Monday night, Creighton resumes a long-time rivalry with a former member of the Missouri Valley Conference: the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. A member of the Valley from 1934 to 1996, they’ve actually played more seasons as an MVC member than Creighton has, and despite not being in the league for 15 years, they still have the third most Arch Madness titles (trailing Creighton with 10 and SIU with 5) — winning it four times.
Was there much of a rivalry between Tulsa and Creighton when they were conference foes? Outside of 1988-1991, when inferior Tulsa teams maddeningly beat Tony Barone’s back-to-back-to-back postseason teams four out of six meetings, not really. The teams were rarely great at the same time. When the Jays re-entered the Valley in 1977, Tulsa was in the midst of a string of losing seasons while the Jays were going to NCAA Tournaments under Tom Apke. Then Apke left and the Jays went downhill just as Nolan Richardson took over in Tulsa and started a stretch of five NCAA Tournaments in seven years, with an NIT championship thrown in for good measure. Richardson left and the program nosedived just as Tony Barone got the Jays rolling, and by the time Tubby Smith got the Hurricane back to NCAA Tournament caliber, Rick Johnson was (ahem) doing his thing in Omaha.
So while both programs enjoyed great success in the MVC, it rarely happened in the same year and as such, there was never the sort of animosity or rivalry that developed with, say, Southern Illinois a few years back. When the series resumed with a home-and-home in 2000, it wasn’t greeted as the renewal of a heated rivalry, but more of a reunion with an old acquaintance.
That reunion happens again tonight, as the Jays travel to Tulsa to take on a 5-6 Golden Hurricane team that might just be the best team in America with a losing record. After winning their first three games rather handily, they’ve played eight straight games that have been decided by ten points or less:
- Lost 69-65 to Northwestern, after leading with eight minutes to play
- Lost 79-75 to St. Joseph’s, a game they led much of the first half and a good portion of the second half
- Beat Jackson State 57-51
- Lost in overtime 69-64 at Missouri State, a back-and-forth game where neither team led by more than eight and the lead changed hands 11 times
- Lost 59-56 at Oklahoma State, blowing a seven-point lead with six minutes to play
- Lost 67-64 at Arizona State, a one-possession game for nearly the entire contest
- Lost 77-67 to Wichita State, blowing an eight-point lead second half lead in a game whose score is inflated by late free throws by the Shockers
- Beat Texas-Arlington 80-75
If one possession had gone differently in each of their losses (Wichita State excluded), they could very easily be an eight or nine win team. They’ve been THIS CLOSE in every single one of them, and just have not been able to seal the deal. That makes them a dangerous team, because when you’re ahead in that many games, the law of averages says that eventually a couple of them will go your way.
If they are to turn around that trend, sophomore guard Jordan Clarkson will have a lot to do with it. He leads the team in scoring (15.4 points), assists (2.6/game), steals (1.0/game) and is fourth in rebounding (5.09/game). In the eight-game stretch of close games outlined above, he scored 16, 19, 19, 23, 18, 15, 18 and 14, making him not only their leading scorer but their most consistent, too.
Scott Haralson, a junior guard, has 38 of the team’s 68 three-pointers for the season, making him the obvious target of the Jays’ perimeter defense. He hits at a 42.5% clip from long range, and averages 12.5 points a game. Also averaging in double figures is 6’11”, 247 pound forward — yes, forward – Steven Idlet, who averages 10.5 points and 5.7 rebounds a game.
Tulsa is a big team, with a starting lineup featuring not one but two 6’11” players, which should allow Gregory Echenique to play his preferred brand of physical post play. In addition to Idlet, they have the beefier of the two 6’11” players, Kodi Maduka, who starts at center and is second on the team in rebounds with 6.4 a game. First off the bench is sixth man D.J. Magley, who stands 6’9″ and 265 pounds. Magley leads the team in rebounds, averaging 6.4 a game and contributing an average of 4.5 points.
Not surprisingly, given the number of huge players they have at their disposal, Tulsa is +7.9 on the boards for the season. They’re probably one of the biggest teams Creighton will face all season long, and they’ll certainly try to keep the game at a slower pace than Creighton would like. The Golden Hurricane average 65.9 points a game and give up an average of 63.3 — they play tight, low-scoring affairs. Interestingly, they shoot just 65.2% from the free-throw line, which may go a long ways toward describing their difficulty in winning those close games.
At some point in the season, Tulsa is going to start winning a few of these close games. Hopefully Creighton is able to jump out early and not give them a chance to turn their fortunes around just yet.
