CU 65, WSU 63; CU 74, UNI 50; CU 72, SIU 53

Captivated at the Q

I know it has been awhile since I last wrote, but there’s good reason. Reasons, actually. First, as you all know, I hate writing after a loss. Luckily, during the past few seasons of putting my thoughts on the web regarding Dana Altman’s Bluejay teams, I have been able to scribe much more victory-inspired memoirs than loss-induced drivel.

Following a gut-wrenching overtime loss to Drake in Omaha and a complete offensive meltdown at Southern Illinois, the Jays promptly went to Des Moines and shot 36% in the first half of the return game against Drake. Nationally-ranked Drake. I know, it still doesn’t read/sound/look correct to find a big number next to the Bulldogs’ name in the paper/web/Sports Center. Creighton stayed in the contest most of the evening, took the lead midway through the second half, but eventually stalled with a few minutes left while DU scored the final 10 points for the win.

That’s right, a three-game losing streak. Not since 2003-2004 had Altman’s Jays suffered back-to-back-to-back defeats. Needless to say, I wasn’t in the mood for putting together any prose. But, there was some light at the end of the tunnel. It involved one of the best guitarists in rock history, a rock-hard Olympian (and a rock-hard Olympian’s husband), the other Qwest Center tenant, and three straight home games for the Bluejays.

9 Days, 6 Nights

Beginning Saturday night, Feb. 2, with a home game against Wichita State and ending after the last few seconds ticked off the clock in a long-evasive home win against SIU on Feb. 10, I went to six events at the Qwest Center in nine days. Let’s take a journey through a week and a half of one of The Slowdown’s repeat customers.

The sight of many parking adventures, Omaha's Slowdown club

Creighton vs. Wichita State (Saturday, 2/2)

If it is possible, you could add the first half against the Shockers to the list of three consecutive losses posted by the Jays. CU scored just 21 points, trailed by 12 going into the locker room, lost the battle of the boards 20-10, and had six of their shots blocked in the first 20 minutes of action. Dane Watts was completely silent in the first half, WSU’s Gal Mekel dribble penetrated at will and scored 10 first half points, and the crowd was agitated with the effort (not to mention the results of the previous three games). A storm was brewing.

The Jays tried to chip away slowly but surely after intermission, but the Shockers had revenge on their minds. With just under 10 minutes to play, WSU scored yet another layup in the paint, Altman took a timeout, and four new Bluejays joined P’Allen Stinnett on the court with CU trailing by 15. It was do-or-die time for Creighton, as the Jays sat squarely in the middle of the pack among Valley teams in the standings and was letting a bottom-division team thoroughly spank them in front of 16,600-plus home fans.

The new nucleus on the floor – Stinnett, Booker Woodfox, Kenton Walker, Casey Harriman, and Cavel Witter (no player with any Division-I game experience coming into this season) – responded. Woodfox drilled a 3-pointer, Stinnett forced a turnover with a steal, Walker had a layup, the Jays took a charge, and then Witter drilled a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 7 after just 3 minutes of game clock had ticked off. By that time, Watts and Chad Millard had rested up for the stretch run, and they subbed in for Walker and Harriman to work for the last few minutes of action. In the end, Watts gave CU its first lead since 13 minutes were left in the first half with a tip-in with 16 seconds to play, then took a charge on the other end and corralled the final rebound at the buzzer to secure another finish indicative of why the Qwest Center has been known for the past four years as the Cardiac Q.

So with that, Wichita State lost in Omaha again. They haven’t won in the Big O since 1992, which is just an amazingly long time. Considering the teams Mark Turgeon brought to Omaha the past 5 or 6 years (featuring the likes of Randy Burns, Jamar Howard, Kyle Wilson, Paul Miller, and P.J. Cousinard), that is astonishing. Not that I’m complaining or anything.

Van Halen (Monday, 2/4)

The Patriots and Giants played the Super Bowl the day after the win against Wichita. You might have seen it. It was a pretty good game.

ANYWAY, the game isn’t what was important. It was the halftime show featuring Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. NOTE: Petty is only 57 years old. He looks at least 15 years older than that. They sounded good, I thought to myself, but I wouldn’t spend a ton of money to see them, no matter how many great songs they’ve recorded.

