Last season, Creighton opened MVC play hosting Missouri State. The Bears, though still having Kyle Weems at the time, weren’t expected to have a great season. However, they stuck with the Bluejays in to halftime and took over in the second half. Weems, Jarmar Gulley and Anthony Downing combined for 69 of their 77 points to upset Creighton at home 77-65.
Fast forward to the present and the game against Missouri State on Friday night. Weems has graduated and Gulley was out before the season began with a knee injury. That has left Downing to carry the team this season. After a 2-10 start in the non-conference with no D-1 wins, the Bears are sitting at 3-1 in conference play. If last season is any indicator, you can’t ignore Missouri State no matter how it may look on paper.
To get us up to speed on the dramatic change that Missouri State has endured over the past few weeks, we talk to Lyndal Scranton of the Springfield News-Leader. Here is what he had to say about the Bears.
White & Blue Review: Coming into the season what were the expectations for Missouri State hoops? Should they have had a better non-conference season than they did?
Lyndal Scranton: After the loss of Jarmar Gulley to a summertime knee injury, most knowledgeable MSU fans figured it was going to be a bumpy season. But nobody envisioned a 2-10 nonconference struggle with hideous losses to the likes to Alabama A&M and Jacksonville. Realistically, I think most figured about 5-7 would be have about right and then something close to .500 in Valley play. Adjusting to the loss of Gulley, from an offensive standpoint, took longer than anticipated. And playing 6 freshmen, 4 significant minutes, made it more difficult. Especially after the team lost confidence as the losses mounted.
WBR: Since entering conference play, this team has looked totally different. What has been the major difference with this team since getting into conference play?
LS: There’s no substitute for making shots. All along, this has been a fairly solid defensive team that consistency gave good effort. But it was in search of offensive identity and finally has found it. Anthony Downing, the lone healthy senior, is playing at a high level (20.5 ppg in 4 Valley games) and has become comfortable as the team’s leader off the court as well. Paul Lusk took a lot of criticism from the fan base before league play began, but he’s been a steadying force and deserves credit. The team didn’t quit on him when things looked bleak.
WBR: How has Jarmar Gulley been handling this season sitting out with an injury? What is he doing to contribute to the team from the sidelines?
LS: Gulley has been handling things as well as can be expected. As he told me recently, if he was to blow out an ACL it’s good that it happened when it did (July) so that he would have plenty of time to rehab and get ready for a comeback next season. All signs are positive that he will be close to 100 percent by then. He’s around the team all the time offering encouragement, especially to the young players and has emphasized to them how they have to bring the intensity, without interruption, once league play begins.
WBR: With a lot of new faces this season for the Bears, who should Creighton fans watch that will be key to the game on Friday night?
LS: Freshman guard Marcus Marshall has started 12 games and is averaging 10.1 points. He has the makings of an all-Valley guard down the road. Freshman forward Gavin Thurman has been more up and down than Marshall, but is a stretch forward sort of in the mold of Kyle Weems in that he can score in the post or shoot the 3-pointer. Those two are foundation pieces for this program.
WBR: What are the weaknesses that Missouri State has that Creighton might be able to exploit?
LS: The Bears are small. Post production on both ends has been an issue. Christian Kirk and Drew Wilson both are about 6-6 and are undersized centers. MSU is able to get away with them against many opponents, but Creighton with Gregory Echenique and Illinois State with Jackie Carmichael cause headaches for the Bears in the post. Carmichael had 21 points and 12 rebounds against MSU on Tuesday. He probably could have had 30 and 15 if the Redbirds had thrown him the ball more like they should have.
WBR: It appears that Coach Lusk has a set starting lineup, but some of those players don’t seem to normally play a lot starter minutes. Is that a coaching philosophy that some players work better coming off the bench or should there be different players in the starting lineup?
LS: Nathan Scheer and Keith Pickens have been coming off the bench and giving the Bears a spark that Lusk likes. A set starting lineup doesn’t seem to be a big priority for Lusk. After the first media time out he goes with what he perceives as his best five the rest of the way, including the starting unit after halftime.
WBR: With conference realignment the talk of college athletics these days, what are your thoughts of the rumors flying around about teams from the MVC?
LS: I think everyone in the other nine Valley cities would agree that losing Creighton would be a blow to the league. But I also think it’s obvious that it’s more likely than not to happen. It’s been a miracle that the Valley has remained constant in its membership since the mid-1990s, so I guess it was inevitable that something would happen sooner than later.
WBR: What is your final prediction? What do the Bears need to do to upset the Bluejays?
LS: The Bears should look at this as playing with house money. Nobody expects them to win, or probably play close. But two weeks ago most figured they would struggle to win three Valley games, total. If MSU has a hot-shooting game, the Bluejays have a rare cold-shooting night and Gregory Echenique gets in foul trouble … man, that’s a lot of ifs. Creighton 74, MSU 62.
