Creighton 82, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 50

“Rebound That Basketball!”

It is a simple command, heard far and wide in high school gyms across this country. Cheerleaders yell it with vigor. Student sections playfully take the pom squad’s lead and repeat the cheer in unison.

But you can imagine that Dana Altman, Brian Fish, Darren DeVries, and the other Creighton coaches are screaming it with a little different tone today at practice after last night’s 32-point win against the Golden Lions of Arkansas-Pine Bluff (click here for video highlights from the Omaha World-Herald Web site).

In getting beat on the board by 10 rebounds against a team they should have owned in that area of play, the Jays displayed about as much energy and passion for boxing out and boarding as the following cheerleader shows for her cheer. Which is to say, not much.


Could she be less excited about that cheer?

Creighton players must get sick of hearing about defense and rebounding. I’m sure the fans do. And I’m more than sure Altman gets sick about having to repeat himself constantly about the importance of controlling the things you can control in a game: effort, defensive execution, and effective rebounding.

But there he was after the game, talking to T. Scott Marr and Nick Bahe on the post-game radio show about how much further his team needs to go in order to adequately box out. Defensively, he was happy to some degree with the energy and effort Jays like Cavel Witter (career-high 4 steals), Kenton Walker (career-high 4 blocked shots), and Justin Carter brought to the court last night. Creighton forced 30 turnovers and tied a school record with 18 steals. They held UAPB to just 32% shooting (13% from 3-point range).

Check out this blog about legendary coach John Wooden’s keys to rebounding. Interesting stuff. To paraphrase, each offseason Wooden would pick one aspect of the game and conduct a research and development project about the subject. He crunched the data, analyzed the numbers, and found that the coaches of great rebounding teams taught three common techniques/ideas about boarding:

• Assume every shot is missed
• Get your hands up
• Go get the ball

Is it that easy? I think the Jays will probably find out as they continue to practice that part of the game repeatedly during the season. As Bahe said just before signing off at the end of the post-game radio show, “the lack of rebounding is going to cost you a game. It isn’t a matter of if, it is a matter of when. Hopefully these guys can get it figured out quickly so it doesn’t come back to hurt them in one of these next few games.”

OK, enough of the doom and gloom. While the game was a bit slow to progress, given the frequent whistles and fouls, the Jays did some good things offensively (and as previously mentioned, defensively in spurts). Let’s take a quick look:

• Coming off 30 point and 26 point nights, respectively, P’Allen Stinnett and Booker Woodfox were a bit cold from the field. They were a combined 3-15 from the floor, with all of Stinnett’s points coming from the free throw line (9-11 from the stripe).
  
  Others stepped up to pick up the slack. Cavel Witter had what Altman called “one of his best games ever,” scoring 15 points (5-7 from the field) and recording the aforementioned 4 steals.
  
  
• Both members of the Kalifornia Konnection had solid offensive nights, too. Kenny Lawson got the start and recorded 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals. Kenton Walker poured in 10 points, too, and added 5 rebounds and his 4 blocked shots. So that’s 40 minutes, 20 points, 8 rebounds, 5 blocks, and 2 steals. Solid combination for the second game of the season.
  
  
• Justin Carter looked much more comfortable on the court. He was 5-6 from the field and 3-4 from the free throw line, good for 13 points. He also pulled down 4 rebounds, dished 2 assists, and snagged a steal. It is only a matter of time before he takes over a game. I promise.
  
  
• Antoine Young, the freshman point guard from Bellevue West, logged 22 minutes of action. In two games, he’s averaged 16 minutes of court time. That is invaluable as Young learns how to direct an offense he’ll be asked to know inside and out and execute at a high level as soon as next year. Physically, he’s as gifted as any point guard to play at Creighton since I can remember (mid-80s). Sure, he tries to do too much offensively, but what freshman doesn’t?
  
  
• In fact, no Bluejay played more than 22 minutes last night. Chad Millard didn’t play because of the effects of the concussion he suffered on Sunday against New Mexico. And Josh Jones didn’t play because he is a redshirt candidate. But Dustin Sitzman even saw time (and his name in the scoring column) against the Golden Lions.
  

Altman rolled out a lot of different lineups, got everyone some minutes, and the overall outcome was what you would expect in for a CU-UAPB game (like here and here and here).

But the rebounding wasn’t. And that is concerning.