Creighton 73, Indiana State 62
Technically Speaking
With 32 seconds left and a 9-point lead, the Jays were looking for an exclamation mark to put right on top of their 10th straight home win against Indiana State. Well, if the players weren’t, the thousands of fans who braved cold temps and lingering thoughts of this past weekend’s loss against Drake sure were.
And the crowd got it, technically speaking. P’Allen Stinnett received a pass from Justin Carter, who had just blocked Harry Marshall’s shot, and took it strong to the tin for a breakaway dunk.
And then he hung on the rim.
And then he received a technical foul.
It wasn’t a very popular call with the crowd (including myself) at the time, but it was the right one. He pulled himself up with the rim clenched tightly between his two hands. About 8 minutes earlier, he had pulled his teammates up with his play: he broke a tie with an offensive rebound and layup following a Kenton Walker missed free throw (KW actually missed two during the trip to the line). Then, he scored 8 straight Bluejay points a few minutes later.
But Stinnett was largely unheard from for the better part of 32 minutes of action, something that cannot happen if CU is going to place itself in the top half of the Valley during the next month before Arch Madness. And instead of leaving players, coaches, and fans with a lasting memory of a great second half stretch of his play, Stinnett’s technical foul will be what most fans causally remember from the evening.
And it should be that way. Technically speaking, Stinnett wasn’t the most impressive Bluejay on the floor Tuesday night, or the most explosive. Those two nods go to Justin Carter and Antoine Young, respectively.
While the casual fan might remember most #10’s high flying dunk and subsequent “excessive celebration” penalty, the night belonged to his roommate Carter’s frequent dives on the court after loose basketballs, strong presence on the boards, and deft shooting touch from both inside and outside the paint.
Carter scored a career-high 17 points (6-7 from the field, 2-3 from 3-point range), grabbed 8 rebounds, dished 3 assists, blocked 2 shots, and swiped 4 steals. He seemed to be all over the court, yet he played 23 minutes (just the 4th most minutes on the team for the night). But it was the couple of drops to the deck he displayed, and the effort and energy behind the gestures, that doesn’t show up in the box score but means the world to final margin.
Young, on the other hand, just seems to be the missing motor right now. I wouldn’t’ blame the freshman if he is a bit frustrated as many of his classmates across the Valley are playing more minutes and getting more opportunities offensively to contribute right away. He isn’t showing it, though, and his smile when on the court has been almost as pleasant as his natural ability and positive defensive energy.
Young logged a career-high 24 minutes and scored 12 points (one off his career-high of 13). He missed his only 3-point attempt, hit 4 of his free throws, and his field goals were a flurry of off-balanced leaners and physically demanding (and contested) layups and jump shots.
Still, the most important numbers on his stat line are the zero turnovers and the two dozen minutes of action he saw. As much as I love Josh Dotzler’s toughness, guile, and defensive intelligence, and as much of a scoring threat as Cavel Witter is at any moment of any game, I’m on the record with section 123 and all the blog’s readers in thinking that Young’s play down the homestretch of the MVC schedule is the key to Creighton’s fortunes – at least the one that Dana Altman and his staff can control at this point, 22 games into the season.
If the Jays aren’t going to get consistent scoring from the posts, they’ll need to have a guard on the floor that can make some things happen in and around the basket. Young is that guard. His outside shot is getting better as his playing time increases, and defensively he is pretty locked in when guarding the ball.
There were a couple other highlights last night: Casey Harriman hit a couple of 3s and also grabbed 4 rebounds in 17 minutes; Booker Woodfox got his 17 points (and a couple of 3s) in 24 minutes; and Kenton Walker played a career-high 22 minutes.
Sure, the Jays technically won the game, but it wasn’t pretty. Don’t expect any of the rest of their games to be displayed in a museum anytime soon, either. There seems to be too much pressing, too much thinking, and not enough communicating when the guys are on the floor. But those traits won’t come until they replicate (consistently) the effort displayed by Carter against the Sycamores. Wins don’t need to be pretty; they just need to be wins. Then confidence will grow. And ask Northern Iowa how much confidence can help a team win ballgames.
