Creighton 77, Evansville 59; Creighton 68, Wichita St. 65
Rebounding and Defense
If you’ve heard Dana Altman say it once, you’ve heard him say it a million times; his Bluejays teams always must play better defense and rebound more passionately. Heck, if Big Sports 590 AM or T. Scott Marr himself wanted to sell a new sponsorship of Altman’s post-game interview, a home security company or online dating service just might be the right marketers for the segment. No matter if his team wins by 2 or 20, Altman consistently speaks to Jays fans driving home from the Qwest Center or listening on the couch after road games about the need for bending knees and banging for boards.
But these are his players; they’re the players he’s being paid handsomely to coach and teach and make better. And for most of the game against the Jays, it actually looked like it was working. The crowd was in a frenzy, the Shockers hit two end-of-shot-clock jump shots in the first 10 minutes of the game, and even though the Jays were hot from the field you got a sense the Shockers were going to bring all they could to deny the Jays their continued emphasis on rebounding and defense.
The game went back and forth through the first 30 minutes of action. With 11 minutes to play, WSU tied the game for the eleventh time, a fortune that would be short lived. The next time down the court, Josh Dotzler hit a shot. Then, Shocker Wendell Preadom committed a foul, causing Marshall to fling his suit jacket off in disgust and orchestrate a few arm motions toward the officials.
Bingo. Technical foul. Open the flood gates.
Two technical free throws by Nick Bahe. Two free throws by Dotzler. A three-pointer by Dane Watts. A blocked shot by Watts. A basket by Cavel Witter. A jump shot by P’Allen Stinnett. Another bucket by Witter.
Twelve point lead. Just like that, in 5 minutes of action, the Jays led by a dozen. Marshall had egg on his face, with the CU run occurring immediately after his childish technical. Just like the Missouri State game the home team would storm back, partially because of some horrible mistakes and untimely personal fouls by the Bluejays and partially because of some long-range masterpieces from P.J. Couisnard and Mantas Griskenas. With just under 2 minutes to play, the game was tied again.
But the defense and rebounding continued, and when it mattered most the Jays headed Altman’s advice and won the way he knows teams must, especially on the road — grabbing boards and hitting the deck. After missing a shot, Stinnett tracked down his own miss for an offensive board and was fouled on the put-back attempt (missed the shot). He calmly hit two free throws (just like he did all night a week previous against Barry Hinson’s Bears). He took a charge during the last two minutes of the game, as well. And when the Jays needed a stop, Dotzler stole an errant pass from WSU’s Gal Mekel and went coast-to-coast for the lay-up to put the Jays up by 4. Dotzler would foul Mekel, leading to two free throws, but Stinnett would score the final point of the night from the free-throw line, the Jays defended the final shot attempt by the Shockers, and cheered their way off the floor with a three-point lead.
Rebounding and defense. Defense and rebounding. Altman wouldn’t have it any other way. And with his players seemingly buying in to those philosophies, an emblematic rise back to the top one-third of the MVC standings has taken place.
Your “Two-for-Tuesday Rock Block” Bonus Blog: I’m going to try something different during tonight’s game versus Northern Iowa. With it being on a Tuesday (boring), on the road in the middle of Iowa (boring), and on national television (ESPN2 … the opposite of boring), I’m going to pull a “Bill Simmons” and record an in-game diary of all the action.
Scratch that. Delete “diary” and replace it with “analysis and witty banter”. It sounds much more masculine. I guess.
If you’ve heard Dana Altman say it once, you’ve heard him say it a million times; his Bluejays teams always must play better defense and rebound more passionately. Heck, if Big Sports 590 AM or T. Scott Marr himself wanted to sell a new sponsorship of Altman’s post-game interview, a home security company or online dating service just might be the right marketers for the segment. No matter if his team wins by 2 or 20, Altman consistently speaks to Jays fans driving home from the Qwest Center or listening on the couch after road games about the need for bending knees and banging for boards.
