire game). Balance was the name of the game, as Dana Altman’s substitutions seemingly paid off every time he went to the bench. Anthony Tolliver (17 points) and Funk (15 points) led the way in the scoring column, but Isacc Miles (9 points), Dane Watts (8 points and 10 rebounds), Nick Porter (7 points), Josh Dotzler (7 points), Nick Bahe (5 points), Ty Morrison (3 points), and Manny Gakou (2 points) all tallied points.
For one Saturday night, all was right for a Creighton team that has struggled out of the gate in almost every game and failed to live up to lofty preseason expectations heaped on them by, well, almost everyone who pays attention to Creighton basketball.
And then, a week later, it all came crashing down.
The above review of the Xavier game is a little tame, considering how exciting the game was and how, at the time, it seemed to destroy some of the badmouthing and depression among fans and pundits about this Jays team.
Had I wrote it immediately in the days following the game, I could have painted beautiful imagery of Morrison’s steal and spinning, fade-away baseline jump shot during a critical point of the game. I could have found illustrative ways to describe the rabid crowd, a group that seems to almost feel cheated by the fact that the Jays have yet to play a complete game so far this season. The Xavier win was the closest they’ve come to it all year, and it was because the effort (especially on the defensive end) was there from the opening tip to when the lights shut down over the First National Bank of Omaha Court.
But, I was in Las Vegas. So, the only imagery I was concerned with was the bright lights and copious amounts of excess one can only experience on Las Vegas Boulevard.
And all things were right in the world. A big win for the Jays to send me out of town on a positive note, sunny weather surrounded by endless sources of entertainment, and even a lucky strike on my first slot machine of the trip. The week was just what I needed.
And, what’s more, we’d get back to Omaha just in time to drive home from the airport and hit up a Christmas party with fellow Jays fans that was planned around watching Creighton’s visit to Fresno State.
And, after two hours of some of the most frustrating basketball I’ve witnessed in awhile, I was seemingly in the same mood as I was following the Dayton Disaster. Where to begin?
Another horrible start to a game offensively (27% shooting in the first half). Wide-open looks from long range for the Bulldogs, who made the Jays pay (8-19 from three-point range in the first half). Numerous Creighton shots blocked or altered in the lane, which kept the Jays from attacking the paint in the post offense for the majority of the evening (Fresno recorded 10 blocked shots).
All of this, and just like in the Nebraska and Dayton losses, Creighton was still in the contest midway through the second half.
It is becoming a torturous cycle of events for this year’s team: Get out to an early deficit, partially because of poor shooting and partially because of big shots falling for the opponent, go on a run right before half to get some momentum back, hit some big shots to open the second frame and get right back in the ball game, and then continue to misfire from the field and turn the ball over down the stretch as the home team capitalizes and records Creighton as a win in their record books.
The Jays tried, but their effort against Fresno didn’t seem to match the intensity of either the Xavier game or Altman’s ranting and raving on the Jays bench during timeouts. They continued their errant shooting — just 31% for the game, including 17% from three-point range (with a big, fat 0% in the second half) — while the Bulldogs hit big three-pointer after big three-pointer (43% on the game, with 13 total makes from beyond the arc).
Rebounding was even, and Fresno turned the ball over more than the Jays, but when it came down to it, the Bulldogs hit big shots, Creighton couldn’t, and the Jays looked to be in slow motion during all of it.
Back to Dickens
Could things be better for the Jays right now? Yes. Could things be worse for the Jays? Yes. They’re spending the week in Hawai’i, so that’s a start. They’re guaranteed three games in three days in the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic, which includes no doubt some time to sit on the beach and relax. News of players-only meetings and renewed vigor at practices this week give hope for Jays fans, but the attitude amongst die-hards surrounding this team is noticeably different (and depressed) from initial feelings from before the season started.