With 32 seconds left and a 9-point lead, the Jays were looking for an exclamation mark to put right on top of their 10th straight home win against Indiana State. Well, if the players weren’t, the thousands of fans who braved cold temps and lingering thoughts of this past weekend’s loss against Drake sure were.
And the crowd got it, technically speaking. P’Allen Stinnett received a pass from Justin Carter, who had just blocked Harry Marshall’s shot, and took it strong to the tin for a breakaway dunk.
And then he hung on the rim.
And then he received a technical foul.
It wasn’t a very popular call with the crowd (including myself) at the time, but it was the right one. He pulled himself up with the rim clenched tightly between his two hands. About 8 minutes earlier, he had pulled his teammates up with his play: he broke a tie with an offensive rebound and layup following a Kenton Walker missed free throw (KW actually missed two during the trip to the line). Then, he scored 8 straight Bluejay points a few minutes later.
But Stinnett was largely unheard from for the better part of 32 minutes of action, something that cannot happen if CU is going to place itself in the top half of the Valley during the next month before Arch Madness. And instead of leaving players, coaches, and fans with a lasting memory of a great second half stretch of his play, Stinnett’s technical foul will be what most fans causally remember from the evening.
And it should be that way. Technically speaking, Stinnett wasn’t the most impressive Bluejay on the floor Tuesday night, or the most explosive. Those two nods go to Justin Carter and Antoine Young, respectively.
While the casual fan might remember most #10’s high flying dunk and subsequent “excessive celebration” penalty, the night belonged to his roommate Carter’s frequent dives on the court after loose basketballs, strong presence on the boards, and deft shooting touch from both inside and outside the paint.
Carter scored a career-high 17 points (6-7 from the field, 2-3 from 3-point range), grabbed 8 rebounds, dished 3 assists, blocked 2 shots, and swiped 4 steals. He seemed to be all over the court, yet he played 23 minutes (just the 4th most minutes on the team for the night). But it was the couple of drops to the deck he displayed, and the effort and energy behind the gestures, that doesn’t show up in the box score but means the world to final margin.
Young, on the other hand, just seems to be the missing motor right now. I wouldn’t’ blame the freshman if he is a bit frustrated as many of his classmates across the Valley are playing more minutes and getting more opportunities offensively to contribute right away. He isn’t showing it, though, and his smile when on the court has been almost as pleasant as his natural ability and positive defensive energy.
Young logged a career-high 24 minutes and scored 12 points (one off his career-high of 13). He missed his only 3-point attempt, hit 4 of his free throws, and his field goals were a flurry of off-balanced leaners and physically demanding (and contested) layups and jump shots.
Still, the most important numbers on his stat line are the zero turnovers and the two dozen minutes of action he saw. As much as I love Josh Dotzler’s toughness, guile, and defensive intelligence, and as much of a scoring threat as Cavel Witter is at any moment of any game, I’m on the record with section 123 and all the blog’s readers in thinking that Young’s play down the homestretch of the MVC schedule is the key to Creighton’s fortunes – at least the one that Dana Altman and his staff can control at this point, 22 games into the season.
If the Jays aren’t going to get consistent scoring from the posts, they’ll need to have a guard on the floor that can make some things happen in and around the basket. Young is that guard. His outside shot is getting better as his playing time increases, and defensively he is pretty locked in when guarding the ball.
There were a couple other highlights last night: Casey Harriman hit a couple of 3s and also grabbed 4 rebounds in 17 minutes; Booker Woodfox got his 17 points (and a couple of 3s) in 24 minutes; and Kenton Walker played a career-high 22 minutes.
Sure, the Jays technically won the game, but it wasn’t pretty. Don’t expect any of the rest of their games to be displayed in a museum anytime soon, either. There seems to be too much pressing, too much thinking, and not enough communicating when the guys are on the floor. But those traits won’t come until they replicate (consistently) the effort displayed by Carter against the Sycamores. Wins don’t need to be pretty; they just need to be wins. Then confidence will grow. And ask Northern Iowa how much confidence can help a team win ballgames.
posted by Creighton Otter at 7:06 AM
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