Altman's gotta be pumped up by his team's rebound from a 0-2 MVC start
So while Altman’s Jays actually lost the battle of the boards against Evansville (41-39) and barely edged Wichita State in the same category (27-26), metaphorically the Jays continue to elevate their rebounding effort. You see, after posting a near-perfect 9-1 start to the season, the Jays were knocked down a branch or two to start the Missouri Valley Conference season. Losses at home to Illinois State and on the road to Indiana State served as a violent wake-up call to a young team that may or may not have gotten ahead of itself in terms of “Bracketology” projections and other such post-season non-sense. But what has occurred since is a mixture of natural talent, peer leadership, and experienced and proven coaching methods, all leading to a three-game rebound.
The first step was as difficult as it was exciting; executing 25 minutes of inspired, heady, and enthusiastic team play against Missouri State, bracing for the inevitable run by the home team, and then riding the clutch performance of your star freshman to win by one point. Figuratively, all of Altman’s players answered the challenge and elevated their effort to rebound — not the ball, per se, but their season. Going 0-3 to start MVC play would have been tantamount to disaster; just ask the Bradley Braves.
Adding Black and Blue to the Purple Aces
So last Wednesday, when the Purple Aces arrived on the Jays’ home court, the symbolic rebounding effort had to be there, but so did something else: defense. Not the kind that comes with sliding feet to get into position or getting a hand on a steal or taking a charge; defense of momentum, of the home court.
Don’t get me wrong, the literal kind of defense is good, too. In fact, that’s what triggered the win against Evansville. The Aces shot just 38% in the first half, and Creighton blocked 2 of their shots, stole the ball 5 times, and forced 7 turnovers. It got even better in the second half, once the Jays started hitting a few more shots and getting some explosive play off of Evansville turnovers. They forced 12 more EU turnovers, blocked 7 more shots (Kenny Lawson Jr. had 3 and Kenton Walker had 2 in the second half), and recorded 7 more steals while holding the Aces to sub-40% shooting again.
The Jays defended the momentum they seized on the road at Missouri State, and the rebound from the inauspicious start to conference play continued. The sweet home cooking back in Omaha would end soon enough, however, as the team would leave for its third road game in four contests.
The first step was as difficult as it was exciting; executing 25 minutes of inspired, heady, and enthusiastic team play against Missouri State, bracing for the inevitable run by the home team, and then riding the clutch performance of your star freshman to win by one point. Figuratively, all of Altman’s players answered the challenge and elevated their effort to rebound — not the ball, per se, but their season. Going 0-3 to start MVC play would have been tantamount to disaster; just ask the Bradley Braves.
Adding Black and Blue to the Purple Aces
So last Wednesday, when the Purple Aces arrived on the Jays’ home court, the symbolic rebounding effort had to be there, but so did something else: defense. Not the kind that comes with sliding feet to get into position or getting a hand on a steal or taking a charge; defense of momentum, of the home court.
Don’t get me wrong, the literal kind of defense is good, too. In fact, that’s what triggered the win against Evansville. The Aces shot just 38% in the first half, and Creighton blocked 2 of their shots, stole the ball 5 times, and forced 7 turnovers. It got even better in the second half, once the Jays started hitting a few more shots and getting some explosive play off of Evansville turnovers. They forced 12 more EU turnovers, blocked 7 more shots (Kenny Lawson Jr. had 3 and Kenton Walker had 2 in the second half), and recorded 7 more steals while holding the Aces to sub-40% shooting again.
The Jays defended the momentum they seized on the road at Missouri State, and the rebound from the inauspicious start to conference play continued. The sweet home cooking back in Omaha would end soon enough, however, as the team would leave for its third road game in four contests.
Lawson has cracked the starting lineup and made a difference defensively against EU...
