Creighton 91, Drake 61
On Tuesday night, the fourth largest crowd in Creighton Men’s Basketball history came to watch the Bluejays. Let that sink in for a minute. 18,073 fans filled the CenturyLink Center to see Creighton take on Drake. Three conference home games and three consecutive sellouts. Creighton students aren’t even back from break yet. It is official that Bluejay Mania is running wild in this town.
Drake has always been a little pesky. I will never forget the game in 2009 when the Bulldogs came into the, then named, Qwest Center and stole a victory over the Jays. That game has sat in my mind each year since with the thought that Drake could come in and steal a victory.
Tuesday night had that feeling that things would be a little tough. Drake came into the game sitting at 0-3 and I figured they would have a little fire. Most of the friends I talked to thought it would be close in the first half and the Jays would pull away in the second half. We were all fooled.
The Bluejays blitzed the Bulldogs from the start with a flurry of offense and a stifling defense. Grant Gibbs and Doug McDermott hit three-pointers right away to get things going and the next thing you know the Bluejays are up 11-2 and then 20-2 and Drake head coach Mark Phelps had already used two timeouts before the 14 minute mark of the first half.
Creighton kept Ben Simons, their leading scorer, from even considering scoring. He finished 2-of-8 from the field and the Jays ended his 30 game streak of hitting at least one three-pointer in a game. In fact, no Drake players seemed to be able to score, much less hit the rim (at least 7 of their first 15 shots failed to draw iron). If you could ever see a team to be completely off on everything, just ask Drake about their night.
Instead, the Bluejays continued to score at will. 15 of their first 18 shots went in the basket and the scoring was spread out all over. By the 7:28 mark, Creighton was up 39-10 and for all intents and purposes this game was over. 67.9% from the field and 69.2% from three (9-13) were two things amazing to watch to go along with a 24-9 advantage on the boards.
Creighton needed a game like this. Over the final 28 minutes of the game, coach Greg McDermott had a luxury he has not had this season–to play some players other than the main 7 or 8 guys that have been compiling the minutes this season. The non-conference schedule was tougher than many probably realized with a potential tough opponent each night. There weren’t a lot of games to go deep into the bench. Then the first few games of the conference season are always tough since they all have a different feel.
Gibbs only had to play 17 minutes. Doug McDermott was able to sort of hide from the spotlight. He had another efficient night (6-of-8 from the field including two three-pointers) with 16 points and 7 rebounds. Austin Chatman had 9 assists just like he did on Saturday against Indiana State. 28 assists on 34 made baskets is pretty amazing to see as well. Only four players had over 20 minutes of time on the court and we all got a glimpse of what the future might be like next season with players like Nevin Johnson, Andre Yates and Geoffrey Groselle.
But it was Johnson’s night to break out in the extra minutes of opportunity. He has been waiting patiently to get his chance and a game like this gave him an opportunity to shine. The redshirt freshman entered the game with just under 6 minutes left in the first half. He promptly blocked a shot and then hit a three-pointer at the other end of the court on the ensuing play. It was great to see him make an impact right away. In the second half, he was in a couple of times and hit a sweet turnaround shot on the baseline and later dribbled in for a rim rattling dunk that many fans that haven’t seen him play before probably didn’t expect. In addition, he hit two free throws. Johnson can circle this night as the game that could change his season and his career from here on out. If there is a way to get another player in the rotation, I would love to see what he could do. He could be the guy with fresh legs that the main rotation needs as we get farther into conference season.
About the only other thing that might have been even more enjoyable was to wonder how many three pointers Ethan Wragge could put down if he played more minutes. Wragge was the star of the night. After missing his first two three-point shots, Wragge went 6-of-7 from downtown and burned up the nets with two, I SAY TWO, two-point basket layups to finish with 22 points on the evening in only 17 minutes. He only logged in 5 minutes in the second half where he scored half his points. That is efficiency right there. Wragge is now 15-of-24 (62.5%) from behind the arc in the last three games.
This is really turning out to be a special year for Creighton hoops and I am savoring every moment of it. Apparently, a lot of people in the Omaha area are enjoying it just as much. Creighton draws more fans to the games than a majority of teams in the major conferences. After coming home from the game, I watched a few other games on TV. One thing I see time after time are a lot of empty seats. The CenturyLink will never be the loudest or have the rowdiest student section, but they do have fans that care and realize what a special year this is and it will only continue to grow. A 15-1 record and a high national ranking is drawing more fans and the Jays are on a pace to have a record year in attendance. Last season the Bluejays were sixth in the nation in attendance. Only Kentucky, Syracuse, Louisville, North Carolina and Wisconsin drew more fans. That is some elite company to be in. A record number of fans are already signed up to head to St. Louis for the MVC Tournament in March. Are you going?
Creighton is in a special place right now. Bandwagon fans or not, Bluejay Mania is going wild and I’m loving it. I just hope the students catch on when they get back to school next Tuesday before starting classes again on Wednesday. Northern Iowa is coming to town then. If they don’t come out then, they will have to wait until January 30th before another home game.
But first, the Bluejays hit the road to Springfield for an upstart Bears team that were an overtime away for being tied with the Jays at 4-0 in the conference. With them sitting at 3-1 and Illinois State sitting at 0-4, it looks like it is going to be another wacky year in the Missouri Valley Conference. Hop on the bandwagon, but space is limited.
