Creighton 75, Missouri State 51
Lunchtime Bluejay Bites
I won’t make any stupid metaphors about how yesterday was “super” for the Jays and CU fans. Aside from the first few frustrating minutes of the games, the Jays did exactly what they should: stomp on bottom-four team in the MVC at The Phone Booth in February.
And with that, here are a couple of quick lunchtime thoughts about yesterday’s game while still trying to figure out who thinks of punching a koala bear that is wearing glasses and drinking coffee. Comedy genius!
Scream if you love the Jays, Dummy!
Jump in Confidence for Juco J.C.
In first 19 games of the year, he scored in double figures just 4 times. Yet, he was one basket short 9 other times. He has been in double figures in 3 of his last 4 games, including a solid 12-point effort against Missouri State. He had 7 steals in the first 9 MVC games; he has 6 steals in his last 2 games, including 2 against MSU. He also recorded 7 rebounds, a stat in which he leads the Bluejays for the season (5.0 per game).
With Booker Woodfox scoring yet battling a nagging injury, P’Allen Stinnett trying to fight through a knee injury to maintain a focal point for opposing defenses, and Cavel Witter struggling to score in his past few games, CU needs consistent play from Carter. Altman’s junior college transfers have a history of coming along in the last one-third of their first seasons of action, and Carter is looking to do down the stretch what Woodfox and Witter did last year for Jays. The last two games of this homestand have no doubt helped that transformation.
P’s Prognosis
P’Allen played just 17 minutes against the Bears, scoring 12 points and dishing 3 assists. There is no doubt that if Stinnett’s knee doesn’t hold up the Jays will be forced to change some of the offensive schemes they’ll throw at opponents. And while Stinnett doesn’t seem to be driving to the lane quite as much in the past few games (albeit because of the knee, I’m sure), his 3-point shot has improved so much from last season to this year that even if he has to be confined to a limited role on the perimeter he should be able to continue to change games with his play.
Plus, his hops looked just fine on the alley oop he received from Woodfox in the second half against MSU. The real issue, though, will be on the defensive end. You can bet coaches in the MVC will isolate P’s defensive assignment in the CU man-to-man defense and ask him to run through a ton of picks, move laterally guarding a bunch of back cuts and motion, and be as active as possible on the bum leg. Communication on the defensive end will be key between Stinnett and his teammates to keep him fresh and avoid losing containment on P’s assignment, who is usually one of the opponents’ best offensive threats.
Balanced Bluejays
Sunday’s effort was also noteworthy due to the unselfish play and good court vision displayed by most of the Jays. CU recorded 19 assists (3rd highest total this season), but no player had more than 3. In fact, Antoine Young, Kaleb Korver, Stinnett, and Woodfox had 3 apiece. Carter, Josh Dotzler, and Kenny Lawson had 2 dimes each.
Four Jays tallied double-figure point totals, led by a career-high 15 points for Kenton Walker. He was trailed closely by Stinnett and Carter’s 12 each, while Woodfox chipped in 11 points. What’s more, everyone except for Dustin Sitzmann (who played a season-high 6 minutes) and Korver scored.
The Jays even won the battle of the boards, and everyone pitched in to pick the glass as well. Dotzler and Sitzmann were the only two Jays to not grab a carom, and Lawson (8) and Carter (7) led the way.
Our Own Fabulous Freshman
Three Missouri State Bears scored in double figures on Sunday; two of them were freshmen. True frosh Cardell McFarland had 14 points, while redshirt rookie Kyle Weems recorded his first double-double (15 points, 12 rebounds).
Those are just two freshmen who are making their presence felt game in and game out in conference play. There are two newbies (SIU’s Kevin Dillard and WSU’s Toure Murry) in the top 10 of scorers in MVC games. UNI’s Johnny Moran is also in the top 25 of scoring for conference games. Indiana State’s Carl Richard and MSU’s Weems are in the top 10 in rebounding in Valley games. Evansville combo guard Kaylon Williams is in the top 20 in rebounding, leads the MVC in assists per conference game, is 3rd in steals per MVC contest, and is in the top 5 in assist-to-turnover ratio.
Throw in BU’s Eddren McCain, SIU’s Ryan Hare and Anthony Booker, and even Indiana State’s sharpshooting Jordan Printy, and the conference is bursting at the seams with freshmen who continue to contribute a lot to their teams in all phases of the game.
Antoine Young is Creighton’s contribution to this great class of frosh. Since getting “the talk” prior to the Jays’ road game at Bradley, the young Young is averaging 8.4 points per game while seeing an average of 19 minutes of action per contest. From mid-December to that Jan. 10 game in Peoria, Young didn’t play more than 9 minutes in a game (a stretch of 5 games). In the past 7 MVC games (again, dating back to the day Dana Altman said he would make Young a bigger part of the lineup rotation), the freshman from Bellevue West has a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio and has proven his ability to guard man-to-man very well (even though he doesn’t have a steal since that trip to Bradley).
His contributions had been limited through the first half of the year due to a roster loaded with experience at the guard position. But one has to wonder whether Altman and his staff looked around the league and saw something that maybe they should be emulating a bit more: the rise of the young gun. Antoine sure has a burgeoning fan club in the first few rows of section 123; as he continues to impress in increased minutes that will no doubt grow to parts far and away in Bluejay Nation.