... While Walker is blocking shots and providing energy in limited back-up minutes
Worked Up In Wichita
Speaking of a team needing to rebound, I present to you the Wichita State Shockers. Nope, not the team led by fearless former head coach Mark Turgeon. Not the team that went to the Sweet 16 just a few seasons ago. A team without the “Walking Afro,” Sean Ogirri. A team without Kyle Wilson, who hit big shot after big shot after big shot against the Jays in his time as a Shocker. No, this is Gregg Marshall’s team. Or maybe it isn’t.
You see, in the days leading up to the showdown against the Shockers, much was made locally in Omaha about the behavior of the new Head Wheat Shocker as it relates to his, errr, grace under fire. With his team 8-7 coming into the weekend and with just one win in conference play, Marshall has been critical of his team’s play and its talent. He had voiced his displeasure with his current players publicly a few times, including jabbing remarks about how these players aren’t “his guys” and that if he had his kinds of players here right now the team would be faring much better.
This was a familiar sight Saturday night, except Marshall was a bit more, um "emotional"
But these are his players; they’re the players he’s being paid handsomely to coach and teach and make better. And for most of the game against the Jays, it actually looked like it was working. The crowd was in a frenzy, the Shockers hit two end-of-shot-clock jump shots in the first 10 minutes of the game, and even though the Jays were hot from the field you got a sense the Shockers were going to bring all they could to deny the Jays their continued emphasis on rebounding and defense.
The game went back and forth through the first 30 minutes of action. With 11 minutes to play, WSU tied the game for the eleventh time, a fortune that would be short lived. The next time down the court, Josh Dotzler hit a shot. Then, Shocker Wendell Preadom committed a foul, causing Marshall to fling his suit jacket off in disgust and orchestrate a few arm motions toward the officials.
Bingo. Technical foul. Open the flood gates.
Two technical free throws by Nick Bahe. Two free throws by Dotzler. A three-pointer by Dane Watts. A blocked shot by Watts. A basket by Cavel Witter. A jump shot by P’Allen Stinnett. Another bucket by Witter.
Twelve point lead. Just like that, in 5 minutes of action, the Jays led by a dozen. Marshall had egg on his face, with the CU run occurring immediately after his childish technical. Just like the Missouri State game the home team would storm back, partially because of some horrible mistakes and untimely personal fouls by the Bluejays and partially because of some long-range masterpieces from P.J. Couisnard and Mantas Griskenas. With just under 2 minutes to play, the game was tied again.
But the defense and rebounding continued, and when it mattered most the Jays headed Altman’s advice and won the way he knows teams must, especially on the road — grabbing boards and hitting the deck. After missing a shot, Stinnett tracked down his own miss for an offensive board and was fouled on the put-back attempt (missed the shot). He calmly hit two free throws (just like he did all night a week previous against Barry Hinson’s Bears). He took a charge during the last two minutes of the game, as well. And when the Jays needed a stop, Dotzler stole an errant pass from WSU’s Gal Mekel and went coast-to-coast for the lay-up to put the Jays up by 4. Dotzler would foul Mekel, leading to two free throws, but Stinnett would score the final point of the night from the free-throw line, the Jays defended the final shot attempt by the Shockers, and cheered their way off the floor with a three-point lead.
Stinnett’s all-around gems against EU and WSU earned him MVC Newcomer of the Week honors … for the second week in a row and the third time this season.
Rebounding and defense. Defense and rebounding. Altman wouldn’t have it any other way. And with his players seemingly buying in to those philosophies, an emblematic rise back to the top one-third of the MVC standings has taken place.
Your “Two-for-Tuesday Rock Block” Bonus Blog: I’m going to try something different during tonight’s game versus Northern Iowa. With it being on a Tuesday (boring), on the road in the middle of Iowa (boring), and on national television (ESPN2 … the opposite of boring), I’m going to pull a “Bill Simmons” and record an in-game diary of all the action.
Scratch that. Delete “diary” and replace it with “analysis and witty banter”. It sounds much more masculine. I guess.
posted by Creighton Otter at 7:44 AM
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