Meet the Tulsa Golden Hurricane: Tulsa unveiled their new scoreboard Saturday in a win over Texas-Arlington, a behemoth that stretches from three-point line to three-point line and is a miniature version of the scoreboard at Cowboys Stadium, making it the second-largest basketball scoreboard in the country behind only the Orlando Magic’s new board … Tulsa has held eight of its first 11 opponents below 50% shooting from the field, and seven of those teams have shot below 40%… In head coach Doug Wojcik’s seven seasons, his teams have held 189 of their 211 opponents to under 50% shooting from the field, and no team shot above that threshold until his third season … They’ve held a remarkable 170 out of 211 opponents in his tenure to under 40% shooting … Tulsa has three sophomores averaging over 20 minutes per game this year (Jordan Clarkson, Tim Peete and Kodi Maduka) –– and the trio scores 42.4% of Tulsa’s points, grabs 35.9% of Tulsa’s rebounds and has 52.2% of Tulsa’s assists.
One Big Paragraph with Lots O’Dots™: Saturday’s 18 point, 14 rebound performance from Gregory Echenique was his second double-double as a Bluejay (12 points and 14 rebounds in a win over Southern Illinois on Feb. 13, 2011), and Creighton is now 9-0 in his career when he scores 15 points or more … With his 25 points versus Houston Baptist on Saturday, McDermott became the first Bluejay with 20 or more points in eight straight games since Rodney Buford did it in eight contests in a row from Jan. 27 – Feb. 17, 1997. No Creighton player in the past 30 years has had nine straight games of 20 or more points … McDermott’s eight straight games as the team’s leading scorer is the program’s longest streak since Rodney Buford did it in eight straight from Feb. 23 – Dec. 2, 1998.
No Bluejay has led the team in scoring for nine straight games or more since Bob Harstad’s 12-game streak in his 1988-89 sophomore campaign … Creighton had 56 rebounds in Saturday’s win over Houston Baptist, outrebounding the Huskies 56-36 for the game, their most in any game since grabbing 66 caroms vs. Montana State on Dec. 22, 1988 … The last Creighton team to win three or more non-conference road games in the same year came in 1999-2000, when the Jays won at Mississippi Valley State, Georgia State, Baylor and Colorado State. Creighton has a 2-1 mark in three true road games to date.
The Last Time They Played: On December 19, 2000 — eleven years ago today — senior all-Missouri Valley Conference guard Ryan Sears scored 21 points and Creighton used a 16-0 second-half run to break open a close game and beat Tulsa, 86-76. Senior all-MVC guard Ben Walker added 20 points, while Kyle Korver had 19 points and sophomore forward Terrell Taylor had 13 for Creighton. The sophomore Korver hit 4-5 from behind the arc as Tulsa left him wide open repeatedly, daring someone other than Sears and Walker to beat them — and he did.
The Series: The teams have met 75 times, with Tulsa leading the all-time series by a 43-32 margin, including a 28-10 advantage in games played in Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane have won 14 of the past 17 meetings against Creighton.
Creighton head coach Greg McDermott has never faced Tulsa, and Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik has never faced Creighton.
Gratuitous Linkage: MVC Examiner writer Joseph Book published a MVC slant on “The Night Before Christmas” over the weekend, and it’s excellent. Go read it.
Out of Context Seinfeld Quote: “Don’t you see what Whatley is after? Total joke-telling immunity! He’s already got the big two religions covered. If he ever gets Polish citizenship, there’ll be no stopping him.” -Jerry Seinfeld
This Date in Creighton Hoops History: On December 19, 1984, Creighton won their third straight on a four-game tour of Hawaii, defeating Chaminade 79-68. Vernon Moore made 9-12 from the floor to continue his torrid start, in which he led the nation in field goal percentage at 75% through nine games (!). Benoit Benjamin added 13 points, 13 rebounds and 8 blocks, while Gary Swain had a career-high 17 points as the Jays moved to 7-2. It was the latter performance that had coach Willis Reed gushing in the World-Herald the next day. “Gary hasn’t been shooting that well until the past few games. His shooting is important to us. With Ben and Vernon doing most of their scoring inside, we need to be able to count on strong outside shooting.”
Hmm…where have I heard that recently?
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day: Hanson is from Tulsa. But I’m not going to play their one big hit, don’t worry — I wouldn’t do that to you, especially not on a Monday. Instead, an infinitely more-cool band from nearby Oklahoma City, the Flaming Lips, with a vintage performance of their biggest hit on “Late Show with David Letterman” in 1995.
The Bottom Line: This will be a tough game — the size and rebounding prowess of Tulsa present a challenge to a Jays team that has struggled on the boards — but the only way Tulsa can be confident of a win is to blowout the Jays. They haven’t figured out how to win a close game, and since I don’t see any way Tulsa blows the Jays out, I have to believe Creighton finds a way to come home with a win.
Jays 74, Tulsa 67