Then I remembered how much money I had paid a few months ago to get the chance to catch Eddie Van Halen, David Lee Roth, and the rest of one of the most entertaining bands of the late 70s and early 80s hit the Qwest Center Stage the next night. And right after that, I remembered that Eddie Van Halen, arguably one of the greatest guitar players ever, is 53 years old. Would the money be worth it?

From the first guitar chords of “You’ve Really Got Me” to Eddie’s extended guitar showcase toward the end of the night to the very last drum beat of “Jump,” the Van Halen brothers, Roth, and Eddie’s kid Wolfgang brought the house down. Panon and I rocked out, which is kind of funny considering we were both 4 years old when the band released the epic “1984”.

Well worth the money and the quick turnaround to The Phone Booth.

I won't comment on looks, but musically Van Halen have aged well

Creighton vs. Northern Iowa (Tuesday, 2/5)

Fat Tuesday! Time to feast on another team the Jays have completely devoured at home (and on the road for that matter) during the past 10 years. Creighton has lost a total of three games to the Panthers in the past decade, with all three of those losses coming in Cedar Falls. Ever since the Jays lost to UNI in January 2004, they’ve beaten the Panthers eight straight times by an average of nearly 7 points per game.

So, just as they did to Wichita State a few days earlier, Creighton took care of business yet again against a team they’ve pretty much controlled in recent history. But instead of having to claw their way back from a double-digit deficit in the second half like was the case against the Shockers, the Jays opened up a 17-point first-half lead against UNI and didn’t look back. The final score was 74-50, but it could have been much worse. The Jays had a 32-point lead with just under 8 minutes to play, and some hot shooting saved them from a sure 30-point loss.

As the last day of Mardi Gras, excess was in order. P’Allen had the Jays covered in that realm yet again. He scored a career-high 24 points, making 7 of 10 field goal attempts in the first half en route to 17 points in 14 minutes of first-half action. He also pulled down a team-high 6 rebounds on a night when the Jays out-boarded the Purple Kitties 36-27.

The Omaha World-Herald's highlights of the win over UNI

Rebounding was a great concern for Altman and the coaching staff, even more so than usual because of the absolute beating they took on the glass at the hands of the Shockers during the previous contest. To try and make their point in another way, Altman and his staff held an open competition between the California Kids, Kenton Walker and Kenny Lawson, to see who wanted to hit the boards. At stake? The starting nod against UNI. A simple rebound contest, and Walker beat out Lawson, meaning the true freshman earned his first career start. He played 10 total minutes to Lawson’s 16, but the point was clear: both will earn their time and accolades by winning the war for rebounds. It was a message clearly not lost on Lawson, as Jays fans would see in the upcoming tilt against Southern Illinois.

Ash Wednesday (2/6)

No event at The Q tonight; just a lot of ashes and fish. Good stuff.

AVP Hot Winter Nights (Thursday, 2/7)

I dabble in beach volleyball. And by dabble I mean “our team has won less than five total contests in the past two springs and summers combined,” and by beach I mean “the sand in the back parking lot at Barrett’s Barleycorn.” Not blessed with height, speed, nor jumping prowess, it is probably the sport I’m least physically suited to succeed in, even at a recreational level. But what can I say … I love it!

People who are blessed with those physical attributes, not to mention the talent and experience, were in Omaha last week as part of the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) “Hot Winter Nights” tour. The premise is simple: bring the wild and rowdy sport of professional beach volleyball to some of the cities least likely to secure a spot on the summer AVP tour. Omaha definitely hits that target, and the temperature outside as we walked into The Phone Booth for the event was barely in the ‘teens.

So, who were the amazing athletes myself and members of my summer volleyball team saw on this cold winter night? Olympian Holly McPeak, one of just five women worldwide to have completed in all three Olympics in beach volleyball. Jenny Kropp, a local product (Grand Island, NE) who led Nebraska to an NCAA volleyball title in 2000. On the men’s side of the bracket, Jake Gibb, Matt Fuerbringer (a four-time All-American at Stanford), Sean Rosenthal, and Casey Jennings, who is married to one of the most dominant female beach volleyball players of all time, Kerri Walsh (who was in attendance at The Q, too).