Fans of every ilk need to realize, however, that this team is a couple of made shots away from being 5-2 or 6-1 or 7-0. Have they played below their potential so far through one-quarter of their season? Yes. Are there still a lot of big games they can win? Yes. Are they picking a horrible year to struggle, with the Missouri Valley Conference about as deep as it has ever been in recent memory? Yes. Are fans getting tired of asking these and other questions? Um, yes.
The Xavier game was a taste of what fans expected from this team. And while maybe fans’ expectations were a little high, I think the players would be the first ones to tell you that their final goals and expectations for the season are still intact.
As Tolliver and Funk and others have said all year, they want to be playing their best basketball at the end of the season. And while that’s still certainly attainable (largely due to the fact that they haven’t played great for any sustainable period so far this season), they need to play better now, so that any run they make in February or early March isn’t halted by random selection committees due to inefficiencies suffered in November and December.
Maybe a trip to a warmer climate is just what this team needs. My trip worked out OK; I came back to Omaha a little richer in the pocket and in the soul than I was before I left. Maybe Creighton’s trip will work out similarly; 3-0 and some good effort, anyone?
At this point, it almost needs to.
That pretty much sums up the past couple of weeks for the Creighton Bluejays.
(Sidebar: You might be asking yourself, “Geez, where has this guy been? It’s been like two weeks since Creighton and Xavier played.” Well, I have an excuse — it’s called vacation. And, as for the Fresno Fiasco, as everyone knows I hate writing about losses.)
When I last checked in with you, my cousin was in town for the big weekend showdown against the Xavier Musketeers. He lives in Austin and attended the University of Texas, so he is no stranger to how good Xavier has been in the past (see: Xavier defeating Texas to reach the Elite Eight in 2004). And while this year’s X team might not be in the same category (yet), Xavier has come to embody what a quality basketball program at a Jesuit institution should look like.
But Creighton knows a thing or two about that, too, and everything that is right with the Bluejay basketball program was in full on display in a crucial win at The Phone Booth against the Musketeers. The largest crowd to see a basketball game in the state of Nebraska (ever) packed into the newly expanded Qwest Center, and the atmosphere was electric.
I turned to my cousin during a decisive second-half defensive stand and simply said, “This is how it is supposed to be.” Led by our three rows of Phone Booth Phanatics who sit in front of section 123, our entire area — check that, the entire arena — stood with every defensive stand from the 6 minute mark on. The crowd noise was blistering at times, as it matched Creighton’s defensive intensity in the first half. The Jays held Xavier to just 29% shooting in the first stanza, and took an 8-point lead into the locker room.
And even though Xavier fought back in the second half behind 52% shooting, the Jays did what they had to do; they hit some big shots (none bigger than Nate Funk’s NBA-range three-pointer with the shot clock expiring) and drew fouls (they shot 21 free-throws in the second half, more than X shot for the entire game). Balance was the name of the game, as Dana Altman’s substitutions seemingly paid off every time he went to the bench. Anthony Tolliver (17 points) and Funk (15 points) led the way in the scoring column, but Isacc Miles (9 points), Dane Watts (8 points and 10 rebounds), Nick Porter (7 points), Josh Dotzler (7 points), Nick Bahe (5 points), Ty Morrison (3 points), and Manny Gakou (2 points) all tallied points.
For one Saturday night, all was right for a Creighton team that has struggled out of the gate in almost every game and failed to live up to lofty preseason expectations heaped on them by, well, almost everyone who pays attention to Creighton basketball.
And then, a week later, it all came crashing down.
The above review of the Xavier game is a little tame, considering how exciting the game was and how, at the time, it seemed to destroy some of the badmouthing and depression among fans and pundits about this Jays team.
Had I wrote it immediately in the days following the game, I could have painted beautiful imagery of Morrison’s steal and spinning, fade-away baseline jump shot during a critical point of the game. I could have found illustrative ways to describe the rabid crowd, a group that seems to almost feel cheated by the fact that the Jays have yet to play a complete game so far this season. The Xavier win was the closest they’ve come to it all year, and it was because the effort (especially on the defensive end) was there from the opening tip to when the lights shut down over the First National Bank of Omaha Court.
