Creighton 82, Southern Illinois 60
My Bloody Valentine
I’m faced with a stinging question, one I honestly didn’t think would need to be answered for awhile. Is beating Southern Illinois in Carbondale worthy of more time, more energy, and a higher word count than anything else we put in this blog?
Bruce Weber wasn’t in SIU Arena yesterday. Kyle Korver wasn’t there, either (although someone who looks a little like the former two-time MVC POY made a rousing appearance). Piv mentioned before the game that Justin Carter’s flowing locks are reminiscent of those of former Bluejay tormentors Jammal Tatum and Randal Falker, but neither of those two were in the house yesterday either. Kent Williams was on the sidelines for another Missouri State loss, and not on the court on which he torched the Bluejays for a few years and made Dana Altman’s life miserable for at least a day or two.
The names and faces upon which the CU-SIU rivalry is built have changed. But while those on the court actually playing the games are different, the ghosts of previous trips to Carbondale are engrained in the collective consciousness of Creighton fans everywhere. Since sweeping the Salukis in SIU Arena during the 2000-2001 season, CU hadn’t left Carbondale victorious in 7 seasons. Except for the debacle in the second half of the 05-06 season, the games had been painfully close: the 7 losses came by an average of 6-plus points.
But not yesterday. Not only was the game not close, but it could have been much worse had CU seemingly not lost interest in batting around the wounded, sad little Saluki pups. Unlike their last meeting, the Jays didn’t need to rely on any crazy turn of events in the final minutes to pull out a heart-stopping win. Rather, the only recent CU-SIU game this resembled was the infamous 2003 Arch Madness title game. The halftime score that evening? 42-16 CU. Yesterday’s spread at intermission? 42-19.
Making Up for Lost Time
I talked with my dad right after the game, and was interested to hear his thoughts following the beat down. I caught some good-natured grief from friends I watched the game with when I kept voicing my frustration in the second half at how the Jays were not piling on SIU. I thought maybe I was being too vengeful on Valentine’s Day. But the first words out of my dad’s mouth were “we should have beat them by 30 or more.” He was frustrated, too! Arguably the nicest guy I know on Earth wanted MORE!
Does yesterday’s win make up for the last 7 road games, not to mention the other losses Altman’s teams endured in Omaha at the hands of Weber, Matt Painter, and Chris Lowery’s SIU squads? Not in the slightest. Is it special? Sure. Following no other win this season did I or Mrs. Creighton Otter receive text messages or phone calls from our fellow CU alumni praising the effort on national television of our beloved Bluejays. Say what you will about this season’s CU team: they are the team that stopped the skid against Southern Illinois. And they did it playing the way Jays fans — no matter how casual or die-hard they are in following the White and the Blue — are accustomed to seeing their Jays play. In fact, following the game Lowery said the same thing. "They're rolling right now," Lowery said. "Dana has them playing very hard, and he's gotten them back to where they're playing Creighton basketball."
What does “Creighton basketball” look like right now? Let’s examine the Jays’ current 6-game win streak through the lens of player development.
The Five Spot
Kenny Lawson and Kenton Walker (aka the California Connection) continue to improve as the season heads toward an apex. Not only have they each recorded career-highs in points during the past month, but the last few weeks have seen them combine for some great 40-minute efforts.
Against SIU they partnered to put up 24 points and grab 14 rebounds in 40 minutes. Walker didn’t miss from the field (5-5) and Lawson had 9 rebounds in just 19 minutes. It was similar to their 21-12 combo against Bradley last Wednesday. During the win streak, Walker is averaging 8.3 ppg and Lawson 8.2 ppg. On the boards, Walker’s at 4.5 rpg and Lawson 6.2 rpg during the 6-game winning streak.
Add it all up and you get almost 17 points and more than 10 rebounds per 40 minutes of combined play per game from the California Connection. That’s better than any other post player in the MVC, and a key reason why CU has come on strong since the end of January.
Guard Play on Point
Following the 14-point win against Bradley I wrote about the unselfishness from Josh Dotzler, P’Allen Stinnett, and the rest of the Jays during their win streak. Stinnett has 14 assists to 11 turnovers during the stretch, shooting 53% from the field and 35% from behind the arc on a bum knee. Against SIU he chose his spots carefully, going for 11 points and dishing 2 assists while not committing a turnover in 22 minutes. He took one bad shot; other than that he was cool, calm, and collected in a place that doesn’t exactly bring out the best in opponents.
Oh, and Antoine Young had a career-high 5 assists to just 1 turnover in 19 minutes. Add that to yet another stout performance from Booker Woodfox (15 points in 21 minutes) and a crowd-silencing performance from Kaleb Korver (14 points on 4 3-pointers and an offensive rebound/pull-up jumper, and you’ve got a great backcourt performance from the entire CU roster.
We’ve seen this Creighton team get hot for a few weeks in a row; they already own a 9-game winning streak earlier this season. And now they’ve picked the best time of the year to put together cohesive play. Taking into consideration the past two weeks of MVC games, they are currently the best team in the Valley. But because of a spotty January that won’t mean much unless they are the best team in the Valley at the end of the first week of March.
The quest continues. There are bigger games this season than this win in Carbondale, regardless of what it feels like the day after.