I won’t make any stupid metaphors about how yesterday was “super” for the Jays and CU fans. Aside from the first few frustrating minutes of the games, the Jays did exactly what they should: stomp on bottom-four team in the MVC at The Phone Booth in February.
And with that, here are a couple of quick lunchtime thoughts about yesterday’s game while still trying to figure out who thinks of punching a koala bear that is wearing glasses and drinking coffee. Comedy genius!
Scream if you love the Jays, Dummy!
Jump in Confidence for Juco J.C.
In first 19 games of the year, he scored in double figures just 4 times. Yet, he was one basket short 9 other times. He has been in double figures in 3 of his last 4 games, including a solid 12-point effort against Missouri State. He had 7 steals in the first 9 MVC games; he has 6 steals in his last 2 games, including 2 against MSU. He also recorded 7 rebounds, a stat in which he leads the Bluejays for the season (5.0 per game).
With Booker Woodfox scoring yet battling a nagging injury, P’Allen Stinnett trying to fight through a knee injury to maintain a focal point for opposing defenses, and Cavel Witter struggling to score in his past few games, CU needs consistent play from Carter. Altman’s junior college transfers have a history of coming along in the last one-third of their first seasons of action, and Carter is looking to do down the stretch what Woodfox and Witter did last year for Jays. The last two games of this homestand have no doubt helped that transformation.
P’s Prognosis
P’Allen played just 17 minutes against the Bears, scoring 12 points and dishing 3 assists. There is no doubt that if Stinnett’s knee doesn’t hold up the Jays will be forced to change some of the offensive schemes they’ll throw at opponents. And while Stinnett doesn’t seem to be driving to the lane quite as much in the past few games (albeit because of the knee, I’m sure), his 3-point shot has improved so much from last season to this year that even if he has to be confined to a limited role on the perimeter he should be able to continue to change games with his play.
Plus, his hops looked just fine on the alley oop he received from Woodfox in the second half against MSU. The real issue, though, will be on the defensive end. You can bet coaches in the MVC will isolate P’s defensive assignment in the CU man-to-man defense and ask him to run through a ton of picks, move laterally guarding a bunch of back cuts and motion, and be as active as possible on the bum leg. Communication on the defensive end will be key between Stinnett and his teammates to keep him fresh and avoid losing containment on P’s assignment, who is usually one of the opponents’ best offensive threats.
Balanced Bluejays
Sunday’s effort was also noteworthy due to the unselfish play and good court vision displayed by most of the Jays. CU recorded 19 assists (3rd highest total this season), but no player had more than 3. In fact, Antoine Young, Kaleb Korver, Stinnett, and Woodfox had 3 apiece. Carter, Josh Dotzler, and Kenny Lawson had 2 dimes each.
Four Jays tallied double-figure point totals, led by a career-high 15 points for Kenton Walker. He was trailed closely by Stinnett and Carter’s 12 each, while Woodfox chipped in 11 points. What’s more, everyone except for Dustin Sitzmann (who played a season-high 6 minutes) and Korver scored.
The Jays even won the battle of the boards, and everyone pitched in to pick the glass as well. Dotzler and Sitzmann were the only two Jays to not grab a carom, and Lawson (8) and Carter (7) led the way.
Our Own Fabulous Freshman
Three Missouri State Bears scored in double figures on Sunday; two of them were freshmen. True frosh Cardell McFarland had 14 points, while redshirt rookie Kyle Weems recorded his first double-double (15 points, 12 rebounds).
Those are just two freshmen who are making their presence felt game in and game out in conference play. There are two newbies (SIU’s Kevin Dillard and WSU’s Toure Murry) in the top 10 of scorers in MVC games. UNI’s Johnny Moran is also in the top 25 of scoring for conference games. Indiana State’s Carl Richard and MSU’s Weems are in the top 10 in rebounding in Valley games. Evansville combo guard Kaylon Williams is in the top 20 in rebounding, leads the MVC in assists per conference game, is 3rd in steals per MVC contest, and is in the top 5 in assist-to-turnover ratio.
Throw in BU’s Eddren McCain, SIU’s Ryan Hare and Anthony Booker, and even Indiana State’s sharpshooting Jordan Printy, and the conference is bursting at the seams with freshmen who continue to contribute a lot to their teams in all phases of the game.
Antoine Young is Creighton’s contribution to this great class of frosh. Since getting “the talk” prior to the Jays’ road game at Bradley, the young Young is averaging 8.4 points per game while seeing an average of 19 minutes of action per contest. From mid-December to that Jan. 10 game in Peoria, Young didn’t play more than 9 minutes in a game (a stretch of 5 games). In the past 7 MVC games (again, dating back to the day Dana Altman said he would make Young a bigger part of the lineup rotation), the freshman from Bellevue West has a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio and has proven his ability to guard man-to-man very well (even though he doesn’t have a steal since that trip to Bradley).
His contributions had been limited through the first half of the year due to a roster loaded with experience at the guard position. But one has to wonder whether Altman and his staff looked around the league and saw something that maybe they should be emulating a bit more: the rise of the young gun. Antoine sure has a burgeoning fan club in the first few rows of section 123; as he continues to impress in increased minutes that will no doubt grow to parts far and away in Bluejay Nation.
posted by Creighton Otter at 12:29 PM
1 Comments:
interview with the man himself
http://www.ketv.com/video/18619110/index.html
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