But, I was in Las Vegas. So, the only imagery I was concerned with was the bright lights and copious amounts of excess one can only experience on Las Vegas Boulevard.
And all things were right in the world. A big win for the Jays to send me out of town on a positive note, sunny weather surrounded by endless sources of entertainment, and even a lucky strike on my first slot machine of the trip. The week was just what I needed.
And, what’s more, we’d get back to Omaha just in time to drive home from the airport and hit up a Christmas party with fellow Jays fans that was planned around watching Creighton’s visit to Fresno State.
And, after two hours of some of the most frustrating basketball I’ve witnessed in awhile, I was seemingly in the same mood as I was following the Dayton Disaster. Where to begin?
Another horrible start to a game offensively (27% shooting in the first half). Wide-open looks from long range for the Bulldogs, who made the Jays pay (8-19 from three-point range in the first half). Numerous Creighton shots blocked or altered in the lane, which kept the Jays from attacking the paint in the post offense for the majority of the evening (Fresno recorded 10 blocked shots).
All of this, and just like in the Nebraska and Dayton losses, Creighton was still in the contest midway through the second half.
It is becoming a torturous cycle of events for this year’s team: Get out to an early deficit, partially because of poor shooting and partially because of big shots falling for the opponent, go on a run right before half to get some momentum back, hit some big shots to open the second frame and get right back in the ball game, and then continue to misfire from the field and turn the ball over down the stretch as the home team capitalizes and records Creighton as a win in their record books.
The Jays tried, but their effort against Fresno didn’t seem to match the intensity of either the Xavier game or Altman’s ranting and raving on the Jays bench during timeouts. They continued their errant shooting — just 31% for the game, including 17% from three-point range (with a big, fat 0% in the second half) — while the Bulldogs hit big three-pointer after big three-pointer (43% on the game, with 13 total makes from beyond the arc).
Rebounding was even, and Fresno turned the ball over more than the Jays, but when it came down to it, the Bulldogs hit big shots, Creighton couldn’t, and the Jays looked to be in slow motion during all of it.
Back to Dickens
Could things be better for the Jays right now? Yes. Could things be worse for the Jays? Yes. They’re spending the week in Hawai’i, so that’s a start. They’re guaranteed three games in three days in the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic, which includes no doubt some time to sit on the beach and relax. News of players-only meetings and renewed vigor at practices this week give hope for Jays fans, but the attitude amongst die-hards surrounding this team is noticeably different (and depressed) from initial feelings from before the season started.
Fans of every ilk need to realize, however, that this team is a couple of made shots away from being 5-2 or 6-1 or 7-0. Have they played below their potential so far through one-quarter of their season? Yes. Are there still a lot of big games they can win? Yes. Are they picking a horrible year to struggle, with the Missouri Valley Conference about as deep as it has ever been in recent memory? Yes. Are fans getting tired of asking these and other questions? Um, yes.
The Xavier game was a taste of what fans expected from this team. And while maybe fans’ expectations were a little high, I think the players would be the first ones to tell you that their final goals and expectations for the season are still intact.
As Tolliver and Funk and others have said all year, they want to be playing their best basketball at the end of the season. And while that’s still certainly attainable (largely due to the fact that they haven’t played great for any sustainable period so far this season), they need to play better now, so that any run they make in February or early March isn’t halted by random selection committees due to inefficiencies suffered in November and December.
Maybe a trip to a warmer climate is just what this team needs. My trip worked out OK; I came back to Omaha a little richer in the pocket and in the soul than I was before I left. Maybe Creighton’s trip will work out similarly; 3-0 and some good effort, anyone?
At this point, it almost needs to.
posted by Creighton Otter at 12:03 PM
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