Creighton 79, Indiana State 61

Going Old School on New Year’s Eve

For a multitude of reasons, I didn’t watch Creighton’s resounding win over Indiana State on Wednesday in Terre Haute. Webcasts are tricky things. I figured that after one really good experience (Las Vegas Classic against Fresno State) and one so-so broadcast (Las Vegas Classic against DePaul), I shouldn’t press my luck and order the webcast of the CU-ISU game. Plus, I was at work. So, I went “old school” and listened to the game on the radio. I harkened back to the good ol’ days, when the only chance to catch a Jays road game was to tune in the local broadcast via the car or home radio. Wait, those were the bad ol’ days — we are spoiled now with so many CU games on TV.

And to be perfectly honest, I was confident they would pull out the victory. Maybe that’s a bad thing, but this was a game that an 11-2 team with designs on playing past Arch Madness and into March Madness should win. Plus, our poor performances in the Hulman Center, in road MVC openers, and on New Year’s Eve couldn’t continue, could they?

P’Allen Stinnett made sure they didn’t. He was joined by usual suspect Booker Woodfox and unlikely yet completely capable Chad Millard as the key cogs in Creighton’s 18-point win, a victory that pushed them to 2-0 in conference play (joining Bradley and Saturday’s opponent Illinois State as the only unblemished teams in the MVC so far).

The Jays finished perfect for the month of December, going 8-0. In those first 7 games, Woodfox led CU in scoring each and every time. He still poured in 17 points against the Sycamores, but it was P’Allen who paced the Jays against ISU. He scored 22 points in 23 minutes, with 18 of them coming from behind the arc (6-8 from long range). He hit two 3-pointers in the first 2:30 of the game, and finished the first half with a running, banked 3-pointer as time expired. According to Piv’s post-game coverage, it was some coaching by Dana Altman and some adjustments by Stinnett that led to the sophomore guard finding his shooting stroke again.

P'Allen's jump shot was on against the Sycamores

Creighton opened up a 14-point lead late in the first half but saw the margin dwindle to just 4 points with 16:25 in the second stanza. After a Woodfox miss and a Stinnett offensive rebound and miss, Kenny Lawson grabbed an offensive board and scored 2 points on a put-back to extend the lead. Then Stinnett gathered in only steal of the game and connected on a 3-pointer. Following a jumper by ISU’s Rashad Reed, Lawson drew a foul and knocked down 2 free throws.

The lead out to 7 points, CU set the stage for Millard’s two biggest shots of the season to this point. He drained a 3-pointer to make the lead 10 points with 12:17 to play, and then hit a second 3-bomb to make another 7-point lead a 10-point margin. He also grabbed 2 rebounds and dished an assist in 10 minutes of action, in addition to setting a couple of nice screens for his fellow teammates. His jump shots all but sealed the deal against a feisty yet overmatched Sycamore squad.

To their credit, ISU gave the Jays a game for 30 minutes. Creighton led wire-to-wire, yet on the road against a coach (Kevin McKenna) who knows the Jays’ offense about as well as our own players at this point, I never felt truly comfortable with the outcome until there were only a few minutes to play and Cavel Witter was carving up the ISU defense for 8 second-half points and a few weak-side rebounds. The Trees hit 10 3-pointers for the game, and shot 50% from long range in the first half. However, Creighton eventually held McKenna’s team below its season average in field goal percentage, free-throw percentage, and rebounding.

Not everything went Creighton’s way. They shot extremely well for the game (50% from the field; 62% from 3-point range; 93% from the charity stripe), but committed 17 turnovers (minus-5 for the game) and recorded just 3 steals (they average 9.6 per game, 24th best in the nation). They did outrebound the Sycs, but allowed 15 offensive boards. Still, the effort was sound enough to give Altman his 500th career coaching win.

Give yourself a round of applause for #500, Dana

The Jays will have to play outstanding basketball to give Altman his 501st win on Saturday night in Normal. Awaiting CU will be an undefeated, offensively gifted Illinois State team that pounded Evansville 80-50 on Wednesday. It promises to be one of the better games across the country this weekend; that is, if the Jays hold up their end of the bargain. They closed the old year with a win; opening the New Year with a victory will prove much more difficult.