Gameday Pick’em #7: St. Joseph’s (3-3)
The Pundits
“St. Joseph’s coach seeks consistency” (OWH)
“Bluejays to visit historic Palestra” (OWH)
“Errors of youth stalling the Jays” (OWH)
The Sports Network Preview (Philly.com)
The Picks
Creighton arrives in Philadelphia a 3- to 3.5 point underdog against the St. Joseph’s Hawks, a team CU beat in Omaha a year ago in overtime. Based on their first two road games, it looks like Vegas is paying attention. Despite leading Arkansas-Little Rock and Nebraska each by double digits during games last week, the Jays lost by baskets inside of 10 seconds to play in each contest. Looks like the oddsmakers think they’ll give up a last-second 3-pointer this time, instead.
And why shouldn’t this game be close today? By all accounts statistically, these are two evenly-matched teams. Phil Martelli’s Hawks have played a tougher schedule, even participating in the Maui Invitational (where they lost to Texas and Alabama and beat a rebuilding Indiana squad). In honor of tonight’s big boxing title fight, let’s take a look at the tale of the tape for the game in Rocky’s home city:
Points scored
76 -- CU
66 -- SJU
Points allowed
62 -- CU
62 -- SJU
Assists dished
13 -- CU
15 -- SJU
Assists allowed
10 -- CU
11 -- SJU
Rebounds for
36 -- CU
36 -- SJU
Rebounds against
39 -- CU
40 -- SJU
FG % for
44 -- CU
43 -- SJU
FG% allowed
42 -- CU
41 -- SJU
That, my friends, is about as even a matchup as you’ll find if you’re watching today’s games. And if you’re watching tonight’s game on Webcast or listing to T. Scott Marr call all of the action on Big Sports 590, you might hear some familiar names for the visitors. SJU’s most productive players this season played in the overtime loss at the Qwest Center last year.
Ahmad Nivins leads the Hawks with 18 points and 12 rebounds per game. An absolute machine. He must have been covered in rust last year in Omaha, though, as he scored just 2 points, grabbed only 4 rebounds, and fouled out of the game in 31 minutes of action.
Making up for his lack of production in last year’s game was Tasheed Carr, who poured in 23 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, and dished 9 assists in 36 minutes. This season, he averages 13 points and 5 rebounds per game.
Darrin Govens put up 14 points against CU last year; he averages that per game this season.
Two other Hawks, Idris Hilliard and Garrett Williamson, played smaller roles last year against Creighton but have improved on their numbers this season.
Three of Creighton’s top four scorers in last year’s game won’t be on the court tonight in the historic Palestra. Dane Watts (29), Pierce Hibma (17), and Nick Bahe (14) each had huge games offensively (Watts and Hibma recorded career-high scoring totals that afternoon).
Booker Woodfox only played 8 minutes against St. Joe’s last year; Kenny Lawson just 9 minutes. Cavel Witter saw the court for 15 minutes (3 points) and P’Allen Stinnett scored 5 points and turned the ball over 5 times in 27 minutes of action. Chad Millard scored 13 points, ripped 7 boards, and blocked 3 shots; hopefully he’ll get more minutes tonight than what he’s been seeing so far this season.
If you play the addition and subtraction game and take into account all of the season averages so far, one can reach a conclusion that tonight’s game could come down to one last shot. Hopefully for the Jays, that scenario plays out a bit better than it has the past few games.
Enough of this nonsense. To the picks!
(Dance Cam Guy, Panon, my wife, and I will pick ‘em each and every game on this site. We’ll keep track of the winner each game, and at the end of the year you’ll be able to find one of us three buying a round or two of expensive Scottrade Center brews at Arch Madness.)