I’m faced with a stinging question, one I honestly didn’t think would need to be answered for awhile. Is beating Southern Illinois in Carbondale worthy of more time, more energy, and a higher word count than anything else we put in this blog?
Bruce Weber wasn’t in SIU Arena yesterday. Kyle Korver wasn’t there, either (although someone who looks a little like the former two-time MVC POY made a rousing appearance). Piv mentioned before the game that Justin Carter’s flowing locks are reminiscent of those of former Bluejay tormentors Jammal Tatum and Randal Falker, but neither of those two were in the house yesterday either. Kent Williams was on the sidelines for another Missouri State loss, and not on the court on which he torched the Bluejays for a few years and made Dana Altman’s life miserable for at least a day or two.
The names and faces upon which the CU-SIU rivalry is built have changed. But while those on the court actually playing the games are different, the ghosts of previous trips to Carbondale are engrained in the collective consciousness of Creighton fans everywhere. Since sweeping the Salukis in SIU Arena during the 2000-2001 season, CU hadn’t left Carbondale victorious in 7 seasons. Except for the debacle in the second half of the 05-06 season, the games had been painfully close: the 7 losses came by an average of 6-plus points.
But not yesterday. Not only was the game not close, but it could have been much worse had CU seemingly not lost interest in batting around the wounded, sad little Saluki pups. Unlike their last meeting, the Jays didn’t need to rely on any crazy turn of events in the final minutes to pull out a heart-stopping win. Rather, the only recent CU-SIU game this resembled was the infamous 2003 Arch Madness title game. The halftime score that evening? 42-16 CU. Yesterday’s spread at intermission? 42-19.
Making Up for Lost Time
I talked with my dad right after the game, and was interested to hear his thoughts following the beat down. I caught some good-natured grief from friends I watched the game with when I kept voicing my frustration in the second half at how the Jays were not piling on SIU. I thought maybe I was being too vengeful on Valentine’s Day. But the first words out of my dad’s mouth were “we should have beat them by 30 or more.” He was frustrated, too! Arguably the nicest guy I know on Earth wanted MORE!
Does yesterday’s win make up for the last 7 road games, not to mention the other losses Altman’s teams endured in Omaha at the hands of Weber, Matt Painter, and Chris Lowery’s SIU squads? Not in the slightest. Is it special? Sure. Following no other win this season did I or Mrs. Creighton Otter receive text messages or phone calls from our fellow CU alumni praising the effort on national television of our beloved Bluejays. Say what you will about this season’s CU team: they are the team that stopped the skid against Southern Illinois. And they did it playing the way Jays fans — no matter how casual or die-hard they are in following the White and the Blue — are accustomed to seeing their Jays play. In fact, following the game Lowery said the same thing. "They're rolling right now," Lowery said. "Dana has them playing very hard, and he's gotten them back to where they're playing Creighton basketball."
What does “Creighton basketball” look like right now? Let’s examine the Jays’ current 6-game win streak through the lens of player development.
The Five Spot
Kenny Lawson and Kenton Walker (aka the California Connection) continue to improve as the season heads toward an apex. Not only have they each recorded career-highs in points during the past month, but the last few weeks have seen them combine for some great 40-minute efforts.
Against SIU they partnered to put up 24 points and grab 14 rebounds in 40 minutes. Walker didn’t miss from the field (5-5) and Lawson had 9 rebounds in just 19 minutes. It was similar to their 21-12 combo against Bradley last Wednesday. During the win streak, Walker is averaging 8.3 ppg and Lawson 8.2 ppg. On the boards, Walker’s at 4.5 rpg and Lawson 6.2 rpg during the 6-game winning streak.
Add it all up and you get almost 17 points and more than 10 rebounds per 40 minutes of combined play per game from the California Connection. That’s better than any other post player in the MVC, and a key reason why CU has come on strong since the end of January.
Guard Play on Point
Following the 14-point win against Bradley I wrote about the unselfishness from Josh Dotzler, P’Allen Stinnett, and the rest of the Jays during their win streak. Stinnett has 14 assists to 11 turnovers during the stretch, shooting 53% from the field and 35% from behind the arc on a bum knee. Against SIU he chose his spots carefully, going for 11 points and dishing 2 assists while not committing a turnover in 22 minutes. He took one bad shot; other than that he was cool, calm, and collected in a place that doesn’t exactly bring out the best in opponents.
Oh, and Antoine Young had a career-high 5 assists to just 1 turnover in 19 minutes. Add that to yet another stout performance from Booker Woodfox (15 points in 21 minutes) and a crowd-silencing performance from Kaleb Korver (14 points on 4 3-pointers and an offensive rebound/pull-up jumper, and you’ve got a great backcourt performance from the entire CU roster.
We’ve seen this Creighton team get hot for a few weeks in a row; they already own a 9-game winning streak earlier this season. And now they’ve picked the best time of the year to put together cohesive play. Taking into consideration the past two weeks of MVC games, they are currently the best team in the Valley. But because of a spotty January that won’t mean much unless they are the best team in the Valley at the end of the first week of March.
The quest continues. There are bigger games this season than this win in Carbondale, regardless of what it feels like the day after.
posted by Creighton Otter at 12:03 PM
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