Needless to say, these folks put on an exhibition of amazing effort and skill. It was a great way to spend a Thursday night in February, and with the Qwest Center heaters pumping warm air into the building and people in swimsuits cruising around on a huge indoor beach it was hard not to think about summertime. So close, yet so far away, I guess.

What does an Olympian look like? Here's one view of McPeak calling a play

Friday, 2/8

Whew. Catch my breath, save some gas by not driving downtown, and eat more fish. Just another Lenten Friday.

UNO Hockey vs. THE Ohio State University (Saturday, 2/9)

Saturday was a guy’s night out. Sports were on the menu. First, for the appetizer, a group of us went to the Creighton Baseball Steak Fry. This was my first trip to the annual fundraiser, and it certainly won’t be my last. Coach Ed Servais took some time to reflect on last year’s successes and introduce each and every player on this year’s team. Again, the temperature outside didn’t do justice to the fact that Ed’s team will hit the road next week to start their season, one that has a lot of people around the community excited about the possibilities of an extended post season run. This summer marks the 17th anniversary of Jim Hendry’s Creighton baseball team’s appearance in the College World Series. According to this year’s team, a trip to Rosenblatt in June is definitely among their goals.

The appetizer included a hefty portion of steak, which we decided to wash down with a couple Qwest Center Beers and some hockey action. And unlike some of their home games this season, the Mavericks came out on the winning end versus the Buckeyes, posting a 5-2 win and sending us into the rest of our night with yet another solid Phone Booth Performance under our belts for the week.

Creighton vs. Southern Illinois (Sunday, 2/10)

During this epic six-night stand at the local entertainment, the encore was just as it should be: we saved the best for last. Save for the championship game of last year’s Arch Madness tournament in St. Louis, Creighton’s struggles against the Salukis have been well documented here, here, here, here, here, and here. I was getting sick and tired of writing the same recap.

Coming into Sunday night, SIU was undefeated at The Phone Booth. Hate is a strong word, but there are many CU fans that hate Southern Illinois. It was evident Sunday night, and the Jays fed off the crowd’s energy to post one of the most important efforts of this young team’s season.

The Bluejays with some of the least amounts of experience against the Salukis were the ones who led the way to the win. Booker Woodfox was unstoppable with the ball in his hands, scoring 20 points and hitting 7 of 10 shots for the game. I’ll have more on Booker’s meteoric rise in production during the MVC season later this week. While Woodfox was efficient, Stinnett was exuberant. He scored 14 of the most energetic points of his season, which is saying something considering the impressive offensive numbers he’s put up in his freshman campaign. Two huge dunks, a nice three-point basket, and one of the most acrobatic shots I’ve ever seen in a Bluejay uniform.

Something CU fans will see for years to come, a dunk by P'Allen...


... and something you might never see in a basketball game again. Amazing.

Seriously, watch that second video again. That is a 270-degree turn-and-shoot from Stinnett, who continues to amaze all those watching this year’s Bluejay team closely.

Creighton scored 44 points during their road loss at SIU earlier this season. They scored 45 points IN THE FIRST HALF of Sunday’s game. The Jays led by 19 at the break, fought off a mini-run by the Salukis in the second half, and finished the game with a 19-point win. And while Woodfox and Stinnett were amazing, the win marked a milestone for Lawson.

As mentioned previously, Kenny’s been struggling a little bit with consistency issues, especially in rebounding. He earned his starting position back between the UNI and SIU games, and he made his presence felt early and often on both ends of the floor against the Salukis. Lawson scored 9 points and grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds (4 offensive boards) in a career-high 28 minutes of action. He outplayed MVC preseason player of the year Randal Falker, and yet again gave Jays fans reasons to believe that the next three or four seasons of Creighton basketball are going to be like nothing we’ve ever seen before.

----

Life is back to normal, now. The Jays have four of their next five games on the road. The weather’s still cold, and the impending trip to St. Louis is just a figment of my imagination for the next couple of weeks. But my last couple of weeks of using The Q as my second home was great, and believe it or not I’m looking forward to getting back to the blue beacon on the Mighty Missouri next week.