Leading Scorer
Creighton Otter: Kenny Lawson (11)
Dance Cam Guy: Booker Woodfox (20)
Panon: Cavel Witter (15)
Mrs. Creighton Otter: Kaleb Korver (15)
Margin
Creighton Otter: Jays by 4
Dance Cam Guy: Jays by 3
Panon: Hawks by 5
Mrs. Creighton Otter: Jays by 2
“St. Joseph’s coach seeks consistency” (OWH)
“Bluejays to visit historic Palestra” (OWH)
“Errors of youth stalling the Jays” (OWH)
The Sports Network Preview (Philly.com)
The Picks
Creighton arrives in Philadelphia a 3- to 3.5 point underdog against the St. Joseph’s Hawks, a team CU beat in Omaha a year ago in overtime. Based on their first two road games, it looks like Vegas is paying attention. Despite leading Arkansas-Little Rock and Nebraska each by double digits during games last week, the Jays lost by baskets inside of 10 seconds to play in each contest. Looks like the oddsmakers think they’ll give up a last-second 3-pointer this time, instead.
And why shouldn’t this game be close today? By all accounts statistically, these are two evenly-matched teams. Phil Martelli’s Hawks have played a tougher schedule, even participating in the Maui Invitational (where they lost to Texas and Alabama and beat a rebuilding Indiana squad). In honor of tonight’s big boxing title fight, let’s take a look at the tale of the tape for the game in Rocky’s home city:
Points scored
76 -- CU
66 -- SJU
Points allowed
62 -- CU
62 -- SJU
Assists dished
13 -- CU
15 -- SJU
Assists allowed
10 -- CU
11 -- SJU
Rebounds for
36 -- CU
36 -- SJU
Rebounds against
39 -- CU
40 -- SJU
FG % for
44 -- CU
43 -- SJU
FG% allowed
42 -- CU
41 -- SJU
That, my friends, is about as even a matchup as you’ll find if you’re watching today’s games. And if you’re watching tonight’s game on Webcast or listing to T. Scott Marr call all of the action on Big Sports 590, you might hear some familiar names for the visitors. SJU’s most productive players this season played in the overtime loss at the Qwest Center last year.
Ahmad Nivins leads the Hawks with 18 points and 12 rebounds per game. An absolute machine. He must have been covered in rust last year in Omaha, though, as he scored just 2 points, grabbed only 4 rebounds, and fouled out of the game in 31 minutes of action.
Making up for his lack of production in last year’s game was Tasheed Carr, who poured in 23 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, and dished 9 assists in 36 minutes. This season, he averages 13 points and 5 rebounds per game.
Darrin Govens put up 14 points against CU last year; he averages that per game this season.
Two other Hawks, Idris Hilliard and Garrett Williamson, played smaller roles last year against Creighton but have improved on their numbers this season.
Three of Creighton’s top four scorers in last year’s game won’t be on the court tonight in the historic Palestra. Dane Watts (29), Pierce Hibma (17), and Nick Bahe (14) each had huge games offensively (Watts and Hibma recorded career-high scoring totals that afternoon).
Booker Woodfox only played 8 minutes against St. Joe’s last year; Kenny Lawson just 9 minutes. Cavel Witter saw the court for 15 minutes (3 points) and P’Allen Stinnett scored 5 points and turned the ball over 5 times in 27 minutes of action. Chad Millard scored 13 points, ripped 7 boards, and blocked 3 shots; hopefully he’ll get more minutes tonight than what he’s been seeing so far this season.
If you play the addition and subtraction game and take into account all of the season averages so far, one can reach a conclusion that tonight’s game could come down to one last shot. Hopefully for the Jays, that scenario plays out a bit better than it has the past few games.
Enough of this nonsense. To the picks!
(Dance Cam Guy, Panon, my wife, and I will pick ‘em each and every game on this site. We’ll keep track of the winner each game, and at the end of the year you’ll be able to find one of us three buying a round or two of expensive Scottrade Center brews at Arch Madness.)
Leading Scorer
Creighton Otter: Kenny Lawson (11)
Dance Cam Guy: Booker Woodfox (20)
Panon: Cavel Witter (15)
Mrs. Creighton Otter: Kaleb Korver (15)
Margin
Creighton Otter: Jays by 4
Dance Cam Guy: Jays by 3
Panon: Hawks by 5
Mrs. Creighton Otter: Jays by 2
posted by Creighton Otter at 1:29 PM
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