Creighton 82, Mississippi Valley State 58
Back to Basics
It has been a turbulent week on the Hilltop. Sandwiched between an 87-69 win over Oral Roberts and last night’s 24-point victory against the Delta Devils was a big gooey mess of weak rebounding, extended offensive droughts, and two 2-point road losses. And while P’Allen Stinnett usually brings a little bit of mustard to his play, whatever behind-the-scenes issues he needed to resolve with Dana Altman and the rest of the Jays served as the stinky cheese on a losing streak sandwich.
Is there a better way to get back to basics – and most importantly, winning – than playing a winless school from a small conference at home? That’s one of the reasons 15,748 Jays fans showed up on a mild December evening; another, presumably, was to see how Stinnett would react after playing so poorly against Arkansas-Little Rock and sitting out the loss against Nebraska.
Stinnett didn’t start, but he entered the game with just under 17 minutes to play in the first half and swiftly went to work trying to single handedly correct some of his and his teammates’ shortcomings evident since the beginning of the year. He grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on the subsequent put-back attempt just seconds after checking in. He played 11 minutes in the half, scored 11 points, grabbed 2 rebounds, and didn’t commit a turnover. He was equally efficient in the second half, scoring 7 points in 8 minutes of action. All told, his 19 minutes featured a palpable defensive energy that makes Stinnett arguably Creighton’s best defender when he is engaged in the game.
Play with defensive energy. Funny, that seems to be what Altman preached before, during, and after every one of the Jays’ previous 5 games. It is one of those basics that the players can control. Creighton forced 26 Delta Devil turnovers and recorded 12 steals. The Jays turned those 26 mistakes into 31 points, while the Delta Devils could only capitalize on 16 Jays turnovers to the tune of 9 points. And after a first half that found MVSU shooting 48% from the field, CU buckled down to get more stops and held their opponents to 32% shooting in the second stanza of play.
Make the simple play. Get your teammates a good look. These too are mantra gutturally yelled by coaches at every level of basketball. Think Altman’s players, both now and in the past, have heard those commands before? Creighton dished out assists for 22 of their 27 made field goals against Mississippi Valley State. Josh Dotzler (6 assists), Cavel Witter (5 assists), and Antoine Young (3 assists), Creighton’s three primary floor captains, recorded 14 of the 22 dimes.
Bend your knees. Fly to the basketball. Get a rebound. After getting killed on the glass in Little Rock and winning the battle of the boards against an undersized Huskers squad, the Jays needed a rousing rebounding performance against the Delta Devils. They got one, if not by the team as a whole but by sophomore post man Kenton Walker.
It has been a turbulent week on the Hilltop. Sandwiched between an 87-69 win over Oral Roberts and last night’s 24-point victory against the Delta Devils was a big gooey mess of weak rebounding, extended offensive droughts, and two 2-point road losses. And while P’Allen Stinnett usually brings a little bit of mustard to his play, whatever behind-the-scenes issues he needed to resolve with Dana Altman and the rest of the Jays served as the stinky cheese on a losing streak sandwich.
Is there a better way to get back to basics – and most importantly, winning – than playing a winless school from a small conference at home? That’s one of the reasons 15,748 Jays fans showed up on a mild December evening; another, presumably, was to see how Stinnett would react after playing so poorly against Arkansas-Little Rock and sitting out the loss against Nebraska.
Stinnett didn’t start, but he entered the game with just under 17 minutes to play in the first half and swiftly went to work trying to single handedly correct some of his and his teammates’ shortcomings evident since the beginning of the year. He grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on the subsequent put-back attempt just seconds after checking in. He played 11 minutes in the half, scored 11 points, grabbed 2 rebounds, and didn’t commit a turnover. He was equally efficient in the second half, scoring 7 points in 8 minutes of action. All told, his 19 minutes featured a palpable defensive energy that makes Stinnett arguably Creighton’s best defender when he is engaged in the game.
Play with defensive energy. Funny, that seems to be what Altman preached before, during, and after every one of the Jays’ previous 5 games. It is one of those basics that the players can control. Creighton forced 26 Delta Devil turnovers and recorded 12 steals. The Jays turned those 26 mistakes into 31 points, while the Delta Devils could only capitalize on 16 Jays turnovers to the tune of 9 points. And after a first half that found MVSU shooting 48% from the field, CU buckled down to get more stops and held their opponents to 32% shooting in the second stanza of play.
Make the simple play. Get your teammates a good look. These too are mantra gutturally yelled by coaches at every level of basketball. Think Altman’s players, both now and in the past, have heard those commands before? Creighton dished out assists for 22 of their 27 made field goals against Mississippi Valley State. Josh Dotzler (6 assists), Cavel Witter (5 assists), and Antoine Young (3 assists), Creighton’s three primary floor captains, recorded 14 of the 22 dimes.
Bend your knees. Fly to the basketball. Get a rebound. After getting killed on the glass in Little Rock and winning the battle of the boards against an undersized Huskers squad, the Jays needed a rousing rebounding performance against the Delta Devils. They got one, if not by the team as a whole but by sophomore post man Kenton Walker.
Congrats to Kenton Walker for his first double-double
Sure, the Creighton outrebounded MSVU 36-34, but it was Walker’s 10-carom night leading the way. Add his 10 points to these 10 boards and Walker recorded his first career double-double. That’s quite a feat, considering no active CU player had a double-double to his name before last night, and only one Jay (Kenny Lawson) had any double-figure rebounding nights. In fact, Creighton’s last double-double came from Dane Watts (last February at Bradley).
Could things have been better? You bet. The free throw shooting left much to be desired (19-32 for 59%). Those 16 turnovers are still higher than the coaches and players would like. And following a solid performance against Nebraska and on the night of his first career start, Kaleb Korver couldn’t get any of his shots to fall and was the only Bluejay held scoreless. But Dustin Sitzmann scored. The crowd got pizza. Everyone left happy.
And now the Jays are the ones who leave, this time to the City of Brotherly Love. They’ll take on St. Joseph’s on Saturday night, a team that will compete with Dayton (CU’s next opponent) and Xavier for the top spot in the Atlantic 10 Conference. If they can focus on the basics, Creighton’s third road game might turn out a bit different than their first two.
Could things have been better? You bet. The free throw shooting left much to be desired (19-32 for 59%). Those 16 turnovers are still higher than the coaches and players would like. And following a solid performance against Nebraska and on the night of his first career start, Kaleb Korver couldn’t get any of his shots to fall and was the only Bluejay held scoreless. But Dustin Sitzmann scored. The crowd got pizza. Everyone left happy.
And now the Jays are the ones who leave, this time to the City of Brotherly Love. They’ll take on St. Joseph’s on Saturday night, a team that will compete with Dayton (CU’s next opponent) and Xavier for the top spot in the Atlantic 10 Conference. If they can focus on the basics, Creighton’s third road game might turn out a bit different than their first two.
posted by Creighton Otter at 10:49